First qualifiers eye city chess prize
Madison students competing in the Fall Scholars Chess Tournament who qualified for the 2016 City Chess Championship are Michael Guthrie, from left, Josh Lin, Boone Ramsey, Constance Wang, Geon Park and Corinne WIlhelm. (CONTRIBUTED)
MADISON – Madison City Chess League hosted its second annual Fall Scholars Tournament, the first qualifier for the 2016 City Chess Championship.
The tournament attracted almost 90 Madison City Schools students to Heritage Elementary School on Aug. 29 for the first chess tournament of the school year, league executive director Ranae Bartlett said.
Players who qualified for the city tourney are Michael Guthrie and Josh Lin, middle school section; Boone Ramsey and Constance Wang, elementary section, grades 4-6; and Geon Park and Corinne Wilhelm, primary, grades K-3.
Ranging from third to eighth grade, the championship section had 18 competitors who played four rounds. “The time control for the championship section was a 60-minute game with five-second delay. Some games lasted around two hours,” Bartlett said.
Award winners were Michael Guthrie, first; Boone Ramsey, second; Josh Lin, third; Geon Park, fourth; Constance Wang, fifth; Jenson Wilhelm, sixth; and Maanasi Limaye, top female.
The tournament’s largest section was for the 41 students rated Under 900. They played games with a 30-minute/5-second delay time control. Award winners were William Spanier, first; Erin Kueck, second; Christopher Kang, third; Zachary Calinsky, fourth; Pranav Somu, fifth; Sohan Mynampally, sixth; and Madhushalini Balaji, top female.
“It was exciting to see one-third of competitors competing in the non-rated section, showing increased interest in competitive chess,” Bartlett said. “Most non-rated players were also from host school, Heritage elementary, which demonstrates an advantage of hosting a chess tournament.”
Award winners in the non-rated K-12 section were Kevin Dunn, first; Hugh Mitchell, second; Mark Skrabanek, third; and Brigida Lundy, top female. Winning in the non-rated K-6 section were Yuti Das, first; Alex Herrin, second; Rakhee Cho, third; and Bhavya Chalasani, top female.
In an interesting tournament scenario, the top two elementary finishers in the championship section were invited to train with middle-school and high-school chess teams. Both Rainbow Elementary School students, the top finishers were sixth-grader Boone Ramsey and third-grader Geon Park.
Online registration for the Queen’s Quest Tournament is available at madisonchess.com/queens-quest-2015.
