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)

SuperNationals VI - Saturday Update

What a spectacular venue for a record setting chess tournament! (credit: GM Maurice Ashley)

Saturday is usually the wildest day at any national scholastic championship with three challenging rounds. Some strong players will spend up to 12 hours at the chess board, where just one mistake can doom the dream of finishing in first. Upsets are the norm and a brutal round 3 this morning has already taken its toll on the competitors. Who will be left standing tonight?

As SuperNationals VI continues, this weekend offers a good opportunity to review past champions. Only a few juniors from Northern California have ever won a national title. However, the Bay Area has become much more competitive over the past five to ten years. Teams from Mission San Jose Elementary in Fremont won a half dozen team championships since 2009. A mini dynasty sprung up in Cupertino as a tight core group tasted victory at Regnart Elementary, Kennedy Middle and Monta Vista High.


NorCal Champions at Nationals (since 2000)

• K-12 Champs: Vignesh Panchanatham (2016), Kesav Viswanadha (2016), Michael Zhong (2007)
• K-9 Champs: Vignesh Panchanatham (2014), Gregory Young (2007)
• K-8 Champs: Siddharth Banik (2013)
• K-6 Champs: Andrew Hong (2015), Vignesh Panchanatham (2012), Kevin Moy (2012), Daniel Liu (2010)
• K-5 Champs: Rayan Taghizadeh (2013), Cameron Wheeler (2011), Allan Beilin (2010)
• K-3 Champs: Balaji Daggupati (2014), Cameron Wheeler (2009), Rahul Desirazu (2006), Daniel Naroditsky (2005)
• K-1 Champs: Chinguun Bayaraa (2013), Ben Rood (2011), Tanuj Vasudeva (2008), Nicholas Nip (2006)

Champion School Teams (since 2000)

• K-12 Teams: The Harker School (2016), Monta Vista HS (2015)
• K-9 Teams: none
• K-8 Teams: Kennedy MS (2012)
• K-6 Teams: MSJE (2016, 2015, 2013, 2009), Gomes ES (2014), Weibel ES (2012)
• K-5 Teams: Gomes ES (2013), Regnart ES (2011)
• K-3 Teams: MSJE (2014), Weibel ES (2010)
• K-1 Teams: MSJE (2012)

GM Maurice Ashley signs autographs.

Please contact me if you see a missing name or school. It seems plausible that the US Chess Yearbook may have omitted some winners, especially in case of a tie for first place.

Now back to 2017. The tournament finishes with two rounds on Sunday. Expect high drama, tension and lots of excitement. Will any of the Bay Area kids finish at the top? Stay tuned!

GM Sam Shankland (credit: US Chess)

• Standings and Pairings
• Live Games from Top Boards
• Photos at US Chess Twitter

Standings after Round 5 (minimum 3.0) 



K-12 Championship

IM Cameron Wheeler (credit: US Chess)

• IM Kesav Viswanadha (MVHS) 4.5 (1st place)
• IM Vignesh Panchanatham (Harker) 4.0
• NM Michael Wang (Harker) 4.0
• IM Cameron Wheeler (MVHS) 3.5
• Christopher Pan (Mission) 3.5
• nm Pranav Srihari (Mission) 3.0
• nm Udit Iyengar (MVHS) 3.0
• Pranav Senthilkumar (Mission) 3.0
• Michael Tang (Harker) 3.0
• Monta Vista High School 14.0 (1st place)
• The Harker School 12.0 (7th place)
• Mission San Jose High School 11.5 (9th place)

K-9 Championship

SM Rayan Taghizadeh (credit: US Chess)

• SM Rayan Taghizadeh 4.5 (2nd place)

K-8 Championship

• Shaashwath Sivakumar 4.0
• Abhinav Koka 4.0
• Jaisuraj Kaleeswaran (Hopkins) 3.0
• Stanley Ko 3.0
• Hopkins Junior High School 9.0 (14th place)

K-6 Championship

• Milind Maiti 4.0
• William Sartorio 4.0
• Annapoorni Meiyappan (MSJE) 3.5
• Shreyas Nayak (MSJE) 3.0
• Leo Jiang (MSJE) 3.0
• Mission San Jose Elementary 12.0 (3rd place)

K-5 Championship

• Vyom Vidyarthi 4.5 (tied for 3rd place)
• NM Christopher Yoo 4.0
• Kevin Pan (MSJE) 4.0
• Maurya Palusa 3.5
• Abhinav Penagalapati 3.5  
• Aghilan Nachiappan (MSJE) 3.0
• Stephen He (MSJE) 3.0
• Allyson Wong (MSJE) 3.0
• Leo Jiang 3.0
• Mission San Jose Elementary 13.0 (3rd place)

K-3 Championship

• Sriram Krishnakumar 4.0
• Adrian Kondakov 4.0
• Nitish Nath 4.0
• Shaaketh Sivakumar 4.0
• Nikhil Parvathaneni 4.0
• Shawnak Shivakumar 3.5

K-1 Championship

• Kavya Meiyappan (MSJE) 4.5 (6th place)
• Jason Li-Shen Liu (MSJE) 4.0
• Lucas Jiang (MSJE) 4.0
• Omya Vidyarthi 3.0
• Elizur Fisher-Kirshner 3.0
• Mission San Jose Elementary 15.0 (1st place)

SuperNationals VI - Friday Update

This is one of five large playing halls at the Grand Ole Opry. (credit: ChessKid.com)

The sixth SuperNationals brings more than 5500 eager young chess players, their parents and coaches to the Gaylord Opryland Resort and Convention Center in Nashville, TN, from Thursday, May 11 to Sunday, May 14. Every four years, the three spring scholastic championships (High School, Junior High and Elementary) come together under a single roof to form one humongous tournament. The resulting electric atmosphere has to be seen to be believed!

