Coach Joe’s Report on the 2019 Calchess Spring States

The 2019 Northern California Scholastic Chess Championships were held the weekend of March 9th & 10th at the Santa Clara convention center.  Over 1200 students and more the 50 schools competed in these championships.  Mission San Jose Elementary school (MSJE) of Fremont was the big winner in the Elementary School Division.  The MSJE team won two major elementary school sections (K-3 & K-6) and Allyson Wong won the overall individual elementary school championship.

The 2019 Calchess Elementary Chess Champions from MSJE

The top elementary school section at these championships is the K-6 Championship Division.  Allyson scored five wins in six rounds and took the first-place trophy.  Other members of the MSJE team were Lucas Jiang (4.5/6)  (Lucas and Aditya Arutla (3.5/6) are second graders that “played up” in K-6 to help the K-6 team as we correctly felt we could win K-3 without him)   Aghilan Nachiappan  (4/6), Jolene Liu (3.5/6) Aditya Sujay.  This was the ninth straight year that MSJE has taken home the first place trophy in K-6.

K-3 Calchess Championship Chess Team from MSJE

The K-3 Championship section is often called the primary school championship.  MSJE finished in first place in this section every year since 2008.  In 2019 MSJE once again finished in first place in K-3 Championship.  Our K-3 team was led by Jason Liu and Swagatha Selvan, who each scored 4.5/6.  Artham Pawar (3.5/6) and Allen Yang (2.5/6) were also top 4 scorers. Arnam Pawar, Thomas Zhang, and Dev Bhatt also competed for our K-3 championship team.

MSJE also did very well in the other sections. Ashwin Jegan, Chet Jayakrishnan, Zahaan Kassamali, Isha Vanungare, Sarvesh Maniv, and Helen Hong competed in K-3 Junior varsity (under 800 rating) and took home the first place team trophy.  Prisha Agarwal, Shreeya Hule, Jai Panicker, Ranga Ramanujam, Pranav Rajit, Atharv Jha, Shashwa Manjunath, Edward Zeng, Aashi Gupta, Keerthana Gudi, Shriya Thirumalai, Sunay Rao, Aditya Vanungare, Samuel Montesinos, Nathan Jacob, and Cedric Liu competed for MSJE in the K-3 beginner (under 500 rating) section and took home the first place trophy.

Pranavi Pramod, Saambhavi Karthik, and Nick Jiang competed for MSJE in the kindergarten section. Sanskriti Pandey, Edmund Saroufim, and Kevin Pham competed for MSJE in the K-6 rookie section.  Adarsh Swamy, Ashwin Marimuthu, Pratyush Hule, Arnav Gupta, and Dhritee Desai, competed in the K-6 Junior varsity section.

Congratulations to the Chess team for a great showing at the State championships.

MSJE Chess Coaches: Joe Lonsdale, Terry & Cathy Liu, Nachi Aghilan, Chris Torres

Kevin Pan is Brilliant at 2018 USCF Elementary Championships

Round 7: Drew Justice vs. Kevin Pan

It is always my great pleasure to share the stories and achievements of California’s most outstanding young chess talents. Below is a remarkably brilliant game played by Mission San Jose Elementary School’s own Kevin Pan in route to a National Championship title both for Kevin and the MSJE Chess Team.

[Event “USCF National Elementary Championships”]
[Site “Nashville, TN”]
[Date “2018.5.13”]
[Round “7”]
[White “Pan, Kevin”]
[Black “Justice, Drew”]
[Result “1-0”]
[Eco “B18”]
[Annotator “Chris Torres”]

{[ CARO-KANN,B18]}

1.e4 c6

2.d4 d5

3.Nc3 dxe4

4.Nxe4 Bf5

5.Ng3 Bg6

6.N1e2 {Kevin avoids the old stodgy 6. h4 line in favor of creating early complications for Drew. Mikhail Tal would be pleased…}

