Zkid, Students Dominate Birthday Blitz

Steven Zierk at age 12.

Grandmaster Steven Zierk won the first eight rounds en route to victory in the Fpawn Birthday Blitz Bash on Chess.com. For the second straight Sunday, Zkid dominated Northern California's best at blitz, scoring a combined 19.5 out of 22. This week, after overcoming difficult positions in rounds 3 and 4, the GM asserted himself with the white pieces in the English opening. This game would determine the top medals, as IM Yian Liou became the lone competitor to finish within shouting distance of the region's 800 lb gorilla.

Saratoga HS and Redwood MS
teams in 2007.

This evening of socially distanced blitz doubled as the birthday party for Coach Fpawn. Nearly half of the 36 participants were either current (5) or former (12) private students. Here's a big shout out to four members of the Saratoga High School team that captured six consecutive state titles from 2005 to 2010: Brian, Charles, David and Evan! Kudos to school captain David Chock for a strong performance a dozen years after his last USCF rated chess tournament. Other past students who joined the virtual party were Alex, Andrew, Dan, Eric, Gabe, Josh, Steven and Yian.

Perhaps it comes as small surprise that the top six places were occupied by five former students and one current mentee. The domination was complete; only one unaffiliated player scored more than 5 out of 10! Thanks guys for making your coach proud even after so many years.

Final Standings of the Fpawn Birthday Blitz Bash (full results here)

1. GM Zkid (Steven Zierk) 9.0 out of 10
2. IM RolyPolySword (Yian Liou) 8.5
3. NM 2Bf41-0 (Kirk Ghazarian) 7.5
4. IM cheese111 (Gabe Bick) 7.0
5. NM DSchwarz (Dan Schwarz) 7.0
6. chockbored (David Chock) 6.0
7. chessforme17 (Advay Bansal) 6.0
8. Ten tied at 5.0: mzhong21, fpawn, ericlgame, agrossman, mykehawke, championps, EM-TheChessShark, vish1080, knvsback and Mangonel

Mechanics' Institute
in San Francisco

Unfortunately, yours truly failed to play up to his usual standards. The frustration ran deep, e.g. flagging up a pawn with two extra minutes on the clock or moving a knight into capture in an easily winning position. Then came the inexcusable 21 move loss against the hippo. Next time!

Thanks to everyone who joined! It felt great watching some of you push pawns after so many years. Also thanks to Judit Sztaray of the Mechanics' Institute Chess Club for promoting the evening and hosting the virtual Meet & Greet on Zoom before the first round.

CalChess State Scholastics History

Bay Area Chess hosts the annual CalChess State Scholastic Championships this weekend in Santa Clara. This year is the 44th edition of a tradition that started at a school, but has grown to fill several halls of a major convention center. Roughly 1200 children compete in 16 sections divided by age and chess skill. On Sunday evening, state champions will be crowned for the five Championship divisions: K-3, K-5, K-6, K-8 and K-12.

List of Scholastic Champions from 1986 to present

Check out the following trivia from more than three decades. Unfortunately, the records from 1976 through 1985 are not readily available.

