Results From Junior High Nationals

After a wild loss on Sunday morning, Steven Zierk won his last round game at Junior High School Nationals in Dallas to finish with a strong showing of 5.5 out of 7. He took home the 4th place trophy, becoming my third student to achieve a top four finish in the K-9 division (David Chock in 2005 and Gregory Young in 2007). Way to go Zkid!

The only player to beat Steven, NM Michael Lee from Seattle (see photo from US Chess League website), became national champion with an impressive score of 6.5 out of 7. The round 6 blunderfest between 8th grader Michael and 9th grader Steven was far from perfect, but quite entertaining for spectators on MonRoi. Click here to play through the game in Chess Publisher.

The other group of CalChess players who flew to Dallas were eight students from St. Mark's School in San Rafael, coached by Ray Orwig. Their team, playing in the K-9 U1250 section, rallied in the final round to earn the 10th place team trophy. Good job!

In an impressive display of efficiency, the tournament was already USCF rated by 8pm Dallas time, less than two hours after the last game ended! Kudos to the directing staff.

Big Showdown Tomorrow in Dallas!

(Board 1 showdown on on Sunday morning in Dallas: Michael Lee on the left against Steven Zierk on the right. Photos from the tournament album on the MonRoi website.)

After five rounds of action, nothing has been settled yet at the Junior High School Nationals in Dallas. Although nobody has a perfect score in the elite K-9 division, there are still four players tied for first place at 4.5 points. The top board tomorrow morning will pit 8th grader NM Michael Lee (2277) from Seattle as white against Los Gatos High School 9th grader Steven Zierk (2105). Two more competitors are tied for the lead and will square off on board 2: 5th grader Darwin Yang (2159) and 7th grader Jason Jia (1884), both hailing from the Lone Star State. Those of us in California can watch live on MonRoi beginning at 7:00am. The seventh and final round is scheduled for 12:00 noon PDT.

Steven has done well so far with wins against two 1900s and a draw in round 5 against Raven Sturt (2082) from New York. Thanks to a draw on board 1 between Michael Lee and Darwin Yang, our hero is still tied for first place. Zkid, go get 'em!

The St. Mark's School team has 9.5 points in the K-9 U1250 division, which is good for 12th place after five rounds. Their top player, Puneeth Gadangi (1668), has 3.0 points in the difficult K-8 division. Good luck to longtime coach Ray Orwig and his team!

Update on Sunday morning: Unfortunately, Steven lost in an extremely wild Dutch defense game. Give credit to both competitors for playing exciting chess.

Zierk Is 2-0 at Junior High Nationals

Steven Zierk won his first two games today at Junior High School Nationals in Dallas, Texas. Playing in the competitive K-9 division, Steven defeated two opponents from the host state, including talented second grader Dachey Lin (1748), the nation's top ranked 8 year old. There's no doubt that the pairings will become more difficult tomorrow, as there are a dozen players rated over 2000 in the section. The top two seeds are NM Michael Lee (2277) from Washington state and NM Parker Zhao (2225) from New York. Steven, officially rated 2105, is the fifth seeded player. Goooo Zkid!

Unfortunately, very few other kids from CalChess are playing this year; even the overall attendance is down by about 10%. Only Ray Orwig has made his annual pilgrimage to nationals with eight students from St. Mark's School in San Rafael. His top rated player, Puneeth Gadangi (1668) won in both of the first two rounds; the rest of the team is playing in the K-9 U1250 division.

Games from the top boards are available live on MonRoi as long as the convention center's internet stays up. Free registration is required, but that's worth it to watch the games between exciting young players. The pairing on board 2 between the country's top first grader Raymond Sun (1784) and NM Parker Zhao appeared interesting, but the game was anticlimactic when Zhao won a piece on move 10.

Update on Saturday morning: Steven is now 3-0.
Update on Saturday afternoon: Steven wins again and now stands at 4-0.