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The Wilson K-12 Open: Tiebreaks Galore
By William Lin
The 2024 Wilson K-12 Open was held Saturday, October 5 at Wilson Elementary in Oklahoma City. 176 players competed in five sections, four of which reached blitz tiebreaks and three of those went to Armageddon!
Here are some event highlights:
Section 1: K-3rd U600
Individual Results:
1st (tie) - Craig Huntersmith and Selvamithra Vaithilingam (4.5/5)
2nd (tie) - Trishitha Abburi, Leo Zhao, and Aleksei Tsetsura (4/5)
Team Results:
1st - Moore Chess Club (11)
2nd - Wilson Elementary School (10.5)
Section 2: 4th-6th U600
Individual Results:
1st - Ramesh Naram (5/5)
2nd (tie) - Elias Kirkpatrick and Joshua Winters (4.5/5)
Team Results:
1st - Moore Chess Club (13.5)
2nd - Classen SAS (11.5)
Section 3: U900
Individual Results:
1st (tie) - Jonathan Fan (4.5/5) and Quentin Noble (4.5/5)
2nd (tie) - Ethan Van Do, Vaibhav Thaduri, Dylan Hedges, Santos Valencia,
Andrew Alexander, Benjamin Kasperek, Adhiraj Sukhidial (4/5)
Team Results:
1st - Stillwater Pioneers (11.5)
2nd - Moore Chess Club (11)
Section 4: U1300
Individual Results:
1st (tie) - Zion Wright and Elise Huang (3.5/4)
2nd (tie) - Kanishk Malli and Liam Bond (3/4)
Team Results:
1st - Norman Scholastic Chess Club (6.5)
2nd - Jenks Chess Club (5.5)
Section 5: Premier
Individual Results:
1st (tie) - Elizabeth Braddy and William Lin (3.5/4)
2nd (tie) - Viraj Singh, Ivan Ding, and Angelique Chen (3/4)
Team Results:
1st - Moore Chess Club (4.5)
Changes to the Invitational Standings
Denker: Viraj Singh has now joined Lafayette Chen
as the joint 1st-place leader with 6 points.
Barber: With a phenomenal performance and two upsets,
Ivan Ding has moved into sole first place with 5 points.
Rockefeller: After a solid event with an even score of 2/4,
Kiara Pavithran is now the leading contender with 3 points.
Fun Facts
Highest Rating Jump:
S1: Christian Spurlock (U => 475) S2: William Bui (U => 564) S3: Dylan Hedges (U => 1016)
S4: Elise Huang (845 => 1063) S5: Angelique Chen (1387 => 1558)
Strongest Rating Performance:
S1: Selvamithra Vaithilingam (645) S2: Ramesh Naram (968) S3: Jonathan Fan (1050)
S4: Elise Huang (1359) S5: William Lin (2039)
Outstanding Overall Club Performance:
Moore Chess Club
Three first-place finishes, one second place, and one third?
Congrats to the members of Moore Chess Club and keep up the good work!
You can view the tournament cross tables here.
The 2024 Norman K-12 Open
The Norman K-12 Open was held Saturday, September 12 at Premier Private School in Norman. One hundred forty-four players competed in five sections. Section winners are listed below. You can view the crosstables here.
Don't miss the outstanding photos of this event taken by TD Jake Williams. You can see them here.
From coast to coast, a chess-full summer for Oklahoma players
Oklahoma scholastic chess players participated in events all over the nation during the summer of 2024—from L.A. and Las Vegas to Norfolk, Atlanta, and Philadelphia, with plenty of action in Kansas, Texas, and at home in Oklahoma. Scroll down to read a few of the top stories from this summer.
Middle School Nationals
Angelique Chen, Cooper Nuckolls, and Kiara Pavithran represented Oklahoma at the national Middle School Championships, held in Atlanta in May. Nuckolls turned in an outstanding performance, tying for third in his division and gaining 160 rating points.
Some highlights from summer '24
Kansas Open & Championship
In the Open, William Lin finished just a half point off the overall winner. His 4.0 score landed him in a second-place tie and earned him the Open section’s Top Scholastic award and a 55-point rating jump.