Position after 6. N1e2

6… e6

7.Nf4 Bd6

8.Ngh5 {“Genius is initiative on fire!”-Holbrook Jackson}

( 8.c3 Qh4 9.Ngh5 Bxh5 10.Qxh5 Qxh5 11.Nxh5 g6 12.Bf4 Bxf4 13.Nxf4
Nf6 14.Nd3 Nbd7 15.g3 O-O 16.Bg2 Rfc8 17.a4 a5 18.Kd2 Kf8 19.Rhb1
Nb6 20.Nc5 Rc7 21.b4 Nfd5 22.bxa5 Nc4+ 23.Kd3 Nxa5 24.c4 Ne7
25.Bh3 Kg8 {1/2-1/2, Polgar Judit (HUN) 2665 – Anand Viswanathan (IND) 2795 , Haifa 1998 It (active)})

Position after 8. Ngh5

8… Bxf4 {8…Bxh5 and Kf8 seem less tricky from black’s persepective.}

( 8…Bxh5 9.Nxh5 g6 10.Ng3 Nf6 11.Bc4 Nbd7 12.c3 Bf8 13.O-O
Bg7 14.Re1 O-O 15.Bg5 h6 16.Bf4 Nd5 17.Bd6 Re8 18.Bb3 Bf8 19.Ne4
N5f6 20.Bxf8 Rxf8 21.Qf3 Nxe4 22.Rxe4 Nf6 23.Re5 Kg7 24.Rae1
Nd5 25.g3 Qf6 26.Qg4 Rh8 27.h4 h5 28.Qe4 {…0-1, Guido Flavio (ITA) 2405 – Zelcic Robert (CRO) 2554 , Schwarzach 8/25/2012 It (open)})

( 8…Kf8 9.c3 Nd7 10.Qf3 Ngf6 11.Nxf6 Qxf6 12.Be2 Bc2 13.Qg4
Bf5 14.Qf3 Re8 15.Nh5 Qg6 16.Ng3 Bc2 17.Qg4 Qxg4 18.Bxg4 Nf6
19.Bd1 Bxd1 20.Kxd1 h5 21.f3 h4 22.Ne2 e5 23.h3 exd4 24.Nxd4
c5 25.Nf5 Bc7 26.Re1 Rd8+ 27.Kc2 Nh5 28.Ne3 {…0-1, Vydeslaver Alik (ISR) 2404 – Shengelia Davit (AUT) 2569 , Barcelona 8/29/2007 It (open)})

9.Nxf4 Ne7

( 9…Nf6 10.Nxg6 hxg6 11.Be2 Nbd7 12.c3 Qc7 13.g3
c5 14.O-O Rd8 15.dxc5 Nxc5 16.Qc2 O-O 17.Be3 Nd5 18.Bd4 e5 19.Bxc5
Qxc5 20.Bf3 f5 21.Bxd5+ Rxd5 22.Qb3 Rfd8 23.Qxb7 e4 24.b4 Qc4
25.Qxa7 f4 26.gxf4 Rd3 27.Qc5 Qe6 28.Qg5 R8d5 29.Qg2 {…1-0, Finkel Alexander (ISR) 2455 – Adianto Utut (INA) 2610 , Bastia 1998 It (open) (active)})

10.h4 {Kevin will not stop applying pressure.}

( 10.c3 Qc7 11.Nxg6 hxg6 12.g3 c5 13.Bb5+ Nbc6 14.dxc5 Qe5+ 15.Be3 Nf5 16.Qf3
Nxe3 17.Bxc6+ Ke7 18.Bxb7 Nc4+ 19.Qe4 Rab8 20.Qxe5 Nxe5 21.c6
Nd3+ 22.Ke2 Nxb2 23.Rab1 Na4 24.c7 {1-0, Karpatchev Aleksandr (RUS) 2469 – Berg Peter (DEN) 2017 , Esbjerg 7/13/2007 Cup North Sea (open)})

10… h6

11.Nxg6 {And these two extremely talented combatants are discovering new territory in an old opening.}

11… Nxg6

12.h5 {In these kinds of positions you might as well push the pawn forward one more square to force the black knight to retreat.}

Position after 12. h5

12… Ne7

13.Qg4 {Which in turn allows the queen to develop with threats.}

13… Nf5 {Black’s knight must provide protection to g7.}

14.Bd3 {Unfortunately for Drew Justice, the knight on f5 is also an easy target.}

14… Qxd4 {?} {Kevin Pan’s constant pressure finally causes Drew Justice to crack. 14…Nd7 and 14…0-0 are much better choices for black.}
( 14…Nd7 15.Bxf5 Qa5+ 16.c3 Qxf5 17.Qxg7 O-O-O )
( 14…O-O 15.c3 Nd7 )

Position after 14… Qxd4?

