SuperNationals VI - Sunday Update

IM Vignesh Panchanatham celebrates with
GM Sam Shankland. (credit: US Chess)

SM Rayan Taghizadeh (credit: US Chess)

(This paragraph was posted at 1:00pm PDT.) The final round pairings of SuperNationals VI in Nashville saw a pair of Bay Area stars sitting at board 1 of their respective sections. Both IM Kesav Viswanadha and SM Rayan Taghizadeh could clinch first place simply by winning with the white pieces. Possibly a draw would be enough. Another 8 local juniors had 5.0 points heading into the last round and hoped for a Top 10 trophy: IM Vignesh Panchanatham and NM Michael Wang in K-12; Abhinav Koka in K-8; William Sartorio in K-6; Sriram Krishnakumar, Nitish Nath and Adrian Kondakov in K-3; and Lucas Jiang in K-1. Will they make it?

IM Kesav Viswanadha (credit: US Chess)

Congratulations to three National Champions! IM Kesav Viswanadha and IM Vignesh Panchanatham tied for first place in K-12 with four others. Both repeat as National High School champions, a title they earned in Atlanta last year. Also kudos to SM Rayan Taghizadeh for winning the Junior High K-9 section. This is Rayan's second straight victory at SuperNationals, as he won Elementary K-5 four years ago at SuperNationals V.

A grand total of 22 NorCal kids won a place trophy or honorable mention (tied for last trophy) in the championship sections. Special kudos to those who also finished in the Top 10: William Sartorio (9th in K-6), NM Christopher Yoo (5th in K-5), Sriram Krishnakumar (5th in K-3) and Adrian Kondakov (7th in K-3). Three more came very close: Maurya Palusa (11th in K-5), Nitish Nath (12th in K-3) and Kavya Meiyappan (11th in K-1). Way to go!!

Four Bay Area school teams placed in the Top 3 of their section. The K-12 proved most competitive, with Monta Vista High School of Cupertino capturing 1st place, narrowly ahead of teams from Washington and Virginia.  This was the fourth National team title in seven years for IM Viswanadha, IM Cameron Wheeler, nm Udit Iyengar and nm Pranav Srihari after 2011 (Regnart ES), 2012 (Kennedy MS) and 2015 (Monta Vista HS). Wow!!  Two other Silicon Valley schools, Mission San Jose HS and The Harker School, finished in 6th and 9th place, respectively.  Respect!

Monta Vista High School (credit: Vasu Sarangapani)

While the Monta Vista dynasty is quite impressive, equally so is the year-to-year success at Mission San Jose Elementary. Regardless of which students attend his program, Coach Joe Lonsdale manages to craft a strong team that is always competitive in multiple age groups at National Elementary! This year, MSJE finished 3rd in K-6, 2nd in K-1 and co-champions in K-5! By my count, this is the seventh national title that MSJE won or shared since 2009, and comes on the heels of victory in K-6 last year (with mostly different kids). I honestly don't know how Coach Joe pulls this off every year.

• Standings and Winners
• Replay Games from Top Boards
• Photos at US Chess Twitter

Final Standings (minimum 4.0) 


K-12 Championship

• IM Kesav Viswanadha (MVHS) 6.0 (NATIONAL CHAMPION)
• IM Vignesh Panchanatham (Harker) 6.0 (NATIONAL CHAMPION)
• NM Michael Wang (Harker) 5.5 (14th place)
• IM Cameron Wheeler (MVHS) 5.0 (18th place)
• Christopher Pan (Mission) 5.0 (honorable mention)
• nm Udit Iyengar (MVHS) 4.0
• Ganesh Murugappan (Mission) 4.0
• Anirudh Seela (Mission) 4.0
• Amit Sant (Mission) 4.0
• Monta Vista High School 18.5 (NATIONAL CHAMPION)
• Mission San Jose High School 17.0 (6th place)
• The Harker School 16.5 (9th place)

K-9 Championship

• SM Rayan Taghizadeh 6.0 (NATIONAL CHAMPION)

