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New York Greater Scholastic Photos by Vanessa Sun
Chicago Greater Scholastic Photos by Jorge Barrera, thanks to Renaissance Knights
This past weekend a celebration of scholastic chess happened in three major regions of America. The Kasparov Chess Foundation is celebrating their 15th year anniversay, and they are doing so by expanding their projects, which at the very forefront is the commitment to scholastic chess in all of the United States.
Record-breaking attendance was seen at the Greater New York, Greater Chicago and Greater Baltimore tournaments, even though it was Super Bowl weekend! Combined, well over 2000 K-12 players participated in these events, ranging from relative beginners to titled players.
The New York event alone attracted 1478 players!
The banners celebrating the 15 years of the Kasparov Chess Foundation
and welcoming players, parents, and coaches, to the playing hall
Garry Kasparov made an appearance, even making the first move in some of the top boards!
There were a variety of tournament sections, based on age and rating band. These were the final winners from the Championship (open) section in High School, Junior High, Elementary, Primary and K-1: The High School Championship was taken by the highest rated player, FM Ethan Li, who swept the field with a convincing 5.5/6. He was followed closely by Max Li and Dennis Li.
| Place | Name | Rtng | Team | Grd | St | Tot |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | FM Ethan Li | 2390 | LIPAT | 11 | NY | 5.5 |
| 2-3 | Max Li | 2083 | EMONJS | 09 | NY | 5 |
| Dennis Li | 2158 | 09 | CT | 5 | ||
| 4-5 | Henry Qi | 2210 | WTCLARK | 10 | NY | 4.5 |
| Brian Arthur | 2058 | EMURR | 12 | NY | 4.5 | |
| 6-9 | Daniel Regassa | 1936 | STUY | 11 | NY | 4 |
| Nicholas Cardenas | 2001 | TRENHS | 11 | NJ | 4 | |
| Tristan Dalhouse | 1836 | EMURR | 11 | NY | 4 | |
| Diante Davis | 2016 | BCSM | 11 | NY | 4 | |
| 10-19 | Mubassar Uddin | 2013 | NEST | 12 | NY | 3.5 |
Meanwhile in the Junior High Championship there was again a clear rating favorite: FM Hans Niemann who took the event with another 5.5/6. He was followed very closely by three players!
FM Hans Niemann got the job done, but it was not easy
| Place | Name | Rtng | Team | Grd | St | Tot |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | FM Hans Niemann | 2402 | 08 | CT | 5.5 | |
| 2-4 | Alan Zhang | 2120 | 07 | NJ | 5 | |
| Brandon Wang | 2108 | 07 | NY | 5 | ||
| Theo Kogan | 1668 | CGPS | 07 | NY | 5 | |
| 5-10 | Wesley Wang | 2257 | JERIMS | 07 | NEW | 4.5 |
| Justin Chen | 2264 | LAB-M | 08 | NY | 4.5 | |
| Ankit Raparthi | 1900 | COLLG | 07 | NY | 4.5 | |
| Marcus Sutton | 1952 | I318K | 08 | NY | 4.5 | |
| Katrina Wong | 1868 | I318K | 08 | NY | 4.5 | |
| James Lee | 1922 | SPEYR | 07 | NY | 4.5 |
The Elementary Championship section was a hard fought battle, and it all came down to the duel between Nico Chasin against Vincent Tsay in the last round to determine the winner. It was Nico that emerged on top and won the event!
