With a little help from fellow Illinois competitor Jason Daniels, Akhil Kalghatgi is now the National K-12 Blitz Champion.
The Whitney Young sophomore won 11 out of his 12 games to win clear first. His brother Nikhil finished a point back tied for second place, third on tiebreaks.
Daniels, still in junior high, and Whitney Young's Matthew Stevens both finished with 9.5/12, tied for fourth, with Daniels taking fourth on tiebreaks and Stevens sixth place.
Akhil was a perfect eight for eight heading into the penultimate round when he split (one win, one loss) with Rishi Rajendran of New Jersey -- leaving both tied for first place with 9.0 heading into the final round.
Akhil won both of his games in the final round while Jason managed to split with Rajendran. That gave Akhil the championship (11.0 points) with Rajendran taking second place (10.0/12).
Whitney Youngers Deniz Gulecyuz placed 17th with 8.0/12 and Ricky Roman placed 43rd with 7.0.
Middle schooler Kevin Ho finished 46th with 6.5.
Whitney Young's Alex Parkel and Robert Bitunjac both compiled 6.0 scores, tying for 52nd place excluding tiebreaks.
103 competed in the K-12 Blitz with Whitney Young blowing away the competition for first place as a team.
In the 26-team Bughouse, Whitney Young's Stevens and Roman pairing earned nine of the ten possible points to claim top honors.
Daniels and fellow Bloomington-Normal area middle schooler Spencer Vincent tied for second place with 8.0 points, third on tiebreaks.
The Alex Parkel and Secundino Vazquez duo posted a 6.0, tying for seventh place, eighth on tiebreaks, ahead of Kalghatgi twins who had the same score, 10th on tiebreaks. They finished just ahead of teammates Bitunjac and Gulecyuz who scored 5.0.
That gave Illinois five of the top eleven finishers in Bughouse, and four of the top six in K-12 Blitz.