More than 600 players from across the state gathered in St. Charles last weekend to play in the State K8 Elementary Chess Championships.  While historically these tournaments often sport multiple ties for first place, this one was unusual in that all four playing sections--grades K-1, 2-3, 4-5 and 6-8-- had one undefeated player who was the clear winner. 
    In the middle school division, 8th-grader Penny (Yue) Xu, of Champaign, who entered the 161-player section as the number 4 seed, put together a string of seven wins that included a fifth round upset against top seed Sam Schmakel, who won the division two years ago as a sixth-grader.  Penny became the first girl in many years to win the section.  She saw her rating climb more than 60 points to 1812, making her the top-rated female under 18 in Illinois.  She’ll be competing this weekend with five other girls in a round robin invitational sponsored by the ICA Warren Junior Scholar program.
    In the 186-player K5 section, competition at the top was particularly tough, with at least nine players boasting a rating of 1400 or better coming into the tournament.  Fifth-grader Bryce McClanahan of Glenview, the number two seed, managed to hold his ground and go 7-0, earning his third state championship title and boosting his rating to an all-time high of 1791.  Bryce won the K1 division in 2006, and the K3 division in 2007.

 
    Third-grader Matthew Stevens of Burr Ridge took top honors in the 187-player grade 2-3 section, also going 7-0.  Matthew has been on a tear since winning the primary division of the National Youth Action tournament in November, where he also went undefeated.  Since that time, he has seen his rating climb a whopping 263 points.
    Last but not least, in the 70-player K-1 section, 6-year old Jason Scott Daniels of Normal bested all his opponents and took home a trophy taller than he is.  Jason started playing in rated tournaments a year ago and has a rating that has peaked at more than 1300. 

Other Notable Results:

    In the middle school division, three players tied for second place with six points each:  Sam Schmakel, Alex Bian, and Samuel Joseph Heil.  Heil had a particularly noteworthy performance, gaining almost 100 rating points.  With 5.5 points, and tying for 5th through 10th place, were Phillip Parker-Turner, Allen Guo, Max Zinskie, Jason Kitson, Nathan Beauchamp and Chase Walbert.  Of special note was Jason Kitson’s performance.  Of more than 600 players in the tournament, his rating increased the most:  177 points, from 1356 to 1533!
    In the 4-5 section, six players tied for second place with 6 points apiece:  Conrad Oberhaus, Zhaozhi (George) Li, Ian Gilchrist, Lorenzo Barbin, Abe Sun and Balaji Iyengar.  Players with 5.5 points included Jeffrey Bikus, Adit Ghosh, Colton Longstreth, Anshul Adve, Jack Jarvis and Spencer Jackson.
    In the 2-3 section, five players tied for second place with 6 points each:  Ranadheer Tripuraneni, Chetan Reddy, Nathaniel Sobery, Rishave Sinha and Akhil Kalghatgi.  With 5.5 points, and tying for 7th through 10th place, were Nikhil Kalghatgi, Miranda Liu, Jonathan Tan and Josh Power.
    In the K-1 section there was a two-way tie for second place:  David Wallach and Sean Li each earned six points.  Close behind was fourth-place Zach Mohammed with 5.5 points.

Team Results:

Grades 6-8:  Top honors went to Daniel Wright Jr. High in Lincolnshire, with 21 of a possible 28 points.  Team members were Alex Bian, Allen Guo, Haoyang Yu, Liam Holzer, Victoria Bian and Kurt Holzer.  Bloomington Junior High in Bloomington and St. Michael’s in Wheaton were tied for second with 19.5 points each. Chiddix Junior High in Normal took fourth-place honors with 18 points, and Nichols Middle School in Evanston and Parkside in Normal tied for fifth with 16.5 points each.

Grades 4-5:  Half Day Sprague in Lincolnshire finished in first place with 20.5 points.  Team members were Conrad Oberhaus, Adit Ghosh, Sritej Vontikommu and Akhil Aggarwal.  In second place with 18.5 points was Washington Gifted Academy in Rockford, whose top-scoring players were brothers Steven and Vincent Do, each with five points.  Other top-scoring teammates included McKinley Torre and Kirkland Shun. There was a four-way tie for third place at 17 points each:  Mill Creek Elementary in Geneva; Fremont School in Mundelein; Colene Hoose in Normal; and Davinci School in Elgin.

Grades 2-3:  Colene Hoose in Normal, which fielded 11 players, was the clear first-place winner with 21 points.  Top-scoring team members included Nathaniel Sobery, Thomas Moh, Nikhil Pallem, Cassie Parent and Julia Herman.  Half Day Sprague in Lincolnshire finished a point behind with 20 points for second place.  Top-scoring team members included Jack Xiao, Megan Wei, Eric Gan and Michael Wu.  Rounding out the top five places were Indian Trail Elementary in Highland Park with 16 points, Mill Street School in Naperville with 15.5 points and St. Michaels in Wheaton with 14.5 points.

Grades K-1:  It’s interesting to note that four of the top five teams here are from Normal.  Colene Hoose, which also won the 2-3 section, grabbed top honors with 18 points. Top-scoring players included Pranav Venkatesh, Sarah Lawton, Arjun Gundewar and Amanda Carlson.  In second place with 14 points was Bernard Zell Anshe Emet in Chicago; tied for third and fourth with 12 each were Northpoint and Grove schools in Normal. and Metcalf in Normal took fifth with 10 points.

All photos by Eric Rosen, March 14, 2010