Top scholastic player in the Reserve was Liam Applegate, who scored 3.5. A half point behind him was Ryan Samadder, whose decision to play up paid off with an astonishing 111-point rating jump.
US Open National Invitationals
Elizabeth Braddy, Oscar Wang, Lafayette Chen, and Aayush Praveen represented Oklahoma at the national Tournaments of State Champions event, which was held during the US Open in Norfolk, Virginia.
Chen tied for first in the U2100 at the Weeramantry Blitz, held in conjunction with the national scholastic invitationals. And Braddy was presented with a special recognition for being a five-time competitor at this prestigious event.
Jerry Spann Memorial Oklahoma Open & Championship
Lafayette Chen and Kelvin Xie both scored 3.5 in a very strong Open section at this year's state championship. In the same section, William Lin and Joe Zacharias scored 3.0.
In the Reserve, Liam Applegate turned in a stunning performance. He'd been the 24th seed out of 31 players, but he finished at the top—first place with a perfect 5 out of 5 (and an astonishing 275-point jump in rating)!
Maxwell Xie tied for second place in the same section. Also scoring well in the Reserve with 3.0 points each were Aayush Praveen, Roshan Valentine, Kirthika Duggisetty, Kiara Pavithran, and Zion Wright.
Surprisingly, the Amateur section had more adults than youths. Aryan Karn and Paarth Jain tied for third with 4.0 points each. Tristan Zhai and Dexter Gray both scored 3.5, with Aaron Lu, Charley Qiu, and Lorenzo Folsom just behind them with 3.0 points each.
Other tournaments
Anurag Roy Choudhury took third place and enjoyed a 46-point ratings jump at the Dallas Summer Open.
Maxwell Barnes tied for third in the U2100 at the National Open in Las Vegas, Nevada. He was also among the Oklahoma scholastic players who participated in the inaugural Universal Open, a tournament that featured a special match section for NFL players and other sports celebrities. Ryan Samadder and William Lin also played in the event. Oklahoma kids also played in the Western Class Championships and the World Open.
THE 2024 OKLAHOMA SCHOLASTIC CHESS STATE CHAMPIONSHIPS
With a 3.5/4 score and a win over the highest-rated scholastic player in the state, Elizabeth Braddy became the 2024 OSCO State Champion. Her win put her at the top of the races for two national invitational tournaments: the Denker and the Haring (for high school and girls state champions, respectively). As in past years when she has qualified for more than one event, Braddy chose to represent Oklahoma at the Haring. Our other national invitational representatives are Oscar Wang (Denker), Aayush Praveen (Rockefeller - elementary), and Lafayette Chen (Barber - middle school).
The Oklahoma Scholastic Chess Championships were held on Saturday, April 13 at the University of Central Oklahoma in Edmond. Josie Braddy was chief tournament director and organizer. She was assisted by TDs Joe Veal, Frank Chen, Leo Xie, Fiby Li, and Joel Gargus, who ran the DGT broadcasts of the top boards in both the middle and high school championship sections.
Results are here and you can view some of the top games from the event here. A list of winners is below.
(⭐ = perfect score)
High School Championship
1st: Elizabeth Braddy (3.5/4)
Landon Moore, Oscar Wang, Sean Patton, and Josh Li tied for 2nd/ 3rd (3.0/4).
Teams: 1st Moore Chess Club; 2nd Stillwater Pioneers
Middle School Championship
Ivan Ding, Lafayette Chen, and Angelique Chen tied with 3.5/4 points each.
Teams: 1st Norman Scholastic Chess Club; 2nd Casady
Elementary Championship
⭐1st: Aayush Praveen (5.0/5)⭐
Arya Roy Choudhury, Kiara Pavithran, and Tristan Zhai tied for 2nd/3rd with 4.0 points each.
Teams: 1st Moore Chess Club; 2nd Stillwater Pioneers
High School U1200
George Leydorf and Soren Lawson tied for 1st/2nd with 4.5/5 points each.
Teams: 1st Academy of Classical Christian Studies; 2nd Moore Chess Club
Middle School U900
⭐1st: Andrew Araskog (5.0/5)⭐
Tied for 2nd/3rd with 4.0/5 were Lorenzo Folsom, Quentin Noble, Kyle Beirute, Aarka Debray, Brantley Cowett, Aarav Meharwade, and Vishaak Rajaram.
