News

2015 GR PHILADELPHIA SCHOLASTIC CHESS CHAMPIONSHIP

A bright and energetic crowd of 127(!) talented chess players fought it out on Saturday, November 21st at Charlestown Elementary in Malvern, PA for the 2015 Greater Philadelphia Scholastic Chess Championship.
 
The tournament was grouped by grade with the K-2 players making up the largest section (39 players in this section alone!):  
 
Individual:
1st - Kevin Li - 5.0
2nd - Amogh Kollipara - 4.0
3rd - Ethan Zhang - 4.0
4th - Rohit Balaji - 4.0
5th - Andrew Feng - 4.0
6th - Dev Madhavan - 4.0
7th - Max Greineder - 3.5
 
Team:
1st - The Philadelphia School - 12
2nd - Walton Farm School - 7
 
Results for the K-4 section:
 
Individual:
1st - Jonathan Xu - 4.5
2nd - Noah Thomforde-Toates - 4.5
3rd - Nolan McCloskey - 4.0
4th - Advaith Kollipara - 4.0
5th - Lauren Tung - 4.0
6th - Chi Xu - 3.5
7th - Micah Dubnoff - 3.5
 
Team:
1st - Merion Elementary - 10.5
2nd - Friend's Select - 10
 
Here are the energetic K-6 section standings:
 
Individual:
1st - Hemanth Kolluri - 5
2nd - Pranitha Gunasekaren - 4.0
3rd - Aaron Lutz - 4.0
4th - Camden Chin - 4.0
5th - Stan Wang - 4.0
6th - Devesh Posa - 3.5
7th - Mason McClintic - 3.0
 
Team:
1st - The Philadelphia School - 10
2nd - Skyview Upper Elementary - 6.5
 
The tough K-8 section saw these players in the top 6:
 
Individual:
1st - Harisankar Radhakrishna - 4.0
2nd - David Sang - 3.0
3rd - Ryan Hu - 3.0
4th - Quinn Dominick - 2.5
5th - Karthik Murugan - 2.5 
6th - Nikki Khmelnitsky - 2.0
 
Team: N/A
 
And the small but very tough K-12 section standings:
 
Individual:
1st - Ram Singh - 3.5 
2nd - Jaewon Paik - 3.0
3rd - Colin Messenger - 3.0
4th - Jack Lieberman - 2.5
5th - Michael Wang - 2.0
6th - Noah Xu - 2.0
 
Team:
1st - Wyomissing Area Jr/Sr High School
2nd - N/A
 
Congratulations to all competitors!  Everyone played with heart and determination, displaying exemplary sportsmanship and skill.
 
See you in December for the DECEMBER CRUSH TOURNAMENT on 12/12 at Wayne Elementary!

 

Autumn Knight Tournament

On October 24th, close to 120 scholastic chess players gathered to compete at Wayne, Elementary at the Shining Knights "Autumn Knight" tournament.  One and all displayed exemplary sportsmanship, fighting spirit and skill.
 
In the under 200 section, Justin Xu placed third, James Buck came second and Wesley Bridge took top honors.
The U500 section found Jacob Bushee claiming third place, Kyle Bos in the runner-up spot with a perfect score, and Camden Chin also with 4 points took the first place trophy on tiebreaks.
The tough U800 field found Vincent Zouras in third, Varun Rajan scored 4 points for second place and Qianshuo Wang took top honors with a perfect score on tiebreaks.
The hotly-contested top spots in the Championship section went to Advaith Kollipara in third place, Karthik Murugan in the second place spot and Noah Xu claimed the top prize with a flawless performance.
The team awards were as follows:
U200: Shipley School, 2nd place; Radnor Elementary, 1st place
U500: Penn Valley Elementary, 2nd place; The Philadelphia School, 1st place
U800: Bridge Valley Elementary, 2nd place; The Philadelphia School, 1st place
Championship: Walton Farm School, 1st place
 
Congratulations to all competitors for an inspiring event.  We look forward to seeing you again soon!

CONGRATULATIONS!!!! OUTSTANDING!!!

Shining Knights would like to extend congratulations to the Skyview Elementary chess team of Shawn Wang, Kevin Cui, Jeffrey Gong and Patrick Li for winning the K-6 Open Section at the 2015 Pennsylvania State Scholastic Chess Championships.

And congrats to Karthik Murugan for placing 9th at the 2015 National Elementary Championship in the K-3 U800 section.  Karthik is a student at Pickering Valley Elementary.  

 

Great job to all of those that particpated!!!

2015 SPRING FINALE

On May 16th, some of the most experienced and brilliant scholastic chess players from all over the Philadelphia area played in the Spring Finale tournament in Wayne, PA at Wayne Elementary to close out what has been an awe-inspiring chess school year.  In the U200 section, Jake Race took 1st place with a perfect 4.0 points and Plymouth Elementary claimed the 1st place team award.  Jake Anton came out on top with a 1st place finish in the U500 Section with 4.0 points, and Stony Creek Elementary added yet another 1st place team trophy to their collection.  The U800 section saw Roey Gal earn top honors with a perfect 4.0 score, and Penn Valley Elementary carried home the 1st place team trophy. First place in the Championship section went to a deserving Andrew Malinsky who fought hard for a score of 4.0.  Congratulations to all of our competitors!  We look forward to seeing your determined play again in the fall.  Have a safe and enjoyable summer!

CHESS PIECES OF APRIL

On April 25th, players from all over the Philadelphia area played in the Chess Pieces of April tournament in Wayne, PA at Wayne Elementary.  In the U200 section, Aditya Shah won 1st place with 4.0 points and The Shipley School won the 1st place team award. Lillian Wang won 1st place in the U500 Section with 4.0 and Shipley snagged another 1st place team trophy. Finally, in the Championship section, Andrew Fan won 1st place with a score of 4.0 and Colonial Elementary won the 1st place team spot. Congratulations to all of our players and we look forward to seeing you all again May 16th for Spring Finale event.

 

2014 DECEMBER CRUSH

On Dec 13th, players came from all over the Philadelphia area to play in the 2014 December Crush Tournament. In the K-6 U200 Section, Andrew Fan won with a perfect score of 4.0 while Stony Creek Elementary won the 1st place team trophy. In the K-6 U500 section, Dominic Incognito won 1st place while Penn Valley Elementary won the team award. In the K-12 U800 section, Hemanth Kolluri was able to secure a perfect 4.0 score and 1st place. The Philadelphia School won as the 1st place team in the K-12 U800 section. Finally, in the K-12 Championship section, Pratyush Singh won 1st place with a perfect score of 4.0. Thanks to all the players who came out and we look forward to seeing you again in the new year!!

2014 GR PHILADELPHIA SCHOLASTIC

First off, a big thank you to all players who came out for the 2014 Greater Philadelphia Scholastic Chess Championship. We had over 100 players particpate in the tournament. The K-1 section was won by Kevin Li with the 1st place team trophy going to Lower Gwynedd Elementary. In the K-3 section, Micah Dubnoff scored a perfect 5.0 to win the section while Merion Elementary grabbed the team award. In a huge K-6 section, Nikhil Rangappargi managed a perfect 5.0 score to win the section and the Thomas Edison Charter School won the 1st place team spot. The K-8 section went to Michael Bai while Thomas Edison secured a second team trophy. Finally, Dawid Ryczek won with a perfect score to take first in the K-12 section and Pocono Mountain East earned the team trophy. Again, thank you to all the players and parents who joined us!!