K-8 Championship

• Abhinav Koka 5.5 (14th place)
• Jaisuraj Kaleeswaran 4.0
• Shaashwath Sivakumar 4.0
• Hopkins Junior High School 12.0 (15th place)

K-6 Championship

• William Sartorio 5.5 (9th place)
• Milind Maiti 5.0 (18th place)
• Annapoorni Meiyappan (MSJE) 4.5
• Atul Thirumalai (MSJE) 4.5
• Leo Jiang (MSJE) 4.0
• Shreyas Nayak (MSJE) 4.0
• Edwin Thomas (MSJE) 4.0
• Mission San Jose Elementary 17.0 (3rd place)

K-5 Championship

• NM Christopher Yoo 6.0 (5th place)
• Maurya Palusa 5.5 (11th place)
• Vyom Vidyarthi 5.0 (17th place)
• Kevin Pan (MSJE) 5.0 (24th place)
• Allyson Wong (MSJE) 5.0 (honorable mention)
• Stephen He (MSJE) 5.0
• Abhinav Penagalapati 4.5  
• Nicholas Jiang (MSJE) 4.5
• Aghilan Nachiappan (MSJE) 4.0
• Mission San Jose Elementary 19.5 (co-NATIONAL CHAMPION)

K-3 Championship

• Sriram Krishnakumar 6.0 (5th place)
• Adrian Kondakov 6.0 (7th place)
• Nitish Nath 5.5 (12th place)
• Shaaketh Sivakumar 5.5 (14th place)
• Shawnak Shivakumar 5.5 (16th place)
• Nikhil Parvathaneni 4.0

K-1 Championship

• Kavya Meiyappan (MSJE) 5.5 (11th place)
• Lucas Jiang (MSJE) 5.0 (17th place)
• Omya Vidyarthi 5.0 (honorable mention)
• Jason Li-Shen Liu (MSJE) 4.5
• Elizur Fisher-Kirshner 4.0
• Mission San Jose Elementary 18.5 (2nd place)

Shabalov Wins US Open Again

2-time US Open champion GM Shabalov
poses with TD Francisco Guadalupe
(Photo credit: Guadalupe)

Defending champion GM Alexander Shabalov emerged as the winner after a dramatic final day at the 2016 US Open in Indianapolis.  At first, Shabalov vanquished GM Aleksandr Lenderman on top board for his 8th victory in 9 rounds.  Then he defeated Israeli GM Gil Popilski in an Armageddon blitz playoff to claim the trophy.  15-year old IM Ruifeng Li, the tournament leader throughout the entire week, only managed a draw in the final round and finished in 3rd place.  Officially, 389 participants played in at least one round of the giant single section swiss.

• Final Standings


• Rating Report 

Five shared the highest score from Northern California at 6.0 out of 9.  Congratulations to NM Michael Wang, NM John Langreck, FM Mark Pinto, and two young experts: Balaji Daggupati and Christopher Yoo.  11-year old Balaji is rated 2166 after an especially impressive run, defeating a pair of masters and losing only once, to top rated GM Illia Nyzhnyk. 9-year old Christopher finished perfect against opponents rated under 2200, and drew a master in the money round.   Well done guys!!

US Open in Indianapolis

Participants of the Denker Invitational. NM Michael Wang is in second row,
sixth from the right, wearing light blue dress shirt. Photo credit: US Chess

The 117th US Open kicked off this weekend in Indianapolis.  The 9-round tournament features three schedules: one game per day, 6 days beginning on Tuesday, and 4 days at an accelerated time control.  The 6-day schedule tends to be most popular.  After the merge prior to round 7, all participants compete for the same prizes.  At the time of this post, there are 10 Grandmasters among the 311 entrants, led by top rated GM Alex Lenderman (Note: GM Illia Nyzhnyk is now the highest rated after joining the 6-day schedule.)

