354 players competed in eight sections at the February 7 2016 Greater Chicago K-12 Championships, 98 of whom played in one of four "Varsity" divisions. US Chess crosstables are posted.

The event was organized by Renassance Knights Chess Foundation. According to its President David Heiser, the Foundation "sponsored 151 inner city students with free entry and one year USCF (US Chess) memberships."

Matthew Varga survived a second-round draw, winning his other four matches to post the highest score in the K-12 Varsity section, 4.5/5. Eric Starkman, Michael Dula and Eduard Danilyan all posted 4.0/5's.

Varga defeated Dula in the final round to secure the championship. In the prior round, Dula had handed Starkman his lone loss. Danilyan won his four final games after starting out with a loss.

In the K-9 Varsity, a three-way tie for the top score of 4.0/5 included Siddharth Acharya, Kavin Lavari and Justin Weinzwieg. 

As the top-rated player in the entire tournament, Acharya actually saw his rating decline 14 points to 1913 despite his co-championship performance. Lavari beat Acharya in the final round.

Weinzwieg's loss came at the hands of Dimitar Mardov who might have joined that score group had it not been for a fifth-round draw against Matthew Wong.

Mardov and Wong both finished in the 3.5 score group along with Richard Porwancher, all tying for fourth place.

Mardov's loss came versus Acharya in the fourth round in a match of the two highest-rated players in the section.

Nicholas Ladan was a perfect 5-for-5 in the K-6 Varsity, defeating Aria Hoesley in the final round. Hoesley finished in a five-way tie for second which included Samy Bouzamondo, Gabe Essex, Leon Rapoport and Matthew Li.

K-3 Varsity competition was a piece of cake for Aaron Rugg. In only his second-ever US Chess-rated event, Rugg closed out his championship performance with a victory over previously undefeated David Chen. Chen placed second with his 4.0 tally. A three-way tie for third place included Vikram Oberai, Andrew Friedman and Nisha Salian.

256 (of the 354) entrants competed in sections limited by their pre-event rating from US Chess.

In K-12 U1400 play, Miste Fortin had four wins and a first-round bye to claim top honors. Fortin beat Jimmeone Jackson in the final round to close out the event. Jackson, playing his first rated event, tied for second place with eight others, all with 4.0/5.

In K-9 U1000 competition, Charlie Tiemeyer and Joshua Newburn both posted 4.5/5's, drawing against other opponents. A three-way tie for third place included Umair Ahmed, Zhu Zhu Cai and Cristian Luna, all with 4.0's. Ahmed lost to Newburn in the final round while Cai had in turn lost to Ahmed in the fourth round while Luna was losing to Tiemeyer.

K-6 U800's posted three perfect 5.0 scores from Zubair Ahmed (first rated event), John King and Anthony Luna.

In the K-3 U600, Andrey Novikov and Adam Ozsvath were both perfect 5-for-5, ahead of a nine-way tie for third place at 4.0. The nine included Yana Kapoor, Christian Daniels, Advik Lalam, Ria Raj, Austin Lok, Zach Lampros, Kai Fan, Hursh Shah and Ozan Blanton.

Picture credit: Rennaisance Knights -- Kinzie, K-9 Junior Varsity Champions