Among this world record turnout are 81 children from Northern California, including several school teams seeking to capture first place trophies. Three local International Masters lead the way in the powerful K-12 section: Cameron Wheeler, Vignesh Panchanatham and Kesav Viswanadha. Two younger stars are the rating favorites in their age groups: Rayan Taghizadeh in K-9 and Christopher Yoo in K-5. Strong teams represent Monta Vista High School, Mission San Jose High School and Mission San Jose Elementary. Best of luck to all!!!

• Standings and Pairings
• Live Games from Top Boards
• Photos at US Chess Twitter

Garry Kasparov smiles and signs books for kids. (credit: US Chess)

Standings after Round 2 (minimum 1.5) 

K-12 Championship

IM Vignesh Panchanatham (credit: US Chess)

• IM Cameron Wheeler (MVHS) 2.0
• IM Vignesh Panchanatham (Harker) 2.0
• IM Kesav Viswanadha (MVHS) 2.0
• nm Udit Iyengar (MVHS) 1.5
• Monta Vista High School 6.0 (1st place)
• Mission San Jose High School 4.0 (14th place)

K-9 Championship

• SM Rayan Taghizadeh 2.0

K-8 Championship

• Jaisuraj Kaleeswaran (Hopkins) 2.0
• Hopkins Junior High School 4.5 (9th place)

K-6 Championship

• Milind Maiti 2.0
• Annapoorni Meiyappan (MSJE) 1.5
• Mission San Jose Elementary 4.5 (4th place)

K-5 Championship

NM Christopher Yoo (credit: US Chess)

• NM Christopher Yoo 2.0
• Maurya Palusa 2.0
• Vyom Vidyarthi 2.0
• Aghilan Nachiappan (MSJE) 2.0
• Stephen He (MSJE) 2.0
• Abhinav Penagalapati (MSJE) 2.0
• Kevin Pan (MSJE) 1.5
• Nicholas Jiang (MSJE) 1.5
• Allyson Wong (MSJE) 1.5
• Mission San Jose Elementary 7.0 (1st place)

K-3 Championship

• Sriram Krishnakumar 2.0
• Adrian Kondakov 2.0
• Nitish Nath 2.0
• Shaaketh Sivakumar 1.5
• Nikko Le 1.5

K-1 Championship

• Kavya Meiyappan (MSJE) 2.0
• Omya Vidyarthi 2.0
• Jason Li-Shen Liu (MSJE) 2.0
• Lucas Jiang (MSJE) 2.0
• Mission San Jose Elementary 7.0 (1st place)

Three Superb National Champs!

Siddharth Banik (by Shorman)

Rayan Taghizadeh (by Shorman)

The last pawn has been pushed and one more Scholar's Mate was played.  Mercifully for the directors and parents, the fifth SuperNationals has drawn to a close.  Some kids proudly show off their shiny trophies while others bemoan lost opportunities.  Regardless of their final score, fond memories of a weekend in Nashville will remain for many years for the record 5,335 participants.

Once again, the delegation from Northern California--82 players strong-- has left their mark.  Out of seven championship sections, three were won by Bay Area stars.  Many hearty congratulations go to Siddharth Banik (K-8), Rayan Taghizadeh (K-5) and Chinguun Bayaraa (K-1)!  Andrew Hong (K-3) scored 6.5/7, but alas, that proved sufficient only for 2nd place.  In K-9, FM Cameron Wheeler and NM Vignesh Panchanatham fought valiantly with aspirations of a tie for 1st, but both succumbed in the final hour of the 7th round.

Two teams captured national titles.  Mission San Jose Elementary of Fremont competed in K-1, K-3, K-6 and K-8 (if you count Hopkins Junior High).  Amazingly, they finished Top 5 in all four sections, and captured a surprising 1st place in K-6 (ahead of I.S. 318)!  Coach Joe Lonsdale has conducted a championship team for several years, incredibly with a different bunch of students each time.  Crosstown rival Gomes Elementary already tasted success at the annual CalChess Scholastics, and now they upgraded by winning K-5 nationals!  Last year's K-8 national champions from Kennedy Middle competed in K-9 and came within a half point of a repeat performance.

