Miller, Willer Claim National High School Titles

SuperNationals V: Part 2

Not every sport allows relative newcomers -- or up-and-comers -- to participate at the national level. But the USCF thinks "outside the board," conferring championships in a variety of "under" competitions and four unrated divisions at SuperNationals V.

Under this set up, Illinois high schoolers acquitted themselves fantastically with co-champions in the K-12 Under 1200 and an outright champion in the K-12 Unrated.

K-12 Unrated

Sophomore Aaron Willer of Naperville North ran the table in his inaugural rated event, scoring 7.0 out of 7 in the 148-entrant section.

Freshman Dhruv Chempakasseril of Hinsdale Central and Junior Eric Musielski of Niles North both earned 6.0 of 7 scores, tying them for third through sixth place. Dhruv took the fourth place trophy on tiebreaks, having defeated Eric in the third round. Eric grabbed the sixth place hardware.

Tying for 14th through 27th with 5.0/7 totals were three Niles North juniors: Bolortuya Tumurbaatar (17th), Brad D'Costa (20th) and Sohail Amin (21st), along with Hinsdale freshman Yu-Lin Yang (16th) and sophomore Thomas Doon of Richards (18th). All five earned trophies in their first rated event (specified in parentheses).

Illinois high schools won four of the top 10 trophies in this section, with Niles North claiming third place, only a single point from first. Naperville North placed sixth while Hinsdale Central and Richards tied for 7th-10th, Hinsdale claiming 8th on tiebreaks, Richards 10th.

K-12 U1200

In the K-12 Under 1200, Illinois claimed co-champion bragging rights. Senior Sam Miller of Evanston Township and junior Mariel Rancel of Richards (Lincolnshire) both achieved 6.5 of 7 tallies, tying for first to fourth places. On tiebreaks, Sam grabbed the top trophy with Mariel taking the third place award.

Two Whitney Young freshmen also earned trophies in that section: Stephen Horvath finished 6.0/7 to take fifth, Caelan Burke-Kaiser notched five wins and a draw, earning the 21st place trophy while tying for 14th-27th.

Thanks to Miller's achievement, Evanston placed 9th in the team competition.

K-12 U1600

In the K-12 Under 1600 section, sophomore Philip Engstrom of Stevenson earned a fifth place trophy with his 6.0/7 score, tying for 4th-8th place. Senior Soroush Kadineh of Niles North went 5.5/7 nabbing 12th place hardware while Downers Grove North sophomore Brendon DeLaRosa's 5.0/7 score tied him for 27th-62nd, 36th on tiebreaks.

Hinsdale Central claimed fifth in the team K-12 U1600 team tally, with Stevenson claiming sixth only a half-point behind.

K-12 U800

In the K-12 Under 800, sophomore Ethan Michaels brought the third place trophy back to Downers Grove North with a 6.0/7 tally. Sophomore Adrian Villacorta of Richards achieved an identical score, bringing home the seventh place trophy on tiebreaks. Adrian's only loss was to the eventual winner from Kansas in the sixth round. Hinsdale Central sophomore Doogie Warner tallied a 5.0/7 result, earning 24th while junior Taylor Aguinaga (school affiliation unknown) earned the 31st place hardware also with 5.0/7.

In the K-12 U800, Richards claimed tenth on tiebreaks.

More than ten percent of the participants in Nashville had never competed in a USCF-rated tournament before and more than half of the 5300-plus entrants competed in Under Sections rather than grade Championships. Under the USCF, chess is truly the land of opportunity!

Illinois chess truly owes a debt of gratitude to the chess coaches from these high schools -- and the others -- along with the supportive chess parents who made this participation possible.

This is part 2 of a three-part series.