Fall Scholars Chess Tournament sees record attendance

MADISON – The 2021 Fall Scholars Tournament attracted record attendance with 137 students competing in five sections on Sept. 25.

“It was exciting to see so many non-rated players trying their first tournament,” Ranae Bartlett said. Bartlett is Executive Director of Madison City Chess League.

The largest section was “non-rated grades 3-5” with 47 players, followed by non-rated grades K-2 section with 30 players.

“Running a tournament like this takes some awesome tournament directors to keep things on time and orderly. Thanks to Chief Tournament Director Todd Guthrie; Floor TDs Nitin Badhe, Parag Saxena and Scott Newberry; Backroom TD Guy Calinsky; and assistant TDs Kelli Washburn and Puja Chopade,” Bartlett said.

Madison Elementary School hosted the tourney, “Principal Jamie Golliver outdid himself and made the tournament day safe and special for all in attendance,” Bartlett said. “He set up a large TV to show football games in the cafeteria, popped popcorn and even sanitized chess sets in between rounds.”

“Amy McGehee, the new chess sponsor at Madison elementary, worked non-stop Friday during setup and on Saturday keeping concessions and supplies flowing for the tournament. Thank you, Madison Elementary School, for hosting a great tournament,” Bartlett said.

In the non-rated grades K-2 section, Avyaktha Subramania earned first place. Other top players (from second to thirteenth place) were Lucas Osipychev, Elliott Poole, John Park, Peter Gosier, Hannah Kuang, Gregory Ryan, Peter Ainsworth, Summer Seewald, Lucas He, Julian Guillory, Arjun Sathees and Lucas Norton. Joanna He was Top Female (for girls who did not otherwise place).

For non-rated grades 3-5, Vedanth Siva was first-place player. Other players (in second to sixteenth place) were Cohen Phillips, Anushka Singhai, Saisha Iyer, Tyler Pysh, Theodore Piper, Owen Suckow, Iker Chanes-Peralta, Sarah Rytting, Natalie Rytting, John Kawamoto, Allison Tubbs, Dheeren Pammina, Wylie Lansing, Ekamjeet Saini, C.J. Conley and Elise Gibson, Top Female.

Emerson Phillips captured first place in the under 500 section. This section included (in second to tenth place) Aaron Chen, Jimmy McHugh, Mason Park, Abby Chan, Sean Rowe, Nathan Chiu, Abigail Barbre, Ellie Chan, Sahishnu Saha and Lily Harper, Top Female .

In the under 1,000 section, Esteban Jerez was in first place. Other top-ranking players (in second to tenth place) were Kylie Zou, Samsara Rajbhandar, Laya Gowder, Anna Ai, Tim Lee, Noah Hsu, Sophia Jerez, Caden Jordan, Sahithi Mynampally and Alice Zou, Top Female.

The championship section had the tournament’s highest rated players, all rated over 1,000 and playing a longer time control of 45-minute games. The championship section’s player reaching first place was Steven Pan. Other players (in second to tenth place) were Eddie Xiao, Andrew Yang, Nirvana Rajbhandari, Jethro Jones, Aadi Saxena, Rachael Ehrman, Oviya Gowder, Edward Calinsky and Holland Lang.