The annual US Open features daily side events alongside the main tournament.  Chess politicians from around America meet to discuss the business of governing the US Chess Federation.  Three prestigious scholastic invitationals each offer $5,000 college scholarships to the winners.  The Denker, named after the late GM Arnold Denker, attracts the high school state champion from every state.  The Barber, named after organizer Dewain Barber of Southern California, targets top K-8 players from each state.  Likewise, the National Girl's Tournament of Champions invites the top young ladies.  Each of these invitationals runs 6 rounds over four days.

• US Open information


• Merged tournament standings


• Live games on Monroi


• Denker standings
• Barber standings
• Girls standings


• CalChess representatives (final score)
  
  • NM Michael Wang (Denker) = 4.0 (three master scalps)
  • Balaji Daggupati (Barber) = 3.5 (two master scalps, including top seed)
  • Divija Hasteer (Girls) = 3.0

CalChess Denker and Barber Qualifiers

NM Michael Wang (credit: @USChess)

Near the end of yet another school year, many students look forward to a relaxing summer vacation.  For two local  chess juniors, this summer includes a trip to Indianapolis to represent Northern California at the Denker and Barber Invitationals from July 30 to August 2.  After five competitive rounds over two days, the results are in.

The Denker Qualifier (grades 9-12 only) saw 5 masters and 4 experts battle for the ticket to Indy.  Half of the games were drawn and all but one of the masters finished undefeated.  Nonetheless, one player managed to separate himself from the field to take clear first.  Congratulations to 9th grader NM Michael Wang for a strong performance!

The Barber Qualifier (grades K-8) attracted 27 enthusiastic and talented participants, including a trio of masters.  Alas, all three masters tasted defeat on the first day (rounds 1-3) and were out of contention.  In the final round, a 5th grader faced a 3rd grader for all the marbles.  The game ended in a draw, allowing 5th grader Balaji Daggupati to claim clear first.  Well done!

The Denker Invitational began in 1985, with each state naming one High School representative (Northern and Southern California are considered separate states).  The Barber Invitational for K-8 started in 2011.  Thanks to the late GM Arnold Denker, his family and Dewain Barber for sponsoring and organizing these two national championships.

Best of luck to Michael and Balaji in Indy!

CalChess Denker and Barber Participants

• 2016: Michael Wang --------------------- Balaji Daggupati
• 2015: Vignesh Panchanatham ---------- Rayan Taghizadeh
• 2014: Colin Chow -------------------------- Siddharth Banik
• 2013: Hunter Klotz-Burwell --------------- Vignesh Panchanatham (co-champion!) 
• 2012: Sudarshan Seshadri --------------- Udit Iyengar
• 2011: Nicholas Karas ---------------------- Neel Apte
• 2010: Steven Zierk (champion!)   
• 2009: Evan Sandberg   
• 2008: Steven Zierk   



Balaji Daggupati

• 2007: Nicolas Yap   
• 2006: Daniel Schwarz   
• 2005: Nicolas Yap   
• 2004: Benjamin Tejes   
• 2003: Monty Peckham   
• 2002: Benjamin Haun   
• 2001: none
• 2000: Micah Fisher-Kirshner   
• 1999: Vinay Bhat   
• 1998: Vinay Bhat   
• 1997: Dmitry Zilberstein   
• 1996: Dmitry Zilberstein   
• 1995: Adrian Keating-Clay   
• 1995: Jennie Frenklakh (extra player)   
• 1994: Dmitry Zilberstein (champion!)   
• 1993: Peter Lee   
• 1992: Adrian Keating-Clay   
• 1991: Alan Stein (champion!)    
• 1990: Andrew McManus   
• 1989: Andrew McManus   
• 1988: Kash Patel   
• 1987: Andrew McManus   
• 1986: Peter Yu   
• 1985: none

Panchanatham Leads Harker to Victory

National High School Champions from The Harker School.
Top board FM Panchanatham at left. (credit: Greg Shahade)

This post comes about five weeks too late.  As they say, better late than never.

