The 2016 State Scholastic Chess Championship was held at Indian Springs School in Pelham, Alabama, and Madison teams dominated, sweeping every team award in the Primary and Elementary school sections.  Rainbow third grader Geon Park was crowned the Primary State Champion on Saturday.  Madison sent a record number 17 teams to compete during the team competition on Sunday.  The Madison City Chess League provided coaching services for all the Madison teams.  On Sunday, Discovery Middle School defended its previous State Champion title by repeating as State Champion with a perfect team score of 4 points.  Also on Sunday, Rainbow Elementary was declared the top Elementary team for the third year in a row with a perfect team score of 4 points!  For the first time, Rainbow Elementary also won the top team award in the Primary (K-3) division, also with a perfect team score of 4 points!

Individual Results

The individual competition occurred on Saturday, March 19th with 234 students competing in seven sections by age and rating.  The largest section, the Primary (K-3) section, had 54 competitors.  As the day progressed, we could tell that Madison students were doing well because they were playing on the top boards round after round.  The photo above tells it all:  four of the top five individual awards went to Madison students from Rainbow Elementary (R to L):  Geon Park (1st--champion); Zachary Calinsky (3rd); Luke Chynoweth (4th), and Xavier Bruni (5th).  Also pictured: Christopher Wang (2nd place and second from right).

In the Elementary Championship section, award winners were (R to L):  Rochelle Wu (1st), Mohak Agarwalla (2nd), Jenson Wilhelm-RES (3rd), Hudson Markin (4th) and Victor Lundy-RES (5th).

In the Junior High Championship section, award winners were (R to L):  Arden Markin (1st), Sijung Wu (2nd), Michael Guthrie-DMS (3rd), Zachary Snow (4th), and Josh Lin-DMS (5th).

Kane Stone (below, second from left), a Liberty Middle School student, won 2nd place in the K-8 Under 800 section.

Team Results

Sunday was a big day for Madison teams, and once again as the day progressed, numerous Madison teams were playing on the top boards.  in the Primary (K-3) club section, Madison City Chess League team members Vallabh Busetty, Oviya Gowder, Pulak Agarwalla, and Swetha Jakka won 2nd place.  They were coached by Ed Mullin (not pictured) and Will Stevenson during the tournament.

In the Primary (K-3) School Division, the top three awards went to Madison teams:  Rainbow Red (1st), Rainbow Orange (2nd) and Mill Creek (3rd). This was a first for Madison teams and a true show of dominance.  Rainbow's top team won every game of every match accumulating 16 individual points for a team score of 4 points.  Rainbow Red team's average USCF rating was higher than any Primary team (club or school) in the entire competition.

Primary Team Champions

Rainbow Elementary

Rainbow Red team members (L to R):  Karsten Wallace, Zachary Calinsky, Caroline Wang, and Geon Park. Back row:  Coaches Ranae Bartlett, Bill Nash, and Nancy Brandon.

Left above:  Rainbow Orange team members Xavier Bruni, Catrina Holschen, Nicholas Koukos and Ethan Van.  Right above:  Mill Creek team members Sahithi Mynampally, Harsha Matta, Alex Povorozniuc, and Shriya Sethuraj.

Elementary Team Champions

Rainbow Elementary

In the Elementary (K-6) School division, the top three awards also went to Madison teams:  Rainbow Blue (1st), Rainbow Green (2nd), and Columbia Platinum (3rd).  Rainbow won its third consecutive State Elementary Chess Championship.

Rainbow Blue team members L to R:  Victor Lundy, Boone Ramsey, Jenson Wilhelm, and Constance Wang.

2nd Place Rainbow Green team members L to R:  Edward Calinsky, ,Mercedes Zich, Maanasi Limaye, and Ben Kosan.

3rd Place Columbia Platinum team members L to R: Thomas Nguyen and Timothy Zhu. Not pictured Sherwood Dong and Pranaav Satheesh.

Junior High Team Champions

Discovery Middle School

Members of the Discovery Teal Team who captured the State Championship title for the Junior High division are L to R:  Michael Guthrie, Hayden Billmann,  Josh Lin, and Will Bao.  Also pictured is coach Paul Mulqueen.  The DMS team repeated as State chess champion in a decisive fashion, winning 15 out of 16 games to clinch the title.

Complete tournament results can be found here.