15.Bxf5 {!} {Kevin spots the tactical punishment for Drew’s inaccuracy.}

15… Qe5+

16.Be4 f5

17.Qg6+ {Scissors beat paper and checks beat fork.}

17… Ke7

18.Be3 Nd7

19.O-O-O fxe4 {?}

( 19…Rag8 )

Position after 19… fxe4?

20.Rxd7+{!} {It’s moves like these that win national championships!}

20… Kxd7

21.Qf7+ Kc8

22.Bf4 {Black resigns and Kevin Pan is a National Champion!}
1-0

Position after 22. Bf4

 

 

Game pgn:

[Event “USCF National Elementary Championships”]
[Site “Nashville, TN”]
[Date “2018.5.13”]
[Round “7”]
[White “Pan, Kevin”]
[Black “Justice, Drew”]
[Result “1-0”]
[Eco “B18”]
[Annotator “Chris Torres”]
[Source “”]

{[ CARO-KANN,B18]} 1.e4 c6 2.d4 d5 3.Nc3 dxe4 4.Nxe4 Bf5 5.Ng3
Bg6 6.N1e2 {Kevin avoids the old stodgy 6. h4 line in favor of creating early complications for Drew. Mikhail Tal would be pleased…} {%08DA}
e6 7.Nf4 Bd6 8.Ngh5 {“Genius is initiative on fire!”-Holbrook Jackson}
( 8.c3 Qh4 9.Ngh5 Bxh5 10.Qxh5 Qxh5 11.Nxh5 g6 12.Bf4 Bxf4 13.Nxf4
Nf6 14.Nd3 Nbd7 15.g3 O-O 16.Bg2 Rfc8 17.a4 a5 18.Kd2 Kf8 19.Rhb1
Nb6 20.Nc5 Rc7 21.b4 Nfd5 22.bxa5 Nc4+ 23.Kd3 Nxa5 24.c4 Ne7
25.Bh3 Kg8 {1/2-1/2, Polgar Judit (HUN) 2665 – Anand Viswanathan (IND) 2795 , Haifa 1998 It (active)}
) {%09DB} Bxf4 {8…Bxh5 and Kf8 seem less tricky from black’s persepective.} {%09DB}
( 8…Bxh5 9.Nxh5 g6 10.Ng3 Nf6 11.Bc4 Nbd7 12.c3 Bf8 13.O-O
Bg7 14.Re1 O-O 15.Bg5 h6 16.Bf4 Nd5 17.Bd6 Re8 18.Bb3 Bf8 19.Ne4
N5f6 20.Bxf8 Rxf8 21.Qf3 Nxe4 22.Rxe4 Nf6 23.Re5 Kg7 24.Rae1
Nd5 25.g3 Qf6 26.Qg4 Rh8 27.h4 h5 28.Qe4 {…0-1, Guido Flavio (ITA) 2405 – Zelcic Robert (CRO) 2554 , Schwarzach 8/25/2012 It (open)}
) ( 8…Kf8 9.c3 Nd7 10.Qf3 Ngf6 11.Nxf6 Qxf6 12.Be2 Bc2 13.Qg4
Bf5 14.Qf3 Re8 15.Nh5 Qg6 16.Ng3 Bc2 17.Qg4 Qxg4 18.Bxg4 Nf6
19.Bd1 Bxd1 20.Kxd1 h5 21.f3 h4 22.Ne2 e5 23.h3 exd4 24.Nxd4
c5 25.Nf5 Bc7 26.Re1 Rd8+ 27.Kc2 Nh5 28.Ne3 {…0-1, Vydeslaver Alik (ISR) 2404 – Shengelia Davit (AUT) 2569 , Barcelona 8/29/2007 It (open)}
) 9.Nxf4 Ne7 ( 9…Nf6 10.Nxg6 hxg6 11.Be2 Nbd7 12.c3 Qc7 13.g3
c5 14.O-O Rd8 15.dxc5 Nxc5 16.Qc2 O-O 17.Be3 Nd5 18.Bd4 e5 19.Bxc5
Qxc5 20.Bf3 f5 21.Bxd5+ Rxd5 22.Qb3 Rfd8 23.Qxb7 e4 24.b4 Qc4
25.Qxa7 f4 26.gxf4 Rd3 27.Qc5 Qe6 28.Qg5 R8d5 29.Qg2 {…1-0, Finkel Alexander (ISR) 2455 – Adianto Utut (INA) 2610 , Bastia 1998 It (open) (active)}
) 10.h4 {Kevin will not stop applying pressure.} ( 10.c3 Qc7
11.Nxg6 hxg6 12.g3 c5 13.Bb5+ Nbc6 14.dxc5 Qe5+ 15.Be3 Nf5 16.Qf3
Nxe3 17.Bxc6+ Ke7 18.Bxb7 Nc4+ 19.Qe4 Rab8 20.Qxe5 Nxe5 21.c6
