Summer Knights breaks attendance record
Boys and girls study the board for their next play at the Summer Knights Scholastic Chess Tournament. CONTRIBUTED
MADISON – Setting an attendance record, 120 students entered the Summer Knights Scholastic Chess Tournament on Aug. 27.
Sponsored by CB&S Bank, Summer Knights was held at Heritage Elementary School and marked the first back-to-school chess tournament of the season. “Attendance doubled from last year’s Summer Knights tournament,” Ranae Bartlett said. Bartlett is Executive Director of Madison City Chess League.
“There were many exciting developments at this year’s tournament, but one of the most exciting was seeing 20 students compete in their first tournament in the non-rated K-3 section,” Bartlett said. In addition, middle and high school chess teams have grown noticeably and sent representatives to this early tournament.
“The growth at the secondary level is attributed not only to the strong elementary programs that feed into both middle and high schools but also to the elective chess course offerings at both Discovery and Liberty middle schools,” Bartlett said. “We are seeing tremendous growth at every level of chess in Madison.”
At Summer Knights, the top six individuals and the top female (not receiving an individual award in a section) were awarded trophies and medals.
For the Open (1000+) Section, Will Fox was the first-place winner. Other place winners were Om Badhe, second; Josh Lin, third; Maanasi Limaye, fourth; Constance Wang, fifth; Geon Park, sixth; and Puja Chopade, top female.
Will Cox captured first place in Under 1000 Section. Pranaav Satheesh ranked second, followed by Sohan Mynampally, third; Ethan Xu, fourth; Abhi Emani, fifth; and Christopher Foote, sixth. Top female was Shreya Sunil.
In Under 500 Section, Reese Freeman was the top female. Christopher Woodard took first place; Minh Phan, second; Viraaj Edulakanti, third; Michael Nguyen, fourth; Aaditya Saxena and Harsha Matta, fifth; and Jeremiah Yang, sixth.
In addition, competition was brisk in Non-Rated Section play. For Non-Rated K-3, students in the top eight places, respectively, were Marek Fries, Arnav Maskey, Abhinav Chakrad, Praneel Sur Avula, Mick Tyrrell, Laya Gowder, Isabel Xu and Songla Lee. Mavanea Baker ranked as top female.
Anish Apalla ranked first in Non-Rated K-6. Steven Pan was in second place, followed by Andrew Park, third; Max Montgomery, fourth; and Shruti Kadam, fifth. Top female was Nicole New.
In Non-Rated K-12, Ben Edger won first place and Nadia Hammond was second-place winner and top female. Frederik List was third.
“Summer Knights was the first of five qualifiers for the 2017 City Chess Championship, which will be held at James Clemens High School on April 21-22, 2017,” Bartlett said. The eight students that qualified in four age groups are Caroline Wang and Karsten Wallace, grades K-3; Constance Wang and Geon Park, grades 4-6; Om Badhe and Will Fox, grades 7-8; and Chris Baker and Douglas Zhang grades, grades 9-12.
“We would like to thank our sponsor CB&S Bank and President Taron Thorpe, our host Heritage elementary and many parent volunteers and our tournament directors Noel Newquist, Josh McClellan and Nitin Badhe,” Bartlett said.
For more information, email mccl.director@gmail.com or visit madisonchess.com.
