MSJE Hunting for More Trophies in Nashville

A huge glass roof covers the Opryland Resort.

More than 2200 young chess enthusiasts plus their parents, siblings and coaches have descended upon the Nashville, Tennessee for the 2015 National Elementary Championship.  That total includes 35 kids from the Bay Area, all eager to take home a giant trophy.  Can the California boys (and girls) prove their might once again?  I think so!!

Top rated Andrew Hong

A dozen local youngsters enter the weekend seeded in the top 20 of their section, led by NM Andrew Hong, surprisingly the only master in the tournament.  Unfortunately, it is difficult being King of the Hill when literally everyone in the field is underrated--some more than others.  Watch out for the perennial powers of New York!

The only school team to travel to the Gaylord Opryland Resort was Mission San Jose Elementary of Fremont, fresh off an impressive performance at the CalChess Scholastics last weekend.  Coach Joe Lonsdale speaks highly of his teams in K-6 and K-3; even the weaker K-5 squad could finish well.  We shall see!

Click here for PAIRINGS and RESULTS.
Scores updated on Saturday evening after Round 5.

K-6

• NM Andrew Hong 2255 5.0 -- clear leader
• David Pan 2087 MSJE 4.5 -- tied for 2nd
• Karthik Padmanabhan 2021 4.5 -- tied for 2nd
• Rishith Susarla 1906 MSJE 3.5
• Annapoorni Meiyappan 1656 MSJE 3.5
• Daniel Mendelevitch 1643 3.0
• Kavya Sasikumar 1438 3.0
• MSJE team 1772 14.5/20 -- tied for 1st
  

K-5

Coach Joe with MSJE K-6 team at States.

• Milind Maiti 1899 4.5 -- tied for 5th
• William Sartorio 1814 4.5 -- tied for 5th
• Anaiy Somalwar 1887 3.5
• Chenyi Zhao 1815 3.0
• Oliver Wu 1789 3.0
• Leo Jiang 1404 MSJE 3.0
• Jeffrey Liu 1287 MSJE 3.0
• Abhinav Raghavendra 1167 MSJE 3.0
• MSJE team 1298 11.5/20 -- tied for 6th
  

K-3

• Maurya Palusa 1831 4.5 -- tied for 4th
• Kevin Pan 1807 MSJE 4.5 -- tied for 4th
• Christopher Yoo 1761 4.0
• Stephen He 1247 MSJE 3.5
• Aidan Chen 1199 MSJE 3.5
• Arnav Lingannagari 1211 MSJE 3.0
• MSJE team 1366 14.5/20 -- 4th place

K-1

• Sriram Krishnakumar 1323 5.0  -- co-leader
• Adrian Kondakov 1500 4.0
• Nitish Nath 1067 4.0 
• Nikhil Parvathaneni 1034 3.5
• Nikko Le 804 3.0
• Jason Liu 439 MSJE 3.0

Best of luck to all of the players!  Bring home the hardware!