• Full Standings and Trophy Winners
• USCF Rating Report

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Final Standings

K-12 Championship (327 players)

Taylor McCreary - 3.5

K-9 Championship (145 players)

FM Cameron Wheeler (KENN) - 5.5 - 5th place trophy
NM Vignesh Panchanatham - 5.5 - 6th place trophy
Pranav Srihari (KENN) - 5.0 
Joshua Cao - 4.5
Justin Wang (IRVG) - 4.5
Daniel Ho (IRVG) - 4.0
Solomon Ruddell - 4.0
Vikram Vasan - 4.0
Arhant Katare (KENN) - 4.0
Nikhil Jaha (IRVG) - 3.0
Kingsley Wang (KENN) - 3.0
Amarinder Chahal (IRVG) - 2.5
Kennedy Middle School - 17.5/28 - 2nd place team
Irvington High School - 14.0/28 - 6th place team

K-8 Championship (256 players)

Siddharth Banik - 6.5 - NATIONAL CHAMPION
Allan Beilin - 5.5 - 6th place trophy
Armaan Kalyanpur (HOPK) - 5.0 - honorable mention
Shalin Shah (HOPK) - 4.0
Isaac Ruddell - 4.0
Alvin Kong (HOPK) - 4.0
Eric Zhu (HOPK) - 4.0
Hopkins Junior High School - 17.0/28 - 5th place team

K-6 Championship (198 players)

Amit Sant (MSJE) - 5.5 - 13th place trophy
FM Tanuj Vasudeva - 5.0 - 15th place trophy
Christopher Pan (MSJE) - 4.0
David Pan (MSJE) - 4.0
Anjan Das (MSJE) - 3.0
Mission San Jose Elementary - 16.5/28 - NATIONAL CHAMPIONS

K-5 Championship (355 players)

Rayan Taghizadeh - 6.5 - NATIONAL CHAMPION
Anthony Zhou (WEIB) - 5.5 - 22nd place trophy
Ganesh Murugappan (GOME) - 5.5 - 23rd place trophy
Joanna Liu (GOME) - 5.0 - honorable mention
Jason Zhang (GOME) - 5.0 - honorable mention
William Sartorio (GOME) - 4.5 - U1400 class prize 
Daniel Mendelevitch - 4.5
Atri Surapaneni (WEIB) - 4.0
Serafina Show (WEIB) - 4.0
Jeremy Chen (WEIB) - 3.5
Gomes Elementary School - 20.0/28 - NATIONAL CHAMPIONS
Weibel Elementary School - 17.0/28 - 8th place team

K-3 Championship (278 players)

Andrew Hong - 6.5 - 2nd place trophy
Milind Maiti - 5.5 - 9th place trophy
Chenyi Zhao - 5.5 - 18th place trophy
Rishith Susarla (MSJE) - 5.0 - 20th place trophy
Ben Rood - 5.0 - honorable mention
Zhiyi Wang - 5.0 - honorable mention 
Callaghan Mccarty-Snead - 4.5
Oliver Wu (WEIB) - 4.5
Louis Law (WEIB) - 4.0
Annapoorni Meiyappan (MSJE) - 4.0
Kavya Sasikumar (MSJE) - 4.0
Jeffrey Liu (MSJE) - 4.0
Eshaan Mistry (WEIB) - 3.0
Aaron Lee (WEIB) - 3.0
Mission San Jose Elementary - 17.0/28 - 5th place team
Weibel Elementary School - 14.5/28 - 9th place team

K-1 Championship (349 players)

Chinguun Bayaraa - 7.0 - NATIONAL CHAMPION
Maurya Palusa - 6.0 - 8th place trophy
Pradyum Chitlu (WEIB) - 5.0 - honorable mention
Stephen He (MSJE) - 5.0 - honorable mention
Weslie Chen (WEIB) - 5.0 - honorable mention
Aidan Chen (MSJE) - 5.0 - honorable mention
Arnav Lingannagari (MSJE) - 4.5
Kevin Pan (MSJE) - 4.5
Vasudeva Rao (MSJE) - 4.0
David Sartorio - 4.0
Allyson Wong (MSJE) - 4.0  
Erin Law (WEIB) - 3.5
Aaron Hu (WEIB) - 3.0
Mission San Jose Elementary - 19.0/28 - 5th place team
Weibel Elementary School - 16.5/28 - 11th place team 

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If you find a typo or someone else worthy of mention here, please email me.

SuperNationals Update #3

The evening round on Saturday is often very difficult, for two reasons.  First, it is the third round of high pressure competition in one day.  Second, the top contenders begin to square off against each other.  After the dust settled, two Bay Area kids remain perfect: Rayan Taghizadeh and Chinguun Bayaraa.  Five more stand at 4.5/5 with a shot at earning a share of first in their section, including masters Cameron Wheeler and Vignesh Panchanatham, both in K-9.

Unlike recent years, none of the Bay Area school teams appear poised to win a national championship.  Still, four teams are currently in the Top 4: Kennedy Middle School in K-9 (3rd and 2.0 behind leaders), Hopkins Junior High in K-8 (4th and 3.0 behind leaders), Mission San Jose Elementary in K-6 (4th and 3.5 behind leaders) and again MSJE in K-1 (3rd and 2.0 behind leaders).