Congratulations to The Harker School for winning the National High School Championship in Atlanta, and to their top board FM Vignesh Panchanatham for earning first place on tiebreaks in the individual standings!  Local rival IM Kesav Viswanadha defeated Vignesh in round 6, but took the second place trophy after tragically losing in round 7.  Bay Area representatives came home with four of the Top 10 trophies in the final standings.  Veni!  Vidi!  Vici!

The following list shows Northern California trophy winners at High School Nationals.

IM Viswanadha
(credit: Greg Shahade)

• The Harker School (San Jose) team = CHAMPIONS
• Monta Vista High School (Cupertino) team = 4th

• FM Vignesh Panchanatham (Harker) 1st and co-champ
• IM Kesav Viswanadha (MVHS) 2nd and co-champ
• NM Siddharth Banik 8th
• NM Michael Wang (Harker) 10th
• Richard Yi (Harker) 20th
• NM Andrew Hong 36th
• Evan Lohn (Harker) 1st Unrated
• Richard Wang (Harker) 2nd Unrated

National High School in San Diego

The big playing hall at National High School.  Credit: Martha Underwood.

The 2014 spring national scholastic chess championships kick off with the strongest National High School Championship ever!  By my count, there are two International Masters, 15 players rated above 2300 and 33 masters in all.  As always, the talented Northern California delegation appears poised to bring home some hardware and maybe even a national title.

• Standings and Pairings

Out of 950 total participants, about 340 signed up for the competitive High School Championship.  Given the convenient location at the Town & Country Resort in San Diego, 39 local players made the trip down I-5 for an intense weekend of chess.  Of the 27 Bay Area representatives in the strong Championship section, 9 are rated above 2150, including 2300+ rated FM Cameron Wheeler, NM Kesav Viswanadha and NM Vignesh Panchanatham.

In addition to the battle for individual honors, 3  Silicon Valley schools have entered teams of 4+ students.  Last year's CalChess K-12 Champions Kennedy Middle School of Cupertino, now boasting three masters and two strong 1900s, figures to challenge perennial national power Murrow High School from Brooklyn, New York.  Monta Vista High School, comprised of graduates from Kennedy Middle, should be competitive as well.  Finally, Saratoga High School, no longer quite as strong as last decade, fields a team of four B and C players.

NorCal Watch List
National High School
Final Results
Congratulations to GM-elect Darwin Yang for clear 1st with 6.5/7! 

• FM Cameron Wheeler (KMS) 5.5 - 7th place - drew Darwin Yang in last round
• NM Kesav Viswanadha (MVHS) 6.0 - 4th place - beat Y.Xia (2286) in last round
  
• NM Vignesh Panchanatham 5.0 - 22nd place
• NM Siddharth Banik 3.5
• NM Allan Beilin 5.5 - 18th place
• NM Udit Iyengar (KMS) 5.0 - Honorable Mention
• NM Michael Wang (KMS) 5.0 - Honorable Mention
• Neel Apte (MVHS) 5.0 - Honorable Mention
• Joshua Cao 4.5 
• Hans Niemann 4.5 - 5th grader!
  
• Kevin Rosenberg (MVHS) 4.0
• Daniel Zheng (MVHS) 4.0 - drew Rosenthal (2274), S.Liao (2189) and T.Lu (2185)
• Arhant Katare (KMS) 4.0 - drew S.Liao (2189)
• Pranav Srihari (KMS) 4.0 - drew Miller (2258)
• Faisal Albannai (SARA) 3.5 
• Alex Li (SARA) 3.5 - rated just 1435, played up all 7 rounds, +167 rating points
• Kennedy M.S. 19.5/28 - 2nd place 0.5 behind Catalina Foothills H.S. (Tucson)
• Monta Vista H.S. 19.0/28 - tied for 3rd with Murrow H.S. (Brooklyn)
• Saratoga H. S. 12.0/28 - 27th place

Here's wishing plenty of good luck and skill to all!

NorCal Top 100 Lists

Do you recognize these young stars?  All are now masters, and two
won at World Youth U12. Photo from Cam's Chess Blog in 2010.