Nd3+ 22.Ke2 Nxb2 23.Rab1 Na4 24.c7 {1-0, Karpatchev Aleksandr (RUS) 2469 – Berg Peter (DEN) 2017 , Esbjerg 7/13/2007 Cup North Sea (open)}
) h6 11.Nxg6 {And these two exteremely talented combatants are discovering new territory in an old opening.}
Nxg6 12.h5 {In these kinds of positions you might as well push the pawn forward one more square to force the black knight to retreat.} {%08DA}
Ne7 13.Qg4 {Which in turn allows the queen to develop with threats.}
Nf5 {Black’s knight must provide prtotection to g7.} 14.Bd3 {Unfortunately for Drew Justice, the knight on f5 is also an easy target.}
Qxd4 {?} {Kevin Pan’s constant pressure finally causes Drew Justice to crack. 14…Nd7 and 14…0-0 are much better choices for black.}
( 14…Nd7 15.Bxf5 Qa5+ 16.c3 Qxf5 17.Qxg7 O-O-O )
( 14…O-O 15.c3 Nd7 ) {%09DB} 15.Bxf5 {!} {Kevin spots the tactical punishment for Drew’s inaccuracy.} {%09DB}
Qe5+ 16.Be4 f5 17.Qg6+ {Scissors beat paper and checks beat fork.}
Ke7 18.Be3 Nd7 19.O-O-O fxe4 {?} ( 19…Rag8 ) {%09DB} 20.Rxd7+
{!} {It’s moves like these that win national championships!} {%09DB}
Kxd7 21.Qf7+ Kc8 22.Bf4 {Black resigns and Kevin Pan is a National Champion!}
1-0

MSJE Chess Team Again Wins Big at Nationals!

Coach Joe’s Report on the 2018 USCF National Elementary Chess Championships (Photos by Hui Wang):

On the weekend of May 11th to 13th more than 2200 Elementary school students competed in the National Elementary School Chess Championships in Nashville, TN. This was the tenth straight year that a strong group of Mission San Jose Elementary School (MSJE) chess players traveled from Fremont, California to attend these championships and once again they brought back an impressive collection of plaques and trophies.

The overall elementary school championship is the K-6 Championship section. MSJE has won this section three times in the last five years (2013, 2015, & 2016) and four times in the past nine years (also 2009). We decided to arrange our players to maximize the chances of winning this section again. This meant moving our two top fifth graders (Aghilan Nachiappan and Allyson Wong) into K-6.  This move left us without a full team in K-5, but our two second grade stars (Kavya Meiyappan and Jason Liu) agreed to move up and play in K-5 since we did not have a full team in K-3.  (Four players is a full team.  The team score is the sum of the scores of the top four players on the team.

This left us with a K-6 team with one super star and five very strong players and a K-5 team that had a reasonable shot at a top 10 finish.