Sunday is crunch time!  The games begin early--at 7am PDT.  Good luck to all!

BREAKING NEWS from Nashville: Siddharth Banik won K-8, Rayan Taghizadeh won K-5 and Chinguun Bayaraa won K-1!!! Congratulations to all three National Champions!  

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Standings After Round 5
After Round 6 in Blue
Click here for Pairings and Standings

K-12 Championship (327 players)

Taylor McCreary (1837) - 3.0 - 3.0

K-9 Championship (145 players)

FM Cameron Wheeler (2291) - 4.5 - 5.5! in three-way tie for first
NM Vignesh Panchanatham (2202) - 4.5 - 5.5! also in the three-way tie
Joshua Cao (2030) - 4.0 and defeated #2 seed NM Velikanov (2293) - 4.5
Daniel Ho (1856) - 3.5 - 4.0  
Pranav Srihari (1884) - 3.0 - 4.0
Justin Wang (1714) - 3.0 - 3.5
Kennedy Middle School - 4 players - 15.5/24 and in 2nd place (1.0 behind)
Irvington High School - 4 players - 12.5/24 and in 6th place

K-8 Championship (256 players)

Allan Beilin (2161) - 4.5
Siddharth Banik (2117) - 4.5 - 5.5!
Armaan Kalyanpur (1933) - 4.0
Alvin Kong (1662) - 3.0 
Shalin Shah (1615) - 3.0
Sayan Das (1411) - 3.0
Hopkins Junior High School - 6 players - 13.0/20 and in 4th place

K-6 Championship (198 players)

FM Tanuj Vasudeva (2150) - 4.0 - 5.0 and playing on board 2
Amit Sant (1735) - 3.5 - 4.5
David Pan (1503) - 3.0 - 3.5
Mission San Jose Elementary - 8 players - 13.0/24 and in 3rd place

K-5 Championship (355 players)

Rayan Taghizadeh (2021) - 5.0 - 5.5! in four-way tie for first
Joanna Liu (1847) - 3.5 - 4.5
Ganesh Murugappan (1761) - 3.5 - 4.5
Anthony Zhou (1741) - 3.5 - 4.5
Jason Zhang (1497) - 3.0 - 4.0
Daniel Mendelevitch (1405) - 3.0 - 4.0
Atri Surapaneni (1345) - 3.0 - 4.0
William Sartorio (1358) - 2.5 - 3.5
Gomes Elementary School - 5 players - 16.5/24 and in 5th place (and tied for first!)
Weibel Elementary School - 6 players - 14.5/24 and in 8th place

K-3 Championship (278 players)

Andrew Hong (1692) - 4.5 - 5.5! and playing on board 2
Milind Maiti (1612) - 4.0 and beat World U8 bronze medalist Christopher Shen (1866) - 4.5
Rishith Susarla (1609) - 4.0 - 5.0
Chenyi Zhao (1558) - 4.0 - 4.5
Callaghan Mccarty-Snead (1485) - 4.0 - 4.5
Oliver Wu (1366) - 3.5 - 3.5
Ben Rood (1798) - 3.0 - 4.0
Annapoorni Meiyappan (1225) - 3.0 - 4.0
Zhiyi Wang (1170) - 3.0 - 4.0
Kavya Sasikumar (823) - 2.5 - 3.5
Mission San Jose Elementary - 6 players - 15.5/24 and in 3rd place (only 0.5 behind)
Weibel Elementary School - 4 players - 11.5/24 and in 11th place

K-1 Championship (349 players)

Chinguun Bayaraa (1644) - 5.0 - 6.0!! and still occupying board 1
Maurya Palusa (1306) - 4.0 after losing to Chinguun - 5.0
Stephen He (808) - 4.0 - 4.0
Pradyum Chitlu (806) - 4.0 - 4.0
Aidan Chen (781) - 4.0 - 4.0
Weslie Chen (664) - 4.0 - 4.0
Allyson Wong (236) - 4.0 - 4.0 
Kevin Pan (1277) - 3.5 - 3.5
Arnav Lingannagari (494) - 3.5 - 4.5
Erin Law (377) - 2.5 - 3.5 
Mission San Jose Elementary - 8 players  - 16.5/24 and in 6th place
Weibel Elementary School - 4 players - 14.5/24 and in 12th place

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If I missed anyone worthy of mention, please email me or leave a message on Facebook.

SuperNationals Update #2

The storm has landed. Let the madness begin.  (Photo by Elliott Liu)

The challenge on the first two or three rounds of any Nationals tournament is simply to survive the upset parade.  Case in point: the top seed in K-9 lost in the first round and the second seed lost in the third round, to Bay Area expert Joshua Cao!  Amazingly, all but two of the Bay Area stars have survived three rounds without any blemishes--one kid drew and the other lost.  Of course, the competition will tighten up today.

After round 4, I count 7 perfect scores and another 7 kids who are just 0.5 off the pace.  So far, so good!  Special mention goes to Milind Maiti for beating the World U8 bronze medalist!

