A Long Saturday in Music City

Back of Mission San Jose Elementary t-shirt.

The Saturday schedule at any of the Nationals is always a battle against fatigue.  For younger kids, it is just a r-e-a-l-l-y-l-o-n-g-d-a-y.  Older juniors test their stamina with up to 12 hours at the board.  The brutal third round for the day, and fifth round in the tournament, starts at 7:00pm.  The final weary warriors set up their pieces at 11:00pm, well after bedtime for most elementary school participants.

Update on Saturday early evening.  After round 4, two California children were still perfect in K-1, but everyone else has a pocket score.  Vignesh and Michael drew in K-6 to join Kevin and Abhishek, all at 3.5.  Five local players have 3.0 in K-3.  The state champions from MSJE are tied for 1st in K-1 and sit at 5th and 6th, respectively, in K-3 and K-6.  Good skill to all!

Update on Saturday night. The long day has mercifully come to an end.  The Bay Area will "occupy" the top boards in the K-6 and K-1 sections tomorrow.  Three players have 4.5 in K-6: Vignesh, Kevin and Abhishek!  Go guys!  In K-1, a pair of 1400 rated 1st graders find themselves in a group of seven perfect 5-0 scores.  Go Rishith and Agnes! The MSJE K-1 team also moved into 1st place, tied with Hunter College from New York.

Update on Sunday midday.  Heading into the final round, only one NorCal player has a chance to win his or her section.  Vignesh and his 1945 rated opponent from New York have the only two 5.5s in K-6.  Winner takes all!  Seven local kids check in at 5.0 and can earn a nice big trophy simply by winning the last game.  In team competitions, all eyes are on the 1st graders from MSJE, who remain in 1st, barely ahead of New York powers Hunter and Dalton.  Good luck!!

Northern California Watch List
(round 6 of 7)
Click here for standings and pairings.

K-6 Championship

• Vignesh Panchanatham 5.5 (playing on board 1 against the only other 5.5)
• Kevin Moy 5.0 
• Michael Wang 4.5 
• Abhishek Handigol 4.5 
• Shalin Shah 4.0
• Alvin Kong 4.0
• Anthony Zhou 3.0 
• Sayan Das 3.0
• Eric Zhu 3.0
• MSJE team in 6th place

K-5 Championship

• Amit Sant 4.0
• Drake Lin 4.0
• Anjan Das 3.5

K-3 Championship 

• Ben Rood 5.0 
• Chenyi Zhao 4.5
• Jason Zhang 4.5
• Daniel Mendelevitch 4.0
• John Chan 4.0
• Atri Surapaneni 3.5
• Anvi Surapaneni 3.5
• MSJE team in 9th place

K-1 Championship

• Rishith Susarla 5.0
• Agnes William 5.0 
• Milind Maiti 5.0
• Louis Law 5.0
• Zhiyi Wang 5.0
• Balaji Daggupati 4.5
• Edwin Thomas 4.5  
• Oliver Wu 4.0
• Amulya Harish 4.0
• Annapoorni Meiyappan 4.0
• Vincent Wang 4.0
• MSJE team in 1st place, 0.5 ahead of Hunter and 1.0 ahead of Dalton