MCCL members, teams grab awards at Rookie Rally

MADISON – Madison City Chess League members accounted for a major component of players in the 2024 Rookie Rally Tournament on Jan. 27 at Blossomwood Elementary School.

“Thank you to our sponsors, State Sen. Sam Givhan and State Rep. Rex Reynolds,” MCCL Executive Director Todd Guthrie. “Blossomwood Elementary did a great job of hosting Rookie Rally. We appreciate all those who helped make this a great tournament.”

More than 125 young chess players competed. Madison players compiled impressive final standings:

* K-3 Under 300 Winners — Pratham Kothari, first; Ian Doyle, second; Elam Phillips and Eleanor Kreusser, tied for second; Lucien Venema, fifth; William Bostick, tied for fifth; Nathan Finley, seventh; Rhema Gosier, Joseph Lin, Wesley Hall, Everett Sneed and Eugene Baker, tied for seventh.

* K-3 Championship Winners — Jimmy McHugh, first; Ananth Ravishekar and Samuel Liao, tied for first; Charlie Saulters, fourth; Arjun Sathees, fifth; Joel Trowbridge, John Park and Warner Smith, tied for fifth; Aryaa Sathees, ninth; Ibrahim Khan, tenth; Medha Prashanth and Udara Sarathchandra, tied for tenth.

* K-5 Under 500 Winners — Wyatt Dunlap, first; Zayden Taylor, second; Tyndale O’Neill and Rais Nichols, tied for second; Gopika Baipu, fifth; Lilia Baker, Parker Klein, Ryan Colquett, Mason Skaja and William Deaver, tied for fifth.

* K-5 Championship Winners — Milan Malak, first; Lucas Osipychev and Asher Allison, second; Alice Zou, fourth; Avyaktha Subramania, Esinam Tettey, Dennis Lenski, Isaac Doyle and Yuheng Henri Chen, tied for fourth; Jonathan Lam, tenth; Isaac Kreusser and Christopher Chen, tied for tenth.

* K-8 Championship Winners — Kate Meyer, first; Sophia Jerez, second; Kylie Zou, Samara Rajbhandari and Caden Jordan, tied for second; Abigail Barbre, sixth; Christopher Nguyen, seventh; Jack Meyer, Daksh Sunil, Hudson Smith, Christina Yang, Luna Qu and Charlie Moore, tied for seventh.

* K-12 Open Winners — Jacob New, first; Esteban Jerez and Nirvana Rajbhandari, second; Caroline Wang, fourth; Artem Starenki, Grattan O’Neill, Simon Kibbey and Rushi Patel, tied for fourth.

The following school teams were place winners:

* K-3 Under 300 — Columbia Elementary School, first; Heritage Elementary School, second; Blossomwood Elementary School, third; Mill Creek Elementary School, fourth; Horizon Elementary School, fifth; Decatur Heritage Christian Academy, tied for fifth.

* K-3 Championship Team Winners — Madison Elementary School, first; Mill Creek, second; Columbia, third; Rainbow Elementary School, fourth; Heritage, fifth.

* K-5 Under 500 Team Winners — Randolph Elementary School, first; Midtown Elementary School, second; Mill Creek, third; Horizon, fourth; Heritage, fifth.

* K-5 Championship Team Winners – Horizon, first; Heritage, second; Rainbow, third; Mill Creek, fourth.

* K-8 Championship Team Winners — Discovery Middle School, first; Journey Middle School, second.

* K-12 Open Team Winners — Bob Jones High School, first; Covenant Christian Academy, second.