The December Crush Tournament housed the best behaved group of players I have ever directed over.  We are seeing more and more players take notation and using clocks.  Looks like the Nice List has been expanded/reinforced by another 79 names.    Please take some time to congratulate all our tournament participants as well as the top performers listed as follows:

Standings December Crush 

K-6 U200 Individual:               Top Team: Merion ES       2^nd Team: DE County Christian

1          Kaushik Sivakumar

2          David Mermar

3          Ethan Wang

4          Greta Golberg

5          Caleb  Best

6          Akshith Nair

K-6 U500 Individual:                 Top Team: Belmont      2^nd Team: Pickering

1          Jonathan Yang

2          Arnav Kandikonda

3          Max Light

4          Rithik Rao

5          Kyler Parker

6          Sahrsh Hulage

Recognition to Deeya Mulchandani

K-12 U800 Individual:              Top Team: Upper Merion MS       2^nd Team: Skyview

1          Somil Tare

2          Saket Banda

3          Abhina Ravishankar

4          Travis Johnson

5          Ronan Murphy

6          Damon Sun

K-12 Championship Individual:            Top Team: Lionville MS      

1          Charles Yang

2          Vasishta Tumuluri

3          Siddhant Suresh

4          Hemanth Kolluri

5          Siddarth Sankar

Enjoy your holidays and keep on learning!   Hope to see all the kids proficient with chess notation as that skill translates to more than just reading the chess language.

With the Philadelphia professional sports teams showing great excitement, perhaps with a few dynasties developing, our region’s chess youth are demonstrating formidable chess prowess.    Please take some time to congratulate all our tournament participants as well as the top performers as follows:

K-4 U200                                               Top Team: Ithan                         2^nd Team: Penn Wynne

1          Brian Li

2          Luke Gianoukos

3          Timothy Han

4          Aaron Li

5          Alejandro Wu Mula

6          Max Hansberry

7          Austin Li         

K-6 U400                                               ​Top Team: The Phila School       2^nd Team: DE County Christian School

1          Benjamin Yang

2          Jones Gillman

3          N Fanelli-Salazar

4          Enmon Liu

5          John Kim

6          Axaviar Damavandi

7          Darshan Gokulraj

K-12 U600                                             Top Team: Belmont                     2^nd Team: Penn Valley

1          Max Westrup

2          Abhin Ravishankar

3          Saket Banda

4          Christopher Rowan

5          Arudra Ravikanth

6          Abhi Attilli

7          Noah Morris

K-12 U900                                              Top Team: Shipley                      2^nd Team: Radnor

1          Sathvi Bollepalli

2          Jay Dabral

3          Aditya Kadiyala

4          Siddarth Sankar

5          Rohit Ra Krishnan

6          Kevin Jin Li

7          Jai Kapur

K-12 Championship                              Top Team: Ithan                            2nd Team:  Pocopson

1          Charles Yang

2          Kenta Tsukamoto

3          Siddhant Suresh

4          Mahika Ralhan

5          Hemanth Kolluri

6          Dean Moon

Enjoy your Thanksgiving turkeys or vegetarian cranberry salads and hope to see you at the next fun tournament on Sat, Dec 16^th: 

2017 December Crush at the Renaissance Academy Charter School, 413 Fairview St, Phoenixville, PA 19460.

With the extended summer-like weather nearly measuring 80 Fahrenheit degrees, nearly 80 youth chess enthusiasts battled in the chess tournament held at Shady Grove Elementary. There were plenty of new and old faces both amongst the sun-tanning audience of parents as well as the players. It is so rewarding to see smiles across the board, literally! Please take some time to congratulate all our tournament participants as well as the top performers listed as follows:

K-6 U200 Individual:                      K-6 U200 Top Team: Blue Bell                            2^nd Team: Radnor

1          Kush Jain with a perfect 4.0 score

2          Jonathan Yang

3          Michae Legnola

4          Aidan McGillian

5          Kayla Krasnick

6          Ryan Kim       

Consolation medals to Sungwon Loh and Deven Sharma

K-6 U500 Individual:                         K-6 U500 Top Team: Belmont Hills        2^nd Team: Ithan

1          Carl Kim with a perfect 4.0 score

2          Arnav Sadashiv

3          Nigel Pierman

4          Kyler Parker

5          Abhi Attili

6          Malcolm Balch

K-12 U800 Individual:                       K-12 U800 Top Team: Warwick   2^nd Team: Downington