Almost two years have passed since I completed the last thorough analysis of the Bay Area's representatives on the USCF Top 100 Lists.  The USCF office made two administrative changes: publishing the rankings monthly and moving the cutoff date to the third Wednesday of the previous month (from the first Friday).  Consequently, the player ratings will be more current.

Congratulations to the 119 local youngsters who earned a spot on the national Top 100 rankings for their age.  The most competitive categories appear to be Age 8 and Age 13-14.  At least a dozen Northern California juniors are ranked in Top 100 for each of those three years, including 5 or more in the Top 20!  Many of the same kids represented California and the USA at the World Youth Chess Festival in the United Arab Emirates last December.  Veteran Bay Area players and directors watched the 13-14 year old bunch grow up, and now a new bunch of promising talents has formed. 

Given the explosion in strength of local youths, I began tracking their FIDE ratings.  Indeed, 53 ranked juniors already have earned an official international rating!  Only a decade ago, no more than a half dozen players under age 18 had achieved this goal.  Many thanks to John Donaldson, Richard Koepcke, Salman Azhar, Arun Sharma and other organizers for offering plentiful opportunities to play FIDE rated tournaments without traveling far.

Without further ado, I present the cream of the crop, the best of the west, to earn virtual gold, silver and bronze medals!  Please visit my website for the complete NorCal Top 100 Lists.

Gold Medal (Top 5)

• Ashritha Eswaran #1 girls U16  
• Yian Liou #1 age 16 
• Daniel Naroditsky #1 age 18



NM Kesav Viswanadha

• Balaji Daggupati #3 age 8
• Josiah Stearman #3 age 10
• Cameron Wheeler #3 age 13 
• Gregory Young #3 age 18
• Andrew Hong #4 age 9
• Kesav Viswanadha #4 age 14
• Hans Niemann #5 age 10
• Rayan Taghizadeh #5 age 11
• Michael Wang #5 age 12
• Joanna Liu #5 girls U13
• Vignesh Panchanatham #5 age 14

Silver Medal (6th to 15th)

• Arnav Lingannagari age 6
• Samik Pattanayak age 6
• Milind Maiti age 8
• Chinguun Bayaraa age 8
• Callaghan Mccarty-Snead age 8



NM Michael Wang

• Andrew Peng age 8
• Tanuj Vasudeva age 12
• Siddharth Banik age 13
• Colin Chow age 14
• Allan Beilin age 14

Bronze Medal (16th to 25th)

• Kevin Pan age 7
• Rishith Susarla age 8
• Maurya Palusa age 8
• David Pan age 10
• Udit Iyengar age 13
• Kevin Moy age 13
• Pranav Nagarajan age 14
• Teemu Virtanen age 14
• Neel Apte age 15
• Daniel Liu age 16

List adapted from Fpawn Chess
Photo credit Bay Area International

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

National Elementary in Nashville!

The spacious interior of the Gaylord Opryland Resort.

The largest chess tournament in America starts today at the humongous Gaylord Opryland Resort in Nashville.  No, it is not World Open, but rather the National Elementary Championships.  Over 2,200 players have registered in one of nine sections based on age and rating. 

A total of 47 NorCal kids (plus their parents, siblings and coaches) flew to Nashville for a wild weekend of chess and fun.  About three-fourths of this grand delegation represents two elementary schools from the city of Fremont.  The roster ranges from two 6th grade experts, Vignesh Panchanatham (2127) and Kevin Moy (2015), all the way down to a pair of kindergartners.  Almost all of the Bay Area players entered in the highly competitive "open" sections, meaning no rating restriction.

Stage with trophies lined up in back.

The format is a 7-round swiss with two games today, three on Saturday and the final two on Sunday.  The time control is G/2 hours, meaning someone could potentially play for 12 hours on Saturday.  I will try to follow the top players on my blog at least once a day, which will be challenging given the ongoing US Championship and the World Championship (Anand vs Gelfand).