Teams: 1st Moore Chess Club; 2nd Academy of Classical Christian Studies
Elementary U600
⭐1st: Daniel Mohanna (5.0/5)⭐
Tied for 2nd/3rd with 4.0/5 were Alexandria Howell, Bishop Tito, Sriyan Lageshetty, Aleksei Tsetsura, Caleb Winters, Joshua Beyer, Beau Bryan, and Jackson Lamar.
Teams: 1st Moore Chess Club; 2nd Wilson Elementary
K-3 U400
⭐1st: Nithan Vaithilingam (5.0/5)⭐
Tied for 2nd/3rd with 4.0/5 were Riyanshi Birish Kamble and Henry Colvert.
Teams: 1st Wilson Elementary; 2nd Moore Chess Club
Check back soon for more photos.
A record-setting win and a stunning comeback
The Jenks K-12 Open, March 9 in Tulsa
by Joe Veal
Some scripts are better than Hollywood. Two surprises at the Jenks K-12 Open, held at Jenks Middle School in Tulsa on March 9, made for a memorable event.
Eight-year-old Arya Roy Choudhury (the 6th seed of 21 players), a second grader from Edmond, became the youngest-ever player to win a regular-season OSCO Premier (1200+) event in our history, scoring 3.5 out of 4. It is unclear what the future will hold for Arya, but these days are quite bright indeed.
Section 4 (900-1199) at the same event presented another surprise. The 25th seed out of 25, Zion Wright stunned onlookers by tying with the 2nd seed Nazar Kanatov with a perfect 4.0 out of 4. Wright was awarded 1st place because Kanatov did not show up for blitz tiebreaks. Zion's USCF rating going into this event was an established 451, and this begins a tale.
Eight years ago, when Wright was a player I coached at Wilson Elementary, Oklahoma scholastic tournaments were rated by Chess Express Ratings (CXR), not US Chess*. Wright's CXR rating was around 800. Since there were fewer opportunities in those days for Oklahoma youths to play in non-scholastic tournaments, Wright had very few US Chess-rated games and a barely established rating of 451. He was only permitted to play in Section 4 due to his online blitz rating.
The event drew 219 players who competed in five sections. Section winners are below, and you can find the full results here.
*Except the Premier section, which at that time was for players 1100+ and was rated by both CXR and US Chess. OSCO stopped using CXR in 2020 and began rating all games through US Chess .
WINNERS BY SECTION
Premier
Arya Roy Choudhury (3.5/4)
U1100
Zion Wright & Nazar Kanatov (tie, 4.0/4)
U900
Liam Bond (5.0/5)
4-6 U600
Andrew Shirley & Nico Perez (tie, 4.5/5)
K-3 U600
Erqing Wang (4.5/5)
OSCO player wins U1600 at Texas Winter Championship
Our congratulations to Oklahoma player Anurag Roy Choudhury, who took first place in the U1600 division at the 2024 Texas Winter Championship. Way to go, Anurag!
The event was held Saturday, January 20 at the Texas Chess Center's location in Frisco. David Gaston was chief tournament director.
Puzzled!
with Joel Gargus
This position was reached on the top board at the Deer Creek K-12 Open. What's kind of cool to me is that this exact position is also studied in Dvoretsky's Endgame Manual, which is widely regarded as the most comprehensive endgame text ever written.
It's White to move. Can you find the winning idea? Fortunately for you, there is no time pressure as there was for White in the game. There is more than one defensive try for Black, so be sure to plan for that!
Joel Gargus is the director of the Oklahoma City Chess Club and a regular TD at OSCO events.
The Deer Creek K-12 Open
Saturday, January 6 in Edmond
The Deer Creek K-12 Open was held Saturday, January 6 at Deer Creek 4th & 5th Center in Edmond. 191 players competed in five sections. Stillwater 10th grader William Lin took first in Premier, landing himself at the top of the list of contenders for this year's Denker Tournament of High School Champions. As of this month, the leaders for the other invitational tournaments are Lafayette Chen (Barber), Arya Roy Choudhury (Rockefeller), and Elizabeth Braddy (Haring). Two tournaments remain in this year's scholastic series; our representatives will be named following this year's state championship.