1          Dev Jijilal

2          Jay Dabral

3          Hass Boyouk

4          Jeremy Slotter

5          Andrew Solovyev

6          Travis Johnson

K-12 Championship Individual:               K-12 Championship Top Team: Unionville

1          Clifford Han

2          Lance Kay

3          Charles Yang

4          Derrick Han

5          Robbie Forrey

Enjoy your Halloween and subsequent office visit to your dentist if you are not careful of the Tooth Decay Ghost! We hope to see you at the next fun tournament on Sat, Nov 18^th:

The Queen's Harvest. 2017 Chess Tournament being held at K. D. Markley Elementary, 354 W Swedesford Road, Malvern, PA  19355.

Congratulations to Karthik Murugan for his 1st place victory at the National Elementary Championship in the 118th Annual U.S. Open Chess Championship held July 30 in Norfolk, VA.   Karthik is a Shining Knights camper and frequent tournament player.  He will be entering sixth grade this fall in the Downingtown Area School District.

May 20, 2017 – At the HUB in Conshohocken, 89 players played in four sections – Under 200/Unrated, Under 500, Under 800, and Championship Section, in the final event before camps kick off in a couple of weeks.  Numerous former camp participants were among the award winners, especially in the top section.   

Trophy winners for individuals and teams are as follows:

K-6 U200:

Individual:

1. Benjamin Linares
2. Alisha Singh
3. Travis Johnson
4. Angad Tripathi
5. Eric Ochis
6. Benjamin Vossen

Team:

1. Plymouth Elementary   
2. Upper Providence Elementary

K-6 U500:

Individual:

1. Rhea Howard
2. Eric Babka
3. Rich Liu
4. Jackson Fischer
5. Caroline Marg
6. Colum Dougherty

Team:

1. The Philadelphia School
2. Upper Providence Elementary 

K-12 U800:

Individual:

1. Sathvik Bollepalli
2. Jai Kapur
3. Nicholas Akins
4. Dev Madhavan
5. Jay Dabral
6. Somil Tare

Team:

1. Sarah Starkweather 

K-12 Championship:

Individual:

1. Justin Lam
2. Lance Harris Kay
3. Vasishta Tumuluri
4. Seth Casel
5. Lilian Wang
6. Raymond Liu

Team:

1.  Pocopson

From Byrn Mawr to Doylestown, Doylestown to Kennett Square, we look forward to seeing everyone at summer camps this summer!!

On Saturday, April 29^th Ithan Elementary hosted 124 chess youths eager to think their way through a beautiful weekend.  There were many new faces and formed friendships.  Parents and coaches joined in the spirit with solid encouragement.  Look at our top performers, and congrats to all the participant chess players.

K-6 U200 Individual:                      K-6 U200 Team: Upper Providence followed by Colonial

1          Dawson Beccaria with a perfect 4.0

2          Nicholas Platchek with a perfect 4.0

3          Abhinay Ravishankar

4          Matthew Facciolini

5          Max LaBarbera

6          Sam Goldsborough

Special props to Sierra Tirendi, Efrain Ortiz, and Aidan Connelly.

K-6 U500 Individual:                    K-6 U500 Teams: Ithan and Shipley

1          Samuel Weisz with a perfect 4 wins

2          Atharv Nunemunthala

3          Sahil Kurien

4          Max Westrup

5          Lukas Bleyen

6          Henry Markel Tornetta

Kudos to Rhea Howard, Max Light and Theodore Krieg.

K-12 U800 Individual:                    K-12 U800 Team: Unionville

1          Derrick Han w/ a perfect 4 wins

2          Yajat Gupta w/ a perfect 4 wins

3          Raj Kansara

4          Mahika Ralhan

5          Kevin Li

6          Daniel Albarouki

Congrats also to Sophia Stoy.

K-12 Championship Individual:               K-12 Champ Team: Pocopson

1          Anshu Nunemunthala with a perfect 4.0

2          Clifford Han

3          Andrew Feng

4          Lillian Wang

5          Justin Lam

Additionally recognizing Kenta Tsukamoto.

Thank you for your support in enriching your children’s lives.  Cindy will hopefully see you on 5/20/17 for the next chess tournament:  100 Four Falls Corporate Center, Conshohocken, PA 19428.  Keep up the good work, inspiring your children to think like a King!