Update on Friday evening:  By my count, 13 NorCal juniors finished the first day with a perfect score of 2-0.  The three stars in K-6 (Vignesh, Kevin and Michael Wang) all remain in contention for a possible national title! 

Update on Saturday morning:  Most of the top players are still perfect, but that will change as Vignesh is paired against Michael W. in K-6.  CalChess champion MSJE team demonstrates balance across all sections, holding on to three different top-4.

Northern California Watch List
(round 3 of 7)
Click here for standings and pairings.

K-6 Championship

• Vignesh Panchanatham 3.0 (paired against Michael W.)
• Kevin Moy 3.0
• Michael Wang 3.0 (paired against Vignesh)
• Abhishek Handigol 2.5
• Alvin Kong 2.5
• Anthony Zhou 2.0
• Shalin Shah 2.0
• Eric Zhu 2.0
• MSJE team in 4th place

K-5 Championship

• Amit Sant 3.0
• Anjan Das 2.0
• Drake Lin 1.5
• MSJE team in 10th place

K-3 Championship

• Ben Rood 3.0 (playing on board 1)
• Daniel Mendelevitch 2.0
• John Chan 2.0
• Chenyi Zhao 2.0
• Jason Zhang 2.0
• Luke Zhao 2.0
• Soorya Kuppam 2.0
• Mihir Bhuptani 2.0
• Tommy Koh 2.0
• MSJE team in 3rd place

K-1 Championship

• Rishith Susarla 3.0
  
• Agnes William 3.0
• Oliver Wu 3.0
• Milind Maiti 2.0
• Balaji Daggupati 2.0
• Louis Law 2.0
• Zhiyi Wang 2.0
• MSJE team in 2nd place

Bay Area Shines on All-America Team

(Photos of local talents by Richard Shorman and Mark Shelton at ChessDryad.)

January 31 Press Release from Jerry Nash:

The United States Chess Federation (USCF) is pleased to announce the 2012 All-America Team sponsored by Trophies Plus. Team members were announced at the 2011 National K-12 held this past November in Dallas, Texas. Each member of the 2012 All-America Team receives a team jacket and plaque.

The All-America Team was created in 1987 to honor the very best players ages 18 and under. The team, one of the highest national honors attainable by a young chess player, is selected on the basis of age, rating, and activities during that year, similar to the selection process of “all conference” sports teams. This year’s candidates were selected based on their age as of January 1, 2011, and their peak post-tournament rating from July 1, 2010 through June 30, 2011. Since this award is a “post-season” selection, the minimum rating limits in each age group are reviewed annually by the USCF staff and the USCF Scholastic Council.

...

2011 All Americans from California

Age 17 (minimum peak rating 2400):

• Steven Zierk, CA-N

Age 15 (minimum peak rating 2300):

• Daniel Naroditsky, CA-N

Age 13 (minimum peak rating 2250):

• Yian Liou, CA-N
• Varun Krishnan, CA-S
• Michael William Brown, CA-S

Age 11 (minimum peak rating 2100):

• Kesav Viswanadha, CA-N

Age 10 (minimum peak rating 2050):

• Samuel Sevian, CA-N
• Cameron Wheeler, CA-N
  

Age 9 (minimum peak rating 1900):

• Albert Lu, CA-S
• Michael Wang, CA-N

Age 8 & Under (minimum peak rating 1800):

• Rayan Taghizadeh, CA-N

Commentary: This may be old news to many, but the official Press Release came out only a week ago. It can't hurt to congratulate these talented juniors again. The local names should be familiar to those who read this blog regularly. Note that they are all a full year older now. One sharp observer pointed out that there are 11 players from California (8 from the Bay Area), 9 from New York and 8 from Texas. No doubt, we have witnessed a westward shift over the past decade.

Bay Area Results from Elementary Nationals

A whopping 55 local youngsters, their parents and coaches flew to Atlanta for the Bert Lerner National Elementary Championship this weekend. The local delegation includes most of the Bay Area's elite elementary age players plus large teams from the two strong Fremont schools. I hope these kids can bring home a few national titles plus an assortment of trophies from many different sections! Go Bay Area!

