Illinois Players Score at SuperNationals V

Matthew Stevens (L), Tej Rai, and Ricky Wang (R) collect their hardware in the Elementary division at SuperNationals V in Nashville, TN.

With 5341 competitors battling it out at the boards, Illinois players took home two of the seven individual championships conferred at SuperNationals V.

Aydin Turgut and David Peng are no strangers to tournament winner circles but they can now add "National Champion" to their chess resumes.

The quadrennial SuperNationals were held in Nashville, TN, April 5-7, 2013 with a strong Illinois presence in 20 sections.

Aydin swept the K-3 Championship with a perfect 7.0/7 score. He defeated the third, fifth and sixth place finishers along the way.

David settled for a seventh round draw to claim sole possession of the K-6 Championship with a 6.5/7 tally. David was awarded a scholarship to University of Texas at Dallas and will represent the United States in upcoming international competition.

In that same section, Akhil Kalghatgi (8th) and Matthew Stevens (9th) posted 5.5/7 scores in the K-6, tying for 6th through 14th place. A half-point off with 5.0/7, Nikhil Kalghatgi tied for 15th-35st position and finished in 31st place on tiebreaks. Nikhil and Akhil's excellent scores were enough to earn South Loop School of Chicago 12th place in the K-6 team competition out of 25 teams registered. As the top Illinois school, South Loop finished ahead of several schools with four entrants in the tournament!

Alex Bian's 6.0/7 earned him a tie for second through fifth place and the fifth place trophy in the K-8 Championship.

Fifth-grader David Peng (R) of Northbrook competes on the tournament stage during the last round of the K-6 Championship. David drew with Advait Patel, a West Virginia 6th-grader, claiming the national championship. Advait took second in the 198-player section.

Former K-1 Champion Vincent Do survived a third round loss to finish 6.0/7 in the K-5 Championship, tying for second through eighth place. Vincent claimed the sixth place trophy on tiebreaks. Also in that section, Ricky Wang (15th) and Tej Rai (16th) tied for ninth through 23rd place with 5.5/7 scores.

Junior Sam Schmakel's sole hiccup was a fourth round loss to the eventual K-12 Champion, Atulya Shetty of Michigan. Sam's 6.0/7 score tied him for second through eighth place and earned him the seventh place trophy.

Also in the K-12 Championship, sophomores Nathan Kranjc and Max Zinski finished with 5.0/7, tying for 19th through 47th place out of 327 competitors. Nathan was 22nd on tiebreaks, Max was 36th.

In the K-9 Championship, Jonathan Hrach tied for 11th through 23rd with a 5.0/7 score, taking home the 22nd place trophy on tiebreaks.

14 Illinois high schools fielded multi-player teams in the various K-12 team sections including University Lab High School of Champaign, Stevenson of Lincolnshire, Richards of Oak Lawn, Niles North of Skokie, Naperville North, Evanston Township, Downers Grove North, Benet Academy of Lisle, Glenbard West of Glen Ellyn, Hinsdale Central, and Chicago schools Marshall, De La Salle, Northside College Prep and Whitney Young.

Aided by Sam's strong effort, Whitney Young was the top Illinois team finisher in the K-12 Championship section, placing sixth.  Phillip Parker-Turner (4.5), Jimi Akintonde (4.0), Charles Swan (3.5) and Phuc Hoang (3.5) contributed to the Whitney Young team score.

Northside finished 15th and University Lab placed 16th. Despite posting only three scores (of the allowed four entrants), Nathan and Max helped Benet Academy to a 22nd place finish out of 45 teams.

Illinois also contributed all three Chief Floor Tournament Directors with Glenn Panner, Wayne Clark and Jeff Wiewel overseeing the three-day competition.

This is part one of a three-part series.