Other section winners were Kirthika Duggisetty (K-12 U1200), Tanner Woodson (K-12 U900, after a blitz tiebreak round with Rafael Perez), Benjamin Livingston (4th-6th U600, after a blitz tiebreak round with Vaibhav Thaduri), and Wyatt Morris (K-3rd U600).
Crosstables are here. Some photos are below; more will be posted soon. Our next tournament is March 9 in Jenks. We hope to see everyone there!
Oklahoma kids at the National Grade Championships
After their successes at the Oklahoma grade championships tournament in November, three players went on to compete at the 2023 National K-12 Grade Championships, held December 15–17 in Orlando .
Oklahoma's second-place grade winner, Anurag Roy Choudhury, finished with four points out of seven in the eighth grade division. Also scoring four out of seven was Kiara Pavithran, Oklahoma's fourth grade champion for 2023. Arya Roy Choudhury, state champion for second grade, scored five points out of seven.
More than two thousand young players participated in this year's event, which was organized by Boyd Reed for US Chess. Results are here.
PHOTO: Arya Roy Choudhury, Kiara Pavithran, and Anurag Roy Choudhury at the 2023 National K-12 Grade Championships in Orlando, Florida.
The Cascia Hall K-12 Open
Saturday, December 8 in Tulsa
We were just shy of 200 players at this one—197 players competed in five sections at the Cascia Hall K-12 Open, held December 8 in Tulsa. Josie Braddy was chief TD and lead organizer. Other TDs were Joe Veal, Joel Gargus, Rebecca Rutledge, Huan Chen, Leo Xie, Praveen Lakshmiganapathy, Zachary Walling, and Jake Williams.
K-3 U600 individual winners were Jonah Holt and Tristan Zhai (tied for first with perfect 5.0 scores). Four players tied with 4.0 points: Antony Mohanna, Jonathan Qin, Benjamin Kasperek, and Craig Huntersmith. Winning teams were Norman Scholastic Chess Club and University School.
Donovan Wainwright swept the 4th-6th U600 division with a perfect 5.0. Just half point behind was second-place winner Quintin Sudmeier (4.5). Five players ended up in a tie for third (4.0 points each): Lorenzo Folsom, Sabina Ford, Cora Winters, Cooper Tackett, and Aiden Tran. Winning teams were Norman Scholastic Chess Club and School of Saint Mary.
In the K-12 U900, Kade Bryant took first with a perfect 5.0. In second was Robert Eldridge with 4.5. Ten players tied for third with 4.0 points each: Nathaniel Dellapenta, Adhiraj Sukhdial, Dexter Gray, Cooper Nuckolls, Sawyer Smith, Dominic Ford, William Kelley, Scott Phillips, Riley McQuitty, and Caleb Rinehart. Winning teams were Moore Chess Club and Stillwater Pioneers.
Eshawn Samadder and Hayden Shriner tied for first with 3.0 out of 4 points in the K-12 U1200. In Tied for second with 2.5 out of 4 points each were Jonathan Fan and Kanishk Malli. Winning teams were Classical Academy and Moore Chess Club.
Max Barnes won Premier with a perfect 4.0 out of 4. In second was Arkansas player Havish Kunchanapalli (3.5). Oscar Wang, Joshua Li, Joe Zacharias, and Kelvin Xie tied for third with 3.0 points out of 4. Winning teams were Central Oklahoma Chess Club and Moore Chess Club.
A few photos are below. Check back soon for a link to more photos. Crosstables are here.
The 22nd Oklahoma Scholastic Chess
GRADE CHAMPIONSHIPS
The Albert Rine Memorial 22nd Oklahoma Scholastic Chess Grade Championships were held Saturday, November 18 at the University of Tulsa. 199 players competed in eleven sections with a champion individual and team named for each.
Winning individuals and teams are listed below. Crosstables are here.
K-1st grade
Lucas Li took first place and was named Oklahoma's K-1 state champion. Brindle Morrow was second, and Isaiah Philip was third.