Northern California Standings
(final results)
(click here for full results)

K-6

• Daniel Liu 6.0, NATIONAL CHAMPION!!! (4th on tiebreaks)
  
• Kevin Moy 5.0, 18th place (tied for 16th, beating three 1700s)
  
• Daniel Ho 5.0, 24th place (tied for 16th)
  

K-5

• Allan Beilin 6.5, NATIONAL CHAMPION!!! (clear 1st)
  
• Art Zhao 6.0, 4th place (tied for 2nd)
  
• Kesav Viswanadha 5.5, 8th place (tied for 7th)
  
• Jeffrey Tao 5.5, 16th place (tied for 7th)
• Armaan Kalyanpur 5.5, 17th place (tied for 7th)
  
• Alvin Kong 5.0, 31st place (tied for 19th)
  
• Cameron Wheeler 5.0, 33rd place (tied for 19th)
  

K-3

• FM Tanuj Vasudeva 6.0, 4th place (tied for 2nd, losing to top seed Roland Feng)
  
• Michael Wang 5.5, 13th place (tied for 9th, also losing against Roland Feng)
• Leyton Ho 5.5, 17th place (tied for 9th)
  
• Amit Sant 5.0, 24th place (tied for 19th)
  

K-1

• Solomon Ge 6.0, 6th place (tied for 3rd)
  
• John Chan 5.5, 18th place (tied for 12th)
  
• Luke Zhao 5.0, 33rd place (tied for 25th)
• Mihir Bhuptani 5.0, 38th place(tied for 25th)
  

Team Standings

• Weibel K-6 finished in THIRD PLACE!
  
• MSJE K-6 took 10th place
  
• MSJE K-5 took THIRD PLACE
  
• Weibel K-5 slipped to 17th place
• Weibel K-3 NATIONAL CHAMPIONS!!! (2nd on tiebreaks)
  
• MSJE K-3 got 5th place
  
• MSJE K-1 took SECOND PLACE!!
  

If anyone who was in Atlanta took photos at the awards ceremony, pretty please with a cherry on top send me some pictures for my blog.

I'm a Perfect Square

(Yes, I do love strawberries!)

Thank you to all of my friends and fans who sent birthday wishes yesterday. I really appreciate the many friends that I have, ranging from my youngest elementary age students to chess veterans who began playing during the Fischer boom of the 1960s and early 1970s. Amazingly, I personally know at least six fans of the royal game who also were born on May 6, including two of my private students plus a resident of the East Bay's famed GM House (Jesse Kraai).

There's a lot going on in the world of chess this week. Foremost is the World Championship match between defending champion Viswanathan Anand and challenger Veselin Topalov. The score is tied at 5.0 with two games remaining on Sunday and Tuesday, starting at 5:00am Pacific time. If they are still tied, then rapid and blitz playoffs are scheduled for Thursday. Let's go Vishy!!!

Back in the USA, the Bert Lerner National Elementary Championship began in Atlanta. The crowd of 2000+ participants includes 55 enthusiastic youngsters from Northern California. Many of the elite local players flew east, including: Daniel Liu (K-6), Kesav Viswanadha (K-5), FM Tanuj Vasudeva (K-3), Allan Beilin (K-5), Cameron Wheeler (K-5) and the severely underrated Michael Wang (K-3). A pair of Fremont schools are hunting for big team trophies: 2009 national champ Mission San Jose Elementary and crosstown punching bag Weibel Elementary both have over 15 kids. Click here for updated standings and pairings from Atlanta.

Finally, I hope to play in the Powell G/45 tournament tomorrow at the Mechanics' Institute. I expect to see many of my students. Will preteen terror NM Yian Liou win for the second month in a row? Can any of my lower rated kids scalp an expert or a master? And will I perform well enough to eek my USCF rating back above my lifetime floor of 2200. Wish us all good luck!