• First exceeded 500 players = 1997
• First exceeded 1000 players = 2001
• Largest turnout = 1319 in 2006
• New sections added = Elementary K-5 section was only introduced in 2007 while Kindergarten began in 1997
• Most High School individual titles = Vinay Bhat won 4 from 1998-2002. Three masters won 3 times: Andy McManus (1987-1990), Dmitry Zilberstein (1994-1997) and Cameron Wheeler (2013-2015).
• Most High School team titles = 6 shared by Lowell High (1986-1994) and Saratoga High (2005-2010)
• Youngest High School winner = 5th grader Daniel Naroditsky
• Three 5-time champions = Vinay Bhat (K-3, K-12, K-12, K-12, K-12), Neel Apte (K-3, K-5, K-6, K-8, K-8), and Cameron Wheeler (K-5, K-6, K-12, K-12, K-12)
• Four 4-time champions = Micah Fischer-Kirshner (K-3, K-6, K-6, K-12), Adam Lischinsky (K-3, K-3, K-8, K-12), Daniel Naroditsky (K-3, K-6, K-12, K-12), and James Kwok (K-3, K-6, K-8, K-8) 
• Eleven 3-time champions = Andy McManus, Alan Stein, Dmitry Zilberstein, Keith Yost, Daniel Schwarz, Steven Zierk, Yian Liou, Kyle Shin, Tanuj Vasudeva, Siddharth Banik, Kevin Pan
• Grand Slam champions = None! Must win all four of K-3, either K-5 or K-6, K-8, and K-12. Eight juniors have won 3 out of 4. 
• Champions to become GM = Vinay Bhat, Steven Zierk, Daniel Naroditsky
• Champions to become IM = Alan Stein, Dmitry Zilberstein, Philip Wang, Yian Liou, Vignesh Panchanatham, Cameron Wheeler, Kesav Viswanadha
• Current US Champion Sam Shankland never won at the CalChess Scholastics. However, he became adult State Champ at age 16 (a record that was recently broken).
• The Schism of 2005 saw the CalChess Scholastics in Oakland compete against the CalNorth Regional in San Jose on same weekend. The Regional drew over twice as many kids (906 to 397).
• More than 20 false 9-1-1 calls from public telephones marred the 1998 edition at the Santa Clara Convention Center.
• Kudos to the main organizers = Ray Orwig, Dr. Alan Kirshner, Richard Peterson, Dr. Salman Azhar, and Dr. Judit Sztaray

Please contact Michael Aigner with errors, omissions, or additional trivia. Many thanks to Dr. Alan Kirshner for maintaining the records from 1986 to 2011. 

CalChess Crowns New Scholastic Champs

Playing room for divisions playing on 2-day schedule. Credit: ChessDryad

The 40th CalChess Scholastic Championship drew over 900 participants, their families and coaches to the Santa Clara Convention Center.  Despite the mass of humanity at the start of each round and a country music concert across the street, most of the kids enjoyed playing chess.  Many thanks to Bay Area Chess for organizing this complex event, especially Judit Sztaray plus her most experienced directors Tom Langland and John McCumiskey.

• Click for full results.
• Click for USCF rating report.
• Click for photos by Richard Shorman.
• Click for photos by Dr. Alan Kirshner.

TD Tom and Coach Joe with MSJE K-5 team.

Kudos to top seeded FM Cameron Wheeler for winning the challenging High School division for an unprecedented third straight year!  Incredibly, Cam is just a freshman and could conceivably win another three times.  His school, Monta Vista High School of Cupertino, easily claimed first place, nearly doubling the next best score.

The Elementary School divisions were dominated by well-established chess programs based in Fremont.  Mission San Jose Elementary, guided by veteran coach Joe Lonsdale, swept the K-6, K-5 and K-3 championships for the fourth straight year!  However, crosstown rival Weibel Elementary proved competitive in all three divisions, especially in K-6 where a half point separated first and second.  NorCal House of Chess won the club competition in both K-6 and K-5, but Liu Chess Club pulled ahead in K-3.  I tip my hat to Coach Ted Castro and Coach Wei Liu.

Congratulations to all of the State Champions!


Individual Champions

• K-12: FM Cameron Wheeler
• Denker Invitee: FM Vignesh Panchanatham
• K-8: CM Pranav Senthilkumar
• Barber Invitee: FM Rayan Taghizadeh
• Girl's Invitee: Simona Nayberg
• K-6: Eeswar Sree Kurli and Daniel Cheng
• K-5: Rishith Susarla
• K-3: Adrian Kondakov, Aghilan Nachiappan, Joon Kim and Prarthan Ghosh
• K: Nitish Nath and Vaibhav Krishnan

Team and Club Champions

• K-12 Team: Monta Vista HS (Cupertino)
• K-8 Team: Miller MS (Cupertino)
• K-8 Club: NorCal House of Chess (Fremont)
• K-6 Team: Mission San Jose Elementary (Fremont)
• K-6 Club: NorCal House of Chess (Fremont)
• K-5 Team: Mission San Jose Elementary (Fremont)
• K-5 Club: NorCal House of Chess (Fremont)
• K-3 Team: Mission San Jose Elementary (Fremont)
• K-3 Club: Liu Chess Club (Palo Alto)