126 People - that is how many people played in the 6^th Annual State Warm – Up tournament. This new record was highlighted by Adam Serota, a seasoned Shining Knights camp and tournament participant, winning the top section trophy and the $50 cash prize with a 4 – 0 score. Six players followed closely behind with a score of 3 - 1. The top team was Masterman, with 10 points, and the second highest scoring team was Whitemarsh with 5 points.

             In the U700 section, Noah Riccardi was the only player scoring 4 – 0. He received $25 and a trophy.  Seven players followed with a score of 3 – 1. The Philadelphia school was the top team with 12 points and Skyview came in second with 8 points.

             In the U400 section, a section of 76 people, the largest ever in a Shining Knights tournament, had four players score 4 – 0. These four players were Zuni Zarate-Ramirez, Max Orenstein, Miles Gee, and Tommy Bosack. The top team was Skippack Elementary with 13 points and Friends Select came in second with 12 points.

             Good luck to everyone at the state championships in 2 weeks!

On February 8th, ten players braved the weather to compete in the 50th Friday Night Action. Adam Weissbarth returned to win the open section 3-0 while Jack Lieberman won his match against Scott Rodriguez 5-0.

On December 14th, nine players met for the 48th Friday Night Action. In the open section, we had seven players with Narahari Bharadwaj winning the section. Joesph Mucerino won his match against Matthew O'Brien with a score of 2.5 - 1.5.

Over 110 players met in the largest Shining Knights event (that wasn’t a city championship) ever. The U400 section had over 60 players with three players having a perfect 4 – 0 score. These players, listed in order of tiebreaks, were Gokul Murugadoss, Misha Bankulla, and Nicholas Watson. Asante Malloy and David Sang also managed to not lose a game, but finished with a 3.5 – 0.5 score as they tied each other. The top team was The Philadelphia School.

               In the U700 section, Michael Rehmet had slightly better tiebreaks to win first place, though he and Lance Kay, both finished with a perfect 4 – 0 score. Leo Berg came in third with a score of 3.5 – 0.5. The Philadelphia School again won the top team trophy.

               In the championship section, there were no perfect scores, though Praneeth Ramesh, had a fine result, finishing 3.5 – 0.5 to earn the first place trophy. In second through fourth, a half point back were Robert Pattillo, Jay Pendyala, and Max Lind. Lionville Middle School was the top team.

                Full tournament results can be found at - http://www.uschess.org/msa/XtblMain.php?201212087652.  We wish everyone a pleasant holiday season and look forward to seeing everyone at a tournament soon.

        There has been a delay in the rating of this tournament.  We apologize for the delay and hope to have full results up by tonight.