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Standings After Round 3
After Round 4 in Blue
Click here for Pairings and Standings

K-12 Championship (327 players)

Taylor McCreary (1837) - 2.0 - 2.0

K-9 Championship (145 players)

FM Cameron Wheeler (2291) - 3.0 - 3.5
NM Vignesh Panchanatham (2202) - 3.0 - 4.0
Joshua Cao (2030) - 3.0 - beat #2 seed NM Velikanov (2293) - 3.0
Pranav Srihari (1884) - 2.0 - 3.0
Vikram Vasan (1837) - 2.0 - 2.5
Justin Wang (1714) - 2.0- 2.5
Daniel Ho (1856) - 1.5 - 2.5 
Kennedy Middle School - 4 players - 10.5/16 and in 2nd place
Irvington High School - 4 players - 8.0/16 and in 6th place

K-8 Championship (256 players)

Allan Beilin (2161) - 3.0 - 4.0
Siddharth Banik (2117) - 3.0 - 4.0
Armaan Kalyanpur (1933) - 2.0 - 3.0
Shalin Shah (1615) - 2.0 - 2.0
Sayan Das (1411) - 2.0 - 3.0
Alvin Kong (1662) - 1.0 - 2.0
Hopkins Junior High School - 6 players - 10.0/16 and in 5th place

K-6 Championship (198 players)

FM Tanuj Vasudeva (2150) - 2.5 - 3.5
Amit Sant (1735) - 2.0 - 2.5
David Pan (1503) - 2.0 - 2.0
Christophen Pan (1366) - 2.0 - 2.0
Anjan Das (1151) - 2.0 - 2.0
Mission San Jose Elementary - 8 players - 8.5/16 and in ??? place

K-5 Championship (355 players)

Rayan Taghizadeh (2021) - 3.0 - 4.0 and sitting at board 1
Anthony Zhou (1741) - 2.5 - 3.5
Ganesh Murugappan (1761) - 2.0 - 3.0
Jason Zhang (1497) - 2.0 - 3.0
Daniel Mendelevitch (1405) - 2.0 - 2.0
William Sartorio (1358) - 2.0 - 2.5
Serafina Show (1320) - 2.0 - 2.0
Jeremy Chen (1002) - 2.0 - 2.0
Joanna Liu (1847) - 1.5 - 2.5
Atri Surapaneni (1345) - 1.0 - 2.0
Gomes Elementary School - 5 players - 11.0/16 and in 5th place
Weibel Elementary School - 6 players - 9.5/16 and in 12th place

K-3 Championship (278 players)

Andrew Hong (1692) - 3.0 - 3.5
Milind Maiti (1612) - 3.0 - 4.0 - beat World U8 bronze medalist Christopher Shen (1866)
Rishith Susarla (1609) - 3.0 - 3.0
Callaghan Mccarty-Snead (1485) - 2.5- 3.5
Oliver Wu (1366) - 2.5 - 3.5
Ben Rood (1798) - 2.0 - 3.0
Chenyi Zhao (1558) - 2.0 - 3.0
Louis Law (1118) - 2.0 - 2.0
Eshaan Mistry (899) - 2.0 - 2.0
Edwin Thomas (1022) - 1.0 - 2.0
Aaron Lee (763) - 1.0 - 2.0
Weibel Elementary School - 4 players - 9.5/16 and in 8th place
Mission San Jose Elementary - 6 players - 8.5/16 and in 9th place

K-1 Championship (349 players)

Chinguun Bayaraa (1644) - 3.0 and still occupying board 1 - 4.0
Maurya Palusa (1306) - 3.0 - 4.0
Kevin Pan (1277) - 3.0 - 3.5
Stephen He (808) - 2.0 - 3.0
Pradyum Chitlu (806) - 2.0 - 3.0
Aidan Chen (781) - 2.0 - 3.0
Weslie Chen (664) - 2.0 - 3.0
Vasudeva Rao (588) - 2.0 - 3.0
Aaron Hu (515) - 2.0 - 3.0
Arnav Lingannagari (494) - 2.0 - 3.0
Mission San Jose Elementary - 8 players  - 12.5/16 and in 3rd place
Weibel Elementary School - 4 players - 11.5/16 and in 8th place

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If I missed anyone worthy of mention, please email me or leave a message on Facebook.

SuperNationals V This Weekend

Once again, the magnificent Grand Ole Opry in Nashville hosts the granddaddy of all scholastic chess tournaments.  Held every four years like the Olympics, the SuperNationals draws young chess enthusiasts from across the country, representing their hometown schools and competing to bring home giant trophies.  The 2009 edition attracted a record 5,300 players to Music City, a mark that has apparently fallen.

Indeed, the final tally of advance entries reached 5,344, a number that includes withdrawals, but does not include last minute entries and a few inevitable no-shows.  Despite the distance, an impressive delegation of 82 will represent Northern California, led by a trio of masters who sharpened their skills around the world.  Six schools will compete for team trophies, seeking to demonstrate that the hottest spot for scholastic chess is Fremont and not the Bronx.