We have had a great K-1 team and I fully expected them to finish in first. I was confident enough to mention this to Chuck Graves, the MSJE principal.  MSJE won K-1 in 2012 and this team was certainly stronger than our 2012 team.

As high as my expectations were for our K-1 team the team actually exceeded expectations.  They got off to a fast start and were never in any place but first.  There were 154 players in the K-1 section.  Only six players scored six or more points.  Our top three players Artham Pawar, Lucas Jiang, and Arnam Pawar all scored 6 out of seven.  Adirya Arutla scored 5/7, Sagwartha Selvan scored 3.5/7.  Sarvesh Maniv also competed for our K-1 team.  This team won by 4.5 points which is a gigantic margin. They could have not shown up for the seventh round and still won first place.

Our K-6 team was locked in a brutal battle with three powerhouse schools form New York all weekend. They went into the last round a half point behind Speyer and a half point ahead of Dalton. These are both perennial scholastic chess powerhouses.  Kevin Pan, our top player, with 5/6 was in a battle of the individual championship.  We gained a half point on Speyer, Dalton gained a half point on us and we ended up in a three-way tie for first place.  Kevin won his game and ended up in a tie for first place.

Our K-5 team of Kavya Meiyappan, (4/7) Ayan Kassamali, (3.5/7) Jason Liu (3/7) and Jolene Liu (2.5/7) tied for seventh place.  Zahaan Kassamali also competed in K-3 (4.5/7).

Congratulations to the chess team for a great result at the National Championships.

MSJE Chess Coaches: Joe Lonsdale, Meiyaps Sathappan, Terry and Cathy Liu, Hui Wang, Nachi Nachiappan, Chris Torres

Mission San Jose Elementary School Shines at the Calchess Scholastic Chess Championships

Coach Joe’ Report on the 2018 Calchess Scholastic State Championships (Photography by Hui Wang):

The 2018 Northern California Scholastic Chess Championships were held the weekend of April 7th & 8th at the Santa Clara convention center. Over 1200 students and more the 50 schools competed in these championships.  Mission San Jose Elementary school (MSJE) of Fremont was the big winner in the Elementary School Division. The MSJE Chess Team won two of the three major elementary school sections (K-3 & K-6) and Kevin Pan won the overall individual elementary school championship.

The top elementary school section at these championships is the K-6 Championship Division. Kevin Pan scored five wins in six rounds and took the first-place trophy. Other members of the MSJE team were Stephen He (4/6), Nicholas Jiang (4/6), Aidan Chen (3.5/6), and Nivedha Maniv (3/6). In the fourth round Aidan Chen won a critical game versus Weibel. This was the eighth straight year that MSJE has taken home the first place trophy in K-6.

The K-5 Championship section is the second highest elementary school section at the State Scholastic Chess Championships. This section was created in 2007 to give elementary schools without a grade 6 a fair chance to win a championship section. MSJE has won this section every year since it was created. Both MSJE and Weibel entered strong teams in the K5 Championship section. The MSJE team was led by Aghilan Nachiappan (5/6 2nd place) and Allyson Wong (4.5/6 8th place). The Weibel team scored 17 points and beat the MSJE team (16.5) by the smallest possible margin. Other top scorers on the MSJE K-5 team were Viabhav Wudaru (3.5/6 #19), Siddharth Arulta (3.5/6 #21) Arnav Lingannagari (3.5/6 #24), and Ayaan Kassamali (3.5/6 #27).  Jolene Liu, Saidivy Tunguturu, Aditya Sujay, Vividh Goenka, Mihit Puvvula, and Arna Gupta also competed for our K-5 team.

The K-3 Championship section is often called the primary school championship.  MSJE won the first-place team trophy in this section every year since 2008. In 2018 MSJE once again took home the first-place trophy in K-3 Championship.  Our K-3 team was led by first grader Lucas Jiang (4.5/6 #4), third grader Kayden jiang (4/6 #9) Jason Liu (3.5/6 #14) and Aditya Arulta (3.5/6 #19).  First graders Artham Pawar and Arnam Pawar also competed for our championship K-3 team.