| # | Place | Name | Rtng | Team | Grd | St | Tot |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 1 | Nico Chasin | 2107 | P41M | 04 | NY | 6 |
| 2 | 2-8 | Jason Lu | 1905 | 05 | NJ | 5 | |
| 3 | Charles Hua | 1869 | NEST | 05 | NY | 5 | |
| 4 | Vincent Tsay | 2127 | BUCDAY | 06 | NY | 5 | |
| 5 | Davis Zong | 2078 | NEST | 05 | NY | 5 | |
| 6 | Leonardo Liu | 1753 | 06 | NEW | 5 | ||
| 7 | William Tse | 1641 | P33M | 04 | NY | 5 | |
| 8 | Eric Sheng Wu | 1782 | PRDAY | 05 | NJ | 5 | |
| 9 | 9-14 | Eddy Tian | 2111 | 04 | NJ | 4.5 | |
| 10 | Paris Prestia | 1860 | LLOYDE | 05 | NY | 4.5 |
The only section that did not have a clear winner was, interestingly, the youngest section! In the K-1 we saw a big five-way tie for first place! Due to the tiebreak system, it was Oliver Boydell that got first:
| Place | Name | Rtng | Team | Grd | St | Tot |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1-5 | Oliver Boydell | 1427 | UNIS | 01 | NY | 5 |
| Will Luo | 888 | 01 | NJ | 5 | ||
| Xan Meister | 1420 | COLLG | 01 | NY | 5 | |
| Ranbeer Arora | 1017 | COLLG | 01 | NY | 5 | |
| Avaan Chamadia | 949 | P11M | 01 | NY | 5 | |
| 6-9 | Christoffer Lamtan | 873 | P11M | 01 | NY | 4.5 |
| Jasper Ho | 990 | SPEYR | 01 | NY | 4.5 | |
| Kai Gabriel Tsuboyama | 824 | NEST | 01 | NY | 4.5 | |
| Stephanie Weinberg | 760 | DALTN | 01 | NY | 4.5 | |
| 10-18 | Kabeer Arora | 835 | COLLG | 01 | NY | 4 |
Vanessa Sun, chess player, journalist and enthusiast from New York brings us these beautiful impressions from the Greater New York tournament:
The players got to tell the former World Champion what they wanted to open with…
Some requested the normal 1.e4 or 1.d4...
But this girl made Kasparov open with 1.f4!
Coaches hard at work: grandmasters Irina Krush and Alex Lenderman
Tough battle sin the younger sections
Some players were clearly dressed for the occasion
Sweet feeling of victory
A proud scholastic chess team
Sophie Suzuki-Morris is one of the most talented female youngsters in the U.S.
Women's chess from the U.S. Chess Federation had a strong presence at the event
The photographer/fan, Vanessa Sun, with Garry Kasparov
The tournament in Chicago brought 432 players from the Chicago/Mid-West area. The tournament was organized in conjunction with Renaissance Knights.
2017 Greater Chicago Champions
| Section | Individual Champions | Team Champions |
| Primary K-3 JV | Siri Chennareddy - Decatur Classical, Chicago, IL | Decatur Classical, Chicago, IL |
| Primary K-3 Varsity | Ria Raj - Peterson, Naperville, IL | Avery Coonley, Downer Groves, IL |
| Elementary K-6 JV | Richard Li - Ivy Hall, Buffalo Grove, IL | Whittier, Oak Park, IL |
| Idden Tsai - Keller, Chicago, IL | ||
| Junior High K-9 JV | Daniel Chen - Kennedy, Naperville, IL | Kinzie, Chicago, IL |
| Junior High K-9 Varsity | Jay Neel - Whitney Young H.S. , Chicago, IL | Whitney Young H.S., Chicago, IL |
| Junior High K-9 Varsity | Cesar Escutia - Joliet Central H.S., Joliet, IL | Joliet Central H.S., Joliet, IL |
| High School K-12 Varsity | Deniz Gulecyuz - Whitney Young H.S., Chicago, IL | Walter Payton H.S., Chicago, IL |
Full concentration mode in Chicago
The tournament runs smoothly thanks to the very capable TDs!
Players from all over the Chicago region came to participate
Some brought their good luck charms!
Others relied on their pre-game chess-conniving
Lucky pens were not rare
"You played what!?" The winners were decided in dramatic games
Some players came from different states. In total, 134 schools from five different states were tallied in the Chicago area.
Sometimes the trophies were bigger than the players
Despite the difference in Baseball team allegiance, they emerged chess champions together!
Many schools came with their own uniform, and sometimes, coaches!
Beeming with pride
The Greater Baltimore Scholastic was the smallest of the three events, but still brought together more than 250 participants. The Kasparov Chess Foundation will continue with these Greater Scholastic events, including events in California and the All-Girls tournament later this year.
