Silver Knights Chess

USCF Rating Report

The February Crush chess tournament was held on February 2 at the Horsham Community Center in Horsham, PA.

Top seed Max Polichuk of Richboro Elementary went 4-0 in the K-3 section to win first place. Anand Bhatt and Sean Grant were second and third, respectively, with 3-1 scores. The top unrated player was Emma Hawkins, scoring 2-2 with her only losses against the top two players in the tournament. The Philadelphia School won top school in the section.

The K-8 section was dominated by The Philadelphia School, which scored a whopping 13.0 team points. Gregory Whitehorn and Alexander England, both hailing from The Philadelphia School, tied for first place at 4-0. Zachary Zeelander (also of The Philadelphia School) and Siddharth Ambatipudi won third and fourth places with scores of 3-1.

USCF Rating Report

The January Rumble chess tournament was held on January 19 at Goodnoe Elementary School in Newtown, PA. Turnout was low due to the Liberty Bell Open being held the same weekend in Philadelphia, but both sections were closely contested and featured many good games.

Kindergartener and 2nd seed Benjamin Lu of Kutz Elementary School won the K-3 section with a perfect 4-0 score, defeating top seed Max Polichuk and 3rd seed Sean Grant in the final two rounds. (For video analysis of the January 12 game between Max and Benjamin, click here.) Max, Sean, and Nicholas Miklaucic tied for second place with scores of 3-1. The top K-3 team was Whitemarsh Elementary with 5.5 points.

The K-8 section was a bit unusual, as most of our higher-rated regulars were at the Liberty Bell Open in Philadelphia. The top seed was rated 701, but more than half the players were within 100 points of that, leading to almost every game being very closely contested. A high percentage of the games ended in draws, but Teddy Willis of New Hope Academy powered through with four straight wins to take the tournament. Tying for second place at 3-1 were Daniel Gildenbrand and Devi Majeske, each with two wins and two draws. Goodnoe Elementary, the host school, too team honors with 4.5 team points.

Congratulations to all the winners, and look for one or two of the tournament games to appear in the online training center later this week.

USCF Rating Report

On January 12, forty-three players gathered at Wayne Elementary School in Wayne, PA, to take part in the January Blast chess tournament. For the second time in three tournaments, 2nd-grader Max Polichuk and kindergartener Benjamin Lu played in the last round for the K-3 championship. Last month Max was victorious, but this time they played to a closely contested draw. Max still took home the first-place trophy on tiebreaks. Tying for third place a half-point back were Kyler Shinkle-Stolar, Jason Hurle, Nicholas Wagner, and Joseph Donato at 3-1. The team winner in the K-3 section was Ithan Elementary School of Bryn Mawr with a score of 8.0 team points.

In the K-8 section, top seed Praneeth Denduluri cruised to a 4-0 score and a 1st-place finish. Michael Li, Evan Zaret, Michael Sydnes, Alexander England, and Siddharth Ambatipudi tied for 2nd place with a score of 3-1. The top team was Hillside Elementary School of Berwyn, scoring 8.5 team points.

Two Silver Knights tournaments took place on December 8, 2007: The December Crush in Sykesville, Maryland, and the December Blizzard in Highlands Ranch, Colorado.

In the K-3 section of the Crush, Noah Calloway-Seibert went 4-0 in his first tournament ever to win the first-place trophy and earn a provisional rating of 1072. The winner of the K-8 section had an even more remarkable result, however - Ashley Riddle, rated 559, swept through the section to take first place at 4-0.  Ashley gained nearly 300 rating points and beat the 2nd, 3rd, and 4th place finishers, all of whom were rating higher than her! David Hevey won the Open section with a score of 3.5, yielding only a last-round draw to Joseph Ellis that clinched him clear first place.

Thomas Farley took first place in the Blizzard with a 4-0 score, followed closely by Rohan Balan at 3.5-.5. Mountain View Primary won first place among school teams, narrowly edging out the host school, Summit View, for the second tournament in a row.

On December 1, 53 players participated in Silver Knights' chess tournaments in Horsham and Bethel Park, PA. The Bethel Park tournament was our first in the Pittsburgh-area. Top seed Rahul Ghai scored a perfect 4-0 to win the tournament. Tying for second place were Steven Keelon and Nicholas Minshall, both with a score of 3-1.

In Horsham, the K-3 section went according to form, leading to a titanic last-round battle between the top two seeds, Max Polichuk and Benjamin Lu. Max emerged victorious from their last-round game, winning his second tournament in a row! The Philadelphia School took first place among teams, powered by Benjmin Kenney and Zachary and Joshua Zeelander.

Evan Betzenberger came all the way from Easton to win the K-8 section with a 4-0 score.  Evan was rated only 508 prior to this event, but on his way to winning first he took out players rated 753, 739, 644, and 1005. Evan gained 361 rating points from this event, and deservedly so! The Murray Avenue School brought a strong contingent and dominated the K-8 team competition.

The national grade championships are this coming weekend in Houston, so wish all of our players that are competing good luck!