No doubt, this will be a weekend filled with ups and downs, stunning victories and maddening upsets, the glee of success and the agony of defeat.  The letters NY automatically indicate that the rating is 200 points too low.  The top boards will be occupied by budding prodigies, perhaps a new generation of American Grandmasters.  A mass of humanity spills from the cavernous hallways into the vast courtyards, filled by nervous soccer moms and hockey dads all praying for the same answer to the same question: Did my son/daughter win?  Three grueling rounds on Saturday can wipe out even the most energetic kids and adults.  Having attended two of the previous SuperNationals, I can personally attest to the stressful atmosphere--and I didn't play!

• 20 sections, 7 rounds, 18,000 games!
• Schedule (PDT): Friday 11am, 5pm; Saturday 7am, 12pm, 5pm; Sunday 7am, 12pm
• Pairings and Results
• Games on MonRoi (currently only K-12)

The following is a list of the top rated players in each section and the six school teams from Northern California.  Check back here for periodic updates throughout the weekend.

Unfortunately, the Pairings and Results appear to be quite a mess.  It is nearly 11pm PDT and there are no results in most sections, or they put standings for Unrated into the file for the Championship section.  Now they took down *all* of the results.

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K-12 Championship (329 players)

#139 Taylor McCreary (1837)

K-9 Championship (145 players)

#3 FM Cameron Wheeler (2291)
#7 NM Vignesh Panchanatham (2202)
#18 Solomon Ruddell (2065)
#23 Joshua Cao (2030)
#43 Pranav Srihari (1884)
#53 Daniel Ho (1856)
#54 Arhant Katare (1838)
#55 Vikram Vasan (1837)
Kennedy Middle School (Cupertino) 4 players (Wheeler, Srihari, Katare, Wang)
Irvington High School (Fremont) 4 players (Ho, Wang, Chahal, Jaha)

K-8 Championship (260 players)

#3 Allan Beilin (2161)
#5 Siddharth Banik (2117)
#25 Armaan Kalyanpur (1933)
Hopkins Middle School (Fremont) 6 players (Kalyanpur, Kong, Shah, Zhu)

K-6 Championship (203 players)

#1 FM Tanuj Vasudeva (2150)
#37 Amit Sant (1735)
Mission San Jose Elementary (Fremont) 8 players (Sant, Pan, Pan, Das)

K-5 Championship (359 players)

#2 Rayan Taghizadeh (2021)
#15 Joanna Liu (1847)
#29 Ganesh Murugappan (1761)
#31 Anthony Zhou (1741)
Gomes Elementary School (Fremont) 5 players (Liu, Murugappan, Zhang, Sartorio)
Weibel Elementary School (Fremont) 6 players (Zhou, Surapaneni, Show, Mandadi)

K-3 Championship (280 players)

#4 Ben Rood (1798)
#13 Andrew Hong (1692)
#18 Milind Maiti (1612)
#22 Rishith Susarla (1609)
#27 Chenyi Zhao (1558)
Mission San Jose Elementary (Fremont) 6 players (Susarla, Meiyappan, Thomas, Liu)
Weibel Elementary School (Fremont) 4 players (Wu, Law, Mistry, Lee)

K-1 Championship (351 players)

#1 Chinguun Bayaraa (1644)
#10 Maurya Palusa (1306)
#13 Kevin Pan (1277)
Mission San Jose Elementary (Fremont) 8 players (Pan, He, Chen, Rao)
Weibel Elementary School (Fremont) 4 players (Chitlu, Chen, Hu, Law)

Checkmate! Fremont students win national chess title

(Coach Joe Lonsdale reviews games at the 2008 CalChess Scholastics.)

The online magazine InsideBayArea.com published this article on the success of Mission San Jose Elementary's chess team at SuperNationals in Nashville. A group of 16 kids collected top 10 team trophies in three different sections, including first place in the K-6 Championship! To put this in perspective, no Bay Area school has won a national title since Lowell High School did in 1994. In fact, one of the New York City programs captures the Elementary school title in most years.

The organizer and driving force behind the team is coach Joe Lonsdale. Here he describes the achievement: "I've been aiming for this for four years. I had a group of second-graders I started with. ... I recognized I had a group with tremendous talent. I've watched them blossom," Lonsdale said. "I've always believed the students are very bright and very capable. But seeing them get the national, it's very satisfying."

Photos and Results from Nashville

(Here is a photo of the Saratoga High School team. Top row from left: parent Steve Young, Charles Sun, Aaron Garg and Alex Lun. Middle: Brian Wai. Bottom row from left: Sankash Shankar, Evan Ye and Coach Fpawn. Not pictured: Avinash Kumar.)

Please accept my sincere apologies for the delay in posting a report about SuperNationals IV. I am actually still recovering from the travel; my battle scars include one sprained toe, two bruises above my right eye and a mildly sprained left elbow. Despite these wounds, the trip to Nashville and back went quite well, at least away from the chess board.

