Pre-K through seniors enter City Chess Championship

MADISON – James Clemens High School served as host for the 2020 City Chess Championship on March 6-7.

“This is the only scholastic chess tournament in Alabama that awards a cash prize for those who finish first, and it is the only grade-level chess championship in Alabama,” Ranae Bartlett said. Bartlett is Executive Director of Madison City Chess League.

“We were thrilled to have kids from pre-kindergarten to twelfth grade participate this year,” Bartlett said.

In its fifth year, the championship used three different time controls to help the young competitors learn to play longer games as they will do during national tournaments. Chief Tournament Director Todd Guthrie said the longer time control led to better chess playing.

The seventh- through twelfth-grade sections started their first round on March 6 with a time control of Game 90/d5. The fourth- through sixth-grade sections used a time control of Game 60/d5. “The K-3 sections used a time control of Game 45/d5 completing their rounds on March 7,” Bartlett said.

At the awards ceremony, tournament officials recognized the top three finishers in each grade level:

* Kindergarten — Annabelle Hsu, Alice Zou, Asher Allison and Natalie Doe (tied for first).
* First grade — Isaac Kreuss, first; Kylie Zou, second; and Emory Howell, third.
* Second grade — Brantley Davis, Andrew Tkach, Grayson Nichols and Dkash Sunil (tied for first).
* Third grade — Jethro Jones, first; Sawyer Wright, second; and Tyce Crosswy, third.
* Fourth grade — Eashan Padur, first; Holland Lang, second; and Laya Gowder, third.
* Fifth grade — Landon Drummond and Aadi Saxena (tied for first); and Joseph Park, third.
* Sixth grade — Marek Fries and Nirvana Rajbhandari (tied for first); and Eddie Xiao, third.
* Seventh grade — Steven Pan, first; Zachary Calinsky, second; and Swetha Jakka, third.
* Eighth grade — Aasim Musani, first; Rachael Ehrman, second; and Joseph Strickland, third.
* Ninth grade — Constance Wang, first; Sherwood Dong, second; and Victor Lundy, third.
* Tenth grade — Will Fox, first; Om Badhe, second; and Edward Calinsky, third.
* Eleventh grade — Will Bao, first; and Josh Lin, second.
* Twelfth grade — Michael Guthrie, first; and Hugh Mitchell, second.

For complete tournament results in tie-break order, visit madisonchess.com/tournaments/2020-city-chess-championship/standings. For the U.S. Chess Federation tournament report with ratings updates, visit uschess.org/msa/XtblMain.php?202003072372.0-15237774.

Nilmini Thompson and Systems Products and Solutions Inc. have sponsored the City Chess Championship for the past five years.