MSJE also did very well in the other sections.  Isha Vanungare, Sarvesh Maniv, and Aditya Vanungare competed in the Kindergarten section and took home the third-place team trophy.  Neil Kumar, Prisha Agarwal, Pranav Rajit, Ranga Ramanujam, Edward Zeng, Dhritee Desia, Ashwin Jagan, Ruthvik Arumalla, SHreeya Hule, Shrihan Bolla, Kerrthana Gudi, and Aaditya Bisht competed in the K-3 beginner section.  Allen Yang, Swagatha Selvam, Pratyush Hule,  Ashwin Marimuthu, Zahaan Kassamali, Avkash Panwar, and Meghana Satish competed in the K-3 JV section.  Ardash Swamy, Nityasri Kolta, Maurya Arumalla and Pratyush Hule competed in the K-6 JV  section.

Congratulations to the Chess team for a great showing at the State championships.

Chess Coaches: Joe Lonsdale, Terry & Cathy Liu, Meiyaps Sathappan, Nachi Aghilan, and Chris Torres

Chris Torres’ Chess Résumé

Chris Torres teaching chess (summer 2017)

 

Chris Torres (209) 323-0197 chesslessons@aol.com · chessmusings.wordpress.com

Chris Torres is a nationally renowned scholastic chess coach working in the San Francisco Bay Area. His classes have attracted players of strengths ranging from rank beginners to world champions. A chess professional since 1998, Chris is widely recognized as one of the main driving forces behind the explosion in popularity and sudden rise in quality of scholastic chess in California.

Experience

1998 – 2000 Chess Coach, Weibel Elementary School During his first year as a chess coach, Chris Torres helped Weibel to win the state championship and also coached his first state champion student.

2000 – 2005 Director of Instruction/Vice President, Success Chess Schools At Success Chess, Chris Torres designed curriculum for all levels of chess players, trained over 50 instructors, established programs at 60 Bay Area schools. Chris established a strong coaching reputation by training several individual state champions each year.

2005 – Present President, Torres Chess and Music Academy Through the Torres Chess and Music Academy, Chris Torres has brought world class instruction to California’s most talented young chess minds. Some of his accomplishments included running a “Chess Study” with the Kern County Superintendent of the Schools and U.C. Berkeley from 2006-2008. In addition to the study, Chris was able to educate the children in Kern County’s migrant farm worker community in chess and even coach them to prestigious Southern California regional chess titles. In the Bay Area, Chris was able to instruct several individual National Chess Champions as well as coach for the Mission San Jose Elementary School chess team, which in 2009, 2013, 2015, 2017 and 2018 took first place at the USCF National Elementary Chess Championship. Before 2009, no school from California had ever won the Elementary Championship section at the USCF Nationals.  In 2015 and 2016, the Torres Chess and Music Academy organized the Susan Polgar Foundation’s National Open for Girls and Boys which awarded over $100,000 in scholarships and prizes to the top youth chess players in the United States. In 2016, the Torres Chess and Music Academy accomplishments were officially recognized by FIDE (the world chess organization) and the TCAMA was awarded the title of FIDE Academy.

Chess Titles

2015 Correspondence Chess Master, United States Chess Federation

2015 Arena International Master, FIDE

Skills

·         Event Planning ·         Individualized Curriculum Development ·         Program Management

·         Tournament Game Analysis ·         Tournament Selection and Preparation ·         Using Chess as a Confidence Building Tool

MSJE Chess Team Wins Match Against All-Star Team from Berkeley Chess School

Coach Joe’s Report on the MSJE vs BCS Chess Match in Fremont

On January 20th, 26 members of the Mission San Jose Elementary School (MSJE) Chess Team played a match against an all-star chess team from Berkeley Chess School (BCS). BCS runs chess programs at more than 50 schools in the Bay Area. More than 20 schools were represented by their all-star team.

In a chess match (as opposed to a tournament) the top players from each team play on board one, the number two players play one board 2, etc. In this match each player played two games with the same opponent, switching colors after the first game. The format meant that most MSJE players were playing the top chess players from an opposing school. In addition to being at a disadvantage of one school playing 20 schools, MSJE was missing our top player Kevin Pan, due to illness.

