Panchanatham, Moy and Fremont Schools Victorious at Elementary Nationals

Vignesh Panchanatham

Kevin Moy

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!!

Final results.  Competing at the Nationals is a challenge for even the very best.  Indeed, the best player may not win.  I tell juniors and their parents that they might score 5.5 or 6.0 by skill, but need luck to finish in the top-3.  By this standard, I offer my kudos  to Rishith, Milind, Agnes, Edwin, Balaji, Chenyi, Jason Z., Michael W. and Abhishek!  Vignesh and Kevin M. finished at an even higher level, sharing first place in the K-6 division (photos by Shorman).  All told, the Northern California delegation combined to win 15 individual trophies in the championship sections!

Here is a special round of applause for the players, coaches and parents at MSJE.  They dominated the CalChess Scholastics across the board.  Three weeks later, the team flew to Nashville and earned a trio of top-7 trophies at National Elementary, including the highest honors in K-1.  Year in and year out, the Mission San Jose chess community is simply amazing!  Way to go Coach Joe Lonsdale!

I would be remiss if I didn't mention another school that (sadly) sat out the CalChess Scholastics.  The highly rated Weibel Elementary team struggled for much of the weekend.  Needing to pull a rabbit out of the hat in the last round, Coach Alan Kirshner gave his best motivational speech.  The four players all won, and the team squeaked into first place on tiebreaks, ahead of two New York City programs.  

Northern California Final Results
Click here for standings and trophies.

K-6 Championship

• Vignesh Panchanatham 6.0 - CO-CHAMPION and 2nd on tiebreaks
• Kevin Moy 6.0 - CO-CHAMPION and 5th on tiebreaks
• Michael Wang 5.5 - 8th place
• Abhishek Handigol 5.5 - 12th place
• Shalin Shah 4.5
• Alvin Kong 4.0
• Anthony Zhou 4.0 
• Sayan Das 4.0
• Eric Zhu 4.0 
• Weibel team - CO-CHAMPION and 1st on tiebreaks
• MSJE team in 6th place

K-5 Championship

• Amit Sant 5.0- 28th place
• Drake Lin 4.0

K-3 Championship

• Chenyi Zhao 5.5 - 13th place
• Jason Zhang 5.5 - 17th place
• Ben Rood 5.0 - 25th place
• John Chan 4.5
• Anvi Surapaneni 4.5
• Mihir Bhuptani 4.0
• Tommy Koh 4.0
• Daniel Mendelevitch 4.0
• Atri Surapaneni 4.0
• MSJE team in 7th place

K-1 Championship

• Rishith Susarla 6.0 - 4th place
• Milind Maiti 6.0 - 8th place
• Agnes William 6.0 - 9th place
• Edwin Thomas 5.5 - 16th place 
• Balaji Daggupati 5.5 - 17th place
• Louis Law 5.0 - 30th place
• Zhiyi Wang 5.0 - 46th place
• Amulya Harish 4.0 
• Oliver Wu 4.0
• Annapoorni Meiyappan 4.0
• Vincent Wang 4.0
• Xander Del Bosque 4.0
• Kevin Pan 4.0
• MSJE team -- CO-CHAMPION and 1st on tiebreaks

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