The winning team was University School (Tulsa).
2nd grade
Arya Roy Choudhury took first place and was named 2nd-grade state champion. Jonathan Qin was second, and Craig Huntersmith was third.
The winning team was Norman Scholastic Chess Club.
PHOTO: TWO-TIME CHAMPS! Both Aayush Praveen (5th-grade champion) and Arya Roy Choudhury (2nd-grade champion) won their divisions for the second year in a row.
3rd grade
Camden Stanford took first place and was named the state champion for 3rd grade. Benjamin Kasparek was second. Tied for third were Paarth Jain, Prish Raut, Ben Yaffe, Antony Mohanna, and Lionel Uriarte.
The winning team was Moore Chess Club.
PHOTOS: 1. Third-grade champion Camden Stanford receives his trophy from Charles M. Unruh. 2. The winning two-man team from Moore Chess Club: Paarth Jain and Prish Raut.
4th grade
For the second year in a row, Kiara Pavithran won her division at Grade. She took first place and the title for 4th-grade champion. Tied for second were Lawrence Li, Krishna Lolla, and Sriyan Lageshetty.
The winning team was Moore Chess Club.
PHOTO : The winning fourth-grade team was Moore Chess Club. Pictured from left are Caleb Winters, fourth-grade champion Kiara Pavithran, and Sriyan Lageshetty, who tied for second in the division. Charles M. Unruh , former University School coach and a longtime friend to Oklahoma scholastic chess, presented awards at the tournament.
5th grade
Aayush Praveen took first place and was named 5th-grade state champion, winning his grade's title for the second year running. Akshaj Gillela was second. Tied for third were Jonathan Fan, Jacob So, and William Saylor.
The winning team was Moore Chess Club.
6th grade
Liam Applegate won first place and was named state champion for 6th grade. Tied for second were Dexter Gray, Adhiraj Sukhdial, Parker Langston, and Donovan Wainwright.
The winning team was Carver Middle School.
7th grade
Daniel Chugunov became a two-time Grade winner this year when he took first place and the 7th-grade state champion's title. Kevin Chen, Saideep Subedi, and Aryan Karn tied for second.
The winning team was Casady School.
PHOTO: The winning 7th-grade team from Casady. From left are Saideep Subedi, Daniel Chugunov, Thomas Zacharias, and Elliot Yii.
11th grade (individual titles)
Maxwell Barnes took first place and was named 11th grade state champion. Joe Zacharias was second. George Leydorf was third. PHOTO: Joe Zacharias and Max Barnes in round three.
12th grade (individual titles)
Benjamin Creech took first place and was named 12th grade state champion. Lewis Carr was second, and Elijah Leydorf was third.
11th/12th grades (team title)
Academy of Classical Christian Studies (pictured below) is Oklahoma's state champion team for 11th & 12th grades.
The Sequoyah K-12 Open
Saturday, October 14 in Tahlequah
OSCO returned to Tahlequah on Saturday, October 14 for the second tournament of our 2023-24 season. 92 players from Oklahoma and Arkansas competed in four sections with Game/30 time controls. Oscar Wang won the event's top trophy, finishing with 3.5 out of 4 points in Premier. William Lin finished second (3.0). Elizabeth Braddy and Raymond Jiang tied for third (2.5). Stillwater Pioneers was the top-scoring team in this section.
Kirthika Duggisetty (pictured) swept the four-round U1200 with a perfect 4.0 and took home the first-place trophy in that division. A student at Deer Creek High school, Kirthika represents the Moore Chess Club team, which took home the first-place U1200 team trophy. She will compete in Premier section at the next regular-season tournament. Tied for second/third with 3.0 points each were Guaransh Gautam, Kevin Chen, and Roshan Valentine.
In the U900, the first-place trophy went to unrated player Nazar Kanatov, who finished with a perfect 5.0 out of five games. Five players finished with 4.0 points. Three were from Oklahoma: Jonathan Fan, Elijah Leydorf, and Akshaj Gillella; two were Arkansas players: Kanishk Malli and Sree Pichikala. The first-place team was Moore Chess Club. Stillwater Pioneers finished second.