Despite missing our top player, MSJE did very well on the top boards. Aghilan Nachaippan (board 1), Annapoorni Sathappan (board 2) (each team was allowed to play one or two 7th grade graduates) and Nicholas Jiang (board 3) each won their first and second games. On board four Allyson Wong contributed a draw and a win to give MSJE a 7.5 to 0.5 advantage on the top four boards.

After this first round the score was tied 13 to 13. MSJE won round two, 15 to 11 for a 28 to 24 victory.

Other MSJE players winning both their games were Lucas Jiang, Aditya Arulta, Swagatha Selvan, Aidan Ma, Arnam Pawar, and Advita Ranga Ramanujan.

Also competing for MSJE were Stephen He, Aidan Chen, Sai Divyesh Tunguturu. Jolene Liu, Nivedha Manic, Jason Liu, Vivdh Goenka, Artham Pawar, Jainlin Chen, Arnav Gupta, Meghana Satish, Dev Bhatt, and Dhruv Sheth.

MSJE Chess Coaches: Joe Lonsdale, Meiyaps Sathappan, Nachi Nachiappan, Terry and Cathy Liu, Chris Torres

MSJE Chess Team Shines at Calchess Grade Level Championship

Coach Joe Lonsdale’s report on the 2017 Calchess Grade Level Championship

MSJE Chess Team (photo by Hui Wang)

Over 400 scholastic chess players competed in the Northern CA Grade level chess Championships at the Santa Clara Convention Center the weekend of December 3rd and 4th. MSJE was the big winner in the Elementary School Section. MSJE won Grades one, two, five, and six and took third place in grade 4.
In grade one there were only two players, Arthan Pawar and Arnam Pawar of MSJE, with perfect 4-0 scores after four rounds. Arthan and Arnam played each other in the last round. Arthan won to take first place with a perfect 5-0 score. Aditya Arulta, also of MSJE finished with four wins and one draw to take third place. The MSJE team took the first place team trophy with 13.5 points to 10.5 for the second place team, Basis Fremont Independent. Swagatha Selvan , Ruthvik Arumalla, Ranga Ramanujam, Prisha Agarwal, Ashwin Jegan, Keerthana Gudi, and Sunay Rao also competed for the MSJE grade one team.
In grade two Kavya Meiyappan scored 4 points and tiwd for 3rd place. Jason Liu and Jaidev Kaleesawaran each scored three wins and one draw and tied for 10th place. Allen Yang, Zahaan Kassamail, Thomas Zhang, Edward Zeng, Krish Harwani, and Dhruv Sheth also competed for the MSJE grade two team which won the first place trophy with 10.5 points to 8 points for second place Weibel.
Jolene Liu scored three wins and a draw to tie for 16th place in grade 4. Ayaan Kassamali and Siddharth Arulta each scored three wins. Ardarsh Swamuy, Vividh Goenka, and Nityasri Kolta Also competed for the MSJE 4ht grade team wich won the third-place team trophy.
In grade 5 allyson Wong lost her first game then went on to win her next five games to take tie for second place. Aghilan Nachiappan won four games losing to only the top two rated players in the section. Arna Linginnagari aslo won four games and tied for 6th place. Viabhav Wudaru Aditya Sujay and Saidvy Tunguturu also competed for the MSJE grade 5 team which won the first place team trophy.
In grade 6 Kevin Pan won all six of his games to take the first place individual trophy. Stephen He took the second place trophy with four wins and one draw. Aidan Chen tied for 11th with three wins and a draw. Nivedha Maniv and Maurya Armulla also competed for the MSJE grade six team that took thei first place team trophy.
Congratulations to the chess team for a great showing at the Grade Level Championships.

Coaches: Joe Lonsdale, Chris Torres, Meiyaps Sathappan, Terry and Cath Liu, Hui Wang, Nachi Nachiappan

  

Fremont Summer Chess Camp 2016: Day 19

Pictures taken by Paul Truong

Fremont Summer Chess Camp 2016: Day 18

Fremont Summer Chess Camp 2016: Day 17

Day 2 of Susan Polgar Week