Scholastic Chess Players Compete in Final Event of the 2017-18 Season
Iowa scholastic chess players competed in the final scholastic tournament of the 2017-2018 year. The 2018 Iowa K-12 Scholastic Open Championship and the K-8, K-5, and K-3 Section Championships were held April 14, 2018 at Prairie Pointe Middle School in Cedar Rapids, Iowa. A total of 55 players competed in this annual event.
This tournament has four sections, K-12, K-8, K-5, and K-3. Players can “play up” meaning a third grader could play in the K-5 section. As a result of this option, the winner the of K-5 section is not necessarily the best 5th grader in the tournament. The best 5th grader may have participated in the K-8 section. Of course, a 5th grader can’t “play down” by playing in the K-3 section.
Trophies were awarded to the top five players in each section plus additional trophies awarded by ratings. Thirty-three trophies awarded in all. The names below the pictures do not represent the order in which the players are standing.
K-3 Trophy Winners
Hammes tops Matcha on tiebreak to capture 1st place in K-3 Section Championship
The time control for the K-3 was G/30 plus a 5 second delay. Twelve players competed in this section. The top five overall winners were: Wyatt Hammes and Madan Matcha scored 4 of 5 points to tie for 1st place. Hammes won the 1st place trophy on tiebreak and Matcha took home the 2nd place trophy. Both Noah Hammes and Nolon Nixon tied for 3rd place. Hammes won 3rd place on tiebreak and Nixon claimed the 4th place trophy. Aryan Harwani won the 5th place trophy on tiebreak over Asim Shivapur.
The Under 600 went to Asim Shivapur. Vincent Wong captured the under 400 trophy and Krysty Bujakowska captured the under 200 trophy. The unrated trophy went Abigail Lee.
K-5 Trophy Winners
Bujakowski tops 3 players on tiebreak to capture 1st place in K-5 Section Championship
The time control for the K-5 section was G/30 plus a 5 second delay. Seventeen players competed in this section. This was a very competitive section! Four players tied for 1st place with 4 points each. On tiebreak the top five overall winners were: 1st Stan Bujakowski, 2nd Riley Shaw, 3rd Michael Shonrock, and 4th Kobi Nott.
Four players tied for 5th place overall with 3 points each! On tiebreak, Niko Nixon captured the 5th place trophy over Jacob Suresh, Orion Shaw, and Aarud Ajoykumar. The under 800 trophy was awarded to Jacob Suresh, the 600 trophy went to Aarud Ajoykumar, and the under 400 was captured by Aidan Hoovik. There were no players competing for trophies in the unrated category.
K-8 trophy winners
Kumar goes Undefeated to Captured K-8 Championship
The time control for the K-8 section was G/45 plus a 5 second delay. Seven players competed in this section, the smallest section of the tournament. Aadarsh Kumar won 1st place with 4 points. Rishi V. Ajoykumar captured 2nd place with 3 points on tiebreak over Jenny Zhang. Two players tied for 4th place with 2 points each, Gavyn Ainesworth was awarded the 4th place trophy while Byron Borcherding captured 5th place.
The under 1000 trophy went to Ian Klemm and the under 800 trophy went Gary Chen. There were no players competing trophies in the under 600 or unrated categories.
The time control for the K-12 section was G/60 plus a 5 second delay. Nineteen players competed in this section. This was the largest section of the tournament which is very unusual for this tournament! Typically, the K-5 section is the largest.
K-12 Section
Pregon win 1st place trophy on tiebreak over Nathan Chen to win K-12 Championship
Two players tied for 1st with 3.5 points. Joseph Pregon was awarded the 1st place trophy over Nathan Chen. Three players tied for third with 3 points each. Morgan Lu won the 3rd place trophy, 4th place went to Andrew Kozich and 5th place was awarded to Kunal Chugh.
The under 1200 trophy went to Eli Copeland, the under 1000 trophy went to Athena Wu and the under 800 trophy, was awarded to Mason Porter. There were no unrated players in this section.
Congratulations to all who participated.
If anyone has pictures of the K-12 trophy winners, please email them to me at: broich01@yahoo.com