Unfortunately, the results at the chess board were quite mixed. The Saratoga High School team finished in 11th place, a respectable finish in a very difficult section of 15 masters and over 50 experts. Kudos to Jeff Young for earning honorable mention with 5.0/7 and to Evan Ye for a solid 3.5/7 against five opponents rated over 1850. The U1600 team, severely handicapped by having only three players, ended up in 28th place. Despite the ups and downs, all eight players from Saratoga seemed to enjoy the team adventure.

As most readers probably already know, the Mission San Jose Elementary team went to Nashville and conquered the K-6 Championship! They blew open a tight race in the final round with a dominating 4-0 score. Special congrats to Hemang Jangle for crushing the top seed (rated 2174) and earning the 17th place individual trophy. See the photo at right of Hemang with his younger sister and former World Champion Garry Kasparov. The rest of the team joined Hemang to finish tied at 5.0/7: Jerome Sun got 20th, James Kwok 24th and Armaan Kalyanpur 33rd place trophies. MSJE also earned two more top 10 team trophies in K-5 and K-3, both for 9th place. The lion's share of credit for organizing such a successful elementary school chess club goes to MSJE coach Joe Lonsdale.

Four local players earned top 10 honors individually, led by National K-3 Champion Cameron Wheeler! Cameron won all 7 games, defeating friend Vignesh Panchanatham in the final round, and now is rated nearly 1800. The photo at left of Vignesh and Cameron was posted on Chess Life Online. Vignesh still earned the 4th place trophy as a consolation for a strong performance. Joseph Wan and Rayan Taghizadeh both got 6.0/7 in the K-1 section, earning 4th and 5th place trophies.

Click here for the final standings and the USCF rating report.

If any local parents have additional photographs that I may post, please forward them to me at the address located in the right sidebar.

Hello from Nashville!

(This photo shows the atrium of the Cascades section of the hotel, where we are staying.)

Everyone seems to have arrived at the Gaylord Opryland hotel in Nashville, the site of SuperNationals IV. Unfortunately, we had some unexpected adventures en route; the weather was terrible. In fact, a tornado touched down within five miles from the playing site, causing a major evacuation before we arrived. Our flights came down just minutes after the severe thunderstorm passed through, but we still saw multiple lightning strikes nearby. I wonder how come they even let us land in this storm; actually Jeff and his father were diverted to Louisville due to the bad weather and arrived two hours late.

To make a long story short, the Saratoga High School chess team players were in our hotel rooms by 8pm Central time last night. We had dinner in the hotel, although the service was quite slow. Our three rooms are nice, maybe 30% larger than the room we crammed into four years ago, and are all close to each other. Unfortunately, we are located in the Cascades area of the hotel, near the lobby yet far away from the playing site. With everything under one roof, I guess it isn't too big of a problem.

Perhaps the biggest obstacle that we encountered so far was the parking gate to the self-parking lot. Unfortunately, Charles Sun's father had to waste several hours trying many different keys just to get the gate to open up. This was a big inconvenience. :-(

The main tournament begins today with the opening ceremony at 11am. The keynote speaker will be none other than Garry Kasparov. However, I doubt that I will attend because it will extremely crowded; less than half of the attendees can fit into the theater. Kasparov also will play the ceremonial first move on board 1 of the High School section this afternoon, which should allow our team a chance to see him up close.

The first round is at 1pm Central time and the second is at 7pm tonight. There are 5277 entries as of Friday morning, including 46 from Northern California! I do not yet see a link to the online pairings and results, but that information should be posted later today at the official website. In the meantime, check out this article on Chess Life Online for a parent's perspective on this big tournament.

Good luck to all of the CalChess kids playing in Nashville!

Update: Results and pairings will be posted here.

Countdown to SuperNationals

(This map illustrates the size of the Opryland complex--a mega hotel with over 2800 rooms. The lobby is at the lower left while the convention center is at the upper right.)

The wait is finally over! Over three dozen Northern California players will fly to Tennessee tomorrow in anticipation of one of the largest chess tournaments in world history! The entry list has 5191 participants on the eve of the festival at the Gaylord Opryland. The opening ceremony is on Friday at 11:00am CDT and the first round starts two hours later.

The CalChess delegation consists of 44 players plus accompanying parents and coaches. A majority of the participants represent one of two large school teams: Saratoga High School (8) and Mission San Jose Elementary (16). Below is a listing of the top local players in each section. Click on the links to my website for files showing players in rating order as well as by team.

K-12 Champ (357 players)

• #56 Evan Sandberg 2009
• #61 Jeff Young 1996 -- Saratoga
• #107 Arthur Liou 1859
• #107 Charles Sun 1859 -- Saratoga
• #113 Brian Wai 1849 -- Saratoga
• #124 Aaron Garg 1820 -- Saratoga
  

K-12 U1600 (310 players)

• #17 Alex Lun 1536 -- Saratoga
• #18 Sankash Shankar 1532 -- Saratoga
• #19 Avinash Kumar 1531 -- Saratoga

K-8 Champ (233 players)

• #52 Aamir Azhar 1695

K-6 Champ (215 players)

• #17 Jerome Sun 1864 -- MSJE
• #21 James Kwok 1816 -- MSJE
• #25 Hemang Jangle 1737 -- MSJE
• #63 Armaan Kalyanpur 1541 -- MSJE
  