Scott Phillips led the Stillwater Pioneers to victory in the U600, where he scored a perfect 5.0 and won the first-place individual trophy. Four players scored 4.0 points each: Ximan Qiao, Adam Sallam, Sabina Ford, and Craig Huntersmith. The second-place team trophy in the U600 went to University School (Tulsa).
Our thanks to Debasish Roy Choudhury for taking photos at the event. A few of those are below. The rest of them are here. To view the crosstables, visit this link. Registration is open for our next tournament, the Oklahoma Grade Championships at the University of Tulsa on November 18. Don't miss it!
An OSCO player is officially one of the...
Best in the nation!
OSCO player Arya Roy Choudhury is no stranger to the US Chess Top 100 lists, but this month he's reached a new milestone: #8 nationwide for his age group (7 and under)!
The ranking is based on his published rating of 1547 for October 2023. He's within 200 points of the top spot, and he shows no sign of slowing down: When this article was published, he'd already gone up to 1589.
Congratulations to this outstanding young player!
Pavithran scores at Novice Challenge, Texas Fall Championship
Last spring, Kiara Pavithran wrapped up her first season as an OSCO player with a first-place trophy in the elementary state championship. She’s showing no signs of slowing down. On October 7, she picked up a third-place trophy in Irving at the Texas Fall Championship (Texas Chess Center). Two weeks earlier she won the NW OKC Novice Challenge (September 30 in Oklahoma City) with a perfect score. Another scholastic player, Jax Little, tied for second. Chad Marler sponsored the event. Bart Gibbons was chief tournament director with assistance from Tom Braunlich.
The Moore K-12 Open
September 16, 2023 at Highland Park Junior High
Our first tournament of the 2023-24 season welcomed 167 players to Highland Park Junior High in Moore. Our thanks to the Moore Chess Club and the rest of our wonderful team of OSCO volunteers who made this tournament such a success!
Elizabeth Braddy won top honors at the event, winning all her games in Premier section. Other section winners were Kevin Chen (U1200, after a blitz tiebreak round with Yahya Latif), Cannon Smith (U900, after a blitz tiebreak round with Jack Short; Bradley Schantz also tied for 1st), Kanishk Malli (4th–6th U600), and Jonathan Qin (K–3 U600).
The team competition was dominated by the Moore Chess Club (first place, KL-12 U900 and 4th-6th U600; second place, K-12 U1200 and K-3 U600) and the Norman Scholastic Chess Club (first place, K-12 U1200 and K-3 U600). Tulsa University School took home the second-place team trophy in 4th-6th U600. In the 4th-6th U600, Tulsa University School took second.
A few of Jake Williams's photos and a complete list of winners and are below. View the rest of the photos, share and download photos here: 2023 Moore K-12 Open. To view the tournament crosstables, click here .
Team winners
K-3 U600: 1st Norman Scholastic Chess Club, 2nd Moore Chess Club
4-6 U600: 1st Moore Chess Club, 2nd Univ. School at Tulsa
K-12 U900: 1st Moore Chess Club, 2nd Casady
K-12 U1200: 1st Norman Scholastic Chess Club, 2nd Moore Chess Club
Individual winners
K-3 U600: 1st Jonathan Qin (Norman Scholastic Chess Club), 2nd Stirling Latham (Moore Chess Club), 3rd Lucas Li (Stillwater Pioneers)
4-6th U600: 1st Kanishk Malli (Arkansas), 2nd Benjamin Livingston (Lawton Academy of Arts and Sciences), 3rd Reid Wilson (University School at Tulsa)
K-12 U900: three-way tie with blitz tiebreak played between the top two: 1st Cannon Smith (Woodall), 2nd Jack Short (Norman Scholastic Chess Club), 3rd Bradley Schantz (Moore Chess Club)
K-12 U1200: Blitz tiebreak between top two: 1st Kevin Chen (Norman Scholastic Chess Club), 2nd Yahya Latif (Heritage Hall), 3rd Eric Lansinger (Holy Trinity Lutheran)
Premier: 1st Elizabeth Braddy (homeschool), 2nd Kelvin Xie (Central Oklahoma Chess Club), 3rd Joseph Zacharias (Casady)
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