Madison City Chess League

MCCL Kids Win Many Awards at the 2016 Elementary Nationals!

May 12th, 9:10PM

The National Elementary Chess Championship occurred May 6-8th at the Gaylord Opryland Hotel and Convention Center. Over 2200 students from across the United States competed in multiple divisions over the three-day weekend. Alabama sent 54 students to compete in this tournament, and 42 were members of the Madison City Chess League.

Each student played seven rounds over three days. Each game can last up to 4 hours because of the longer time controls at national tournaments. Therefore, a number of these games lasted past our kids’ normal bedtimes. The final day and the last two rounds of the championship occurred on Mother’s Day, and there were many mothers present supporting their kids throughout the day.

Individual Awards

Numerous MCCL students received individual awards at the National Elementary Chess Championship. Rainbow Elementary 6th grader Maanasi Limaye came home with a 1st place trophy after scoring a perfect 7 points in the K-6 Under 1000 section! Other MCCL students also won individual awards and are listed below.

K-6 U1000

Maanasi Limaye (Rainbow) 1st place with 7 points (National Champion!)

Aubteen Pour-Biazar (West Madison) – 9th place with 5.5 points

Shreya Sunil (Columbia) - tied for 25th place with 5 points.

Above left: Pranav Somu (5th place) and Above right: Madhu Balaji (34th place) in K5 Under 900

K-5 U900

Pranav Somu (Mill Creek) – 5th place with 6 points
Madhdushalini Balaji (Heritage) – 34th place with 5 points

Rishi Sethuraj (Mill Creek) - tied for 45th place with 5 points

Yuti Das (Columbia) - tied for 45th place with 5 points

K-3 U800

Oviya Gowder (Heritage) - tied for 30th place with 5 points
Pulak Agarwalla (Decatur Magnet) – tied for 30th place with 5 points
Xavier Bruni (Rainbow) – tied for 30th place with 5 points

K6 Championship

Mohak Agarwalla (Cedar Ridge Middle - Decatur) – Class prize (1300-1399) 3rd place with 4 points

Also competing at Nationals for Mill Creek were: Om Badhe, Alex Povorozniuc, and Ethan Xu .

Competing for Columbia Elementary were: Neha and Puja Chopade, Michael and Thomas Nguyen, Pranaav Satheesh, Neil Sethi and Hesham Shikhtholh.

Competing for Rainbow Elementary were: Luke Chynoweth, Audrey and Catrina Holschen, Nicholas Koukos, Caroline and Constance Wang, Corinne and Jenson Wilhelm, Rachael Ehrman, Ryan Shurtz, Karsten Wallace, Edward and Zachary Calinsky, Will Cox, Ben Kosan, Victor Lundy, Geon Park, and Boone Ramsey.

Students competing from other Madison City Schools were: Vallabh Busetty (Heritage) and Swetha Jakka (West Madison).

Team Awards

In the K-6 Under 1000 section, two teams from Madison placed in the top 10. Rainbow Elementary’s team of Zachary Calinsky, Will Cox, Ben Kosan, and Maansi Limaye won 2nd place. Columbia Elementary's team of Neha and Puja Chopade, Thomas Nguyen, Shreya Sunil, and Hesham Shikhtholh won 7th place.

In the K6 Championship section, Rainbow’s team of Edward Calinsky, Victory Lundy, Geon Park, Boone Ramsey, Jenson Wilhelm, and Constance Wang placed 8th. The K6 Championship section was the toughest section of the entire tournament.

Also winning 9th place at Nationals was the team from Rainbow competing in the K-3 under 800 section comprised of Xavier Bruni, Luke Chynoweth, Audrey and Catrina Holschen, Nicholals Koukos, Caroline Wang, and Corinne Wilhelm.

Coaches

Coaches supporting and preparing the MCCL students and teams were: Ranae Bartlett, Nancy Brandon, Bill Nash, Noel Newquist, Will Stevenson, Josh McClellan, Paul Mulqueen, and Ed Mullin.