K-5 Champ (306 players)

• #4 Kyle Shin 1905 -- reigning National 5th Grade Champion (see photo at right)
  

K-3 Champ (238 players)

• #5 Vignesh Panchantham 1654
• #10 Cameron Wheeler 1589

K-1 Champ (299 players)

• #10 Rayan Taghizadeh 1003

Saratoga High School fields teams in both the K-12 Championship and K-12 U1600. The elite team is ranked #7 by the average rating of the top 4 boards, but the competition is extremely fierce. There will be quite a few very good teams, including three rated above 2100! While the U1600 team has only three players, they all are rated in the top 10% of the section and can fight for both individual honors and a respectable team trophy.

Mission San Jose Elementary has three teams in the K-6 Champ, K-5 Champ and K-3 Champ. The K-6 Champ team is ranked #1 by average rating of the top 4 boards. Before anyone counts their chickens before they hatch, I would caution that the usually underrated New York programs and one strong team from Virginia will offer serious competition. The younger kids from MSJE are not quite as highly ranked, but still the K-3 Champ team is seeded #8 in their section.

Wish us all good luck! Please check the Fpawn Blog throughout the weekend for daily updates, usually at night after the kids have gone to bed. I will post occasional news from my cell phone onto my Twitter feed. Of course, the USCF website will have stories each day. Finally, check the official SuperNationals website for news, pairings and results.

Are You Ready for SuperNationals?

This is the Big Dance. And I mean BIG. Nearly 4800 players have registered with a week to go and I expect to see up to 5500 kids total. An unofficial world record of 5373 was set in 2005 at Supernationals III in the same venue. The entire humongous resort is sold out, all 2881 rooms. In fact, with a healthy economy, the record would already be history.

The seniors on the Saratoga High School chess team and I were there in 2005. Four seniors are joined this year by one junior and three freshmen (see 2007 team photo at left). This year's squad of Jeff Young, Charles Sun, Brian Wai, Aaron Garg and Evan Ye will be slightly higher rated than the one that took 3rd in 2006, but still seeded only about 7th or 8th (1881 average of the top 4) in the incredibly difficult High School division--14 masters and about 45 experts at the top of a wallchart of more than 335 players. The top ranked team from Stuyvesant High School (New York City) has IM Robert Hess, who just last week earned a GM norm by winning the Spice Spring Invitational, and three experts for a whopping 2177 average. This year for the first time, Saratoga High also fields a team in the K-12 U1600 section: Alex Lun, Avinash Kumar and Sankash Shankar.

The entire Northern California delegation consists of 40 players right now, but I know of three who have not yet registered. Five more of my proteges will attend, for a total of over a dozen students. Two more are in the K-12 section and one will compete in each of the K-8, K-6 and K-5 sections. In Fremont, Mission San Jose Elementary has put together a powerful team (Jerome Sun, James Kwok, Hemang Jangle and Arman Kalyanpur) ranked tops in K-6 at 1739, nearly 200 points above the elite New York City schools. Can the California boys shock the nation and win Elementary School nationals? Finally, I received late word that 2007 National High School co-champion Michael Zhong will be attending for an encore.

I have accepted the invitation of MSJE coach Joe Lonsdale to share his big team room in Nashville. I expect many Northern California players to hang out there. The room seats about 80 but there will be only about 45 players plus their parents. I will be available to review games throughout the entire weekend.

Besides the large turnout and tough competition, the most exciting news from Nashville seems to be visits by former World Champion Garry Kasparov, Women's World Champion Alexandra Kosteniuk and a variety of other elite Grandmasters including US Champion Yury Shulman and former US Champions Alexander Shabalov and Joel Benjamin. Kasparov (see photo at right) will make four public appearances, including a book signing on Friday afternoon and playing the first move in round 1 on top board of the High School section.

• Official website
  
• Advance entries
• Event schedule
• Floor layout of the Opryland hotel
• Satellite view of Opryland hotel and surrounding area

I will be posting daily updates to this blog from Nashville. I also set up my cell phone to make more frequent updates on Twitter throughout the weekend (view my Twitter feed at the right sidebar of the blog).

SuperNational IV Website Launched

(I plan to attend this tournament as a coach and recommend that students begin considering the trip as well. It is THE event in 2009, all under one roof! Even if you wait until next year to make the final decision, I suggest reserving a room now. Despite the economy, I expect the turnout to exceed 5000 players plus family and coaches!)

Announcement from the USCF

Here is the link to the SuperNationals website - http://www.supernationalsiv.com/.

You can find tournament and hotel information as well as discounts and local attractions. We will be adding more in the days to come.

Please forward this to as many people as possible and encourage them to visit the site and pass the word to others. We are trying to demonstrate to potential sponsors that our scholastic audience is much larger than those who come to the events. Hits (and separate IP addresses) on the website are a concrete way of making that point.

Thank you for your help. If you think of FAQ’s or other information which would be helpful to add for this event, please let us know. We look forward to your feedback.