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.
Shining Knights would like to congratulate the 5 kids who represented Pennsylvania in the recent K-12 championships. Shawn Wang, 3rd grade, Adam Serota, 4th grade, and Kieran Rebholz, 6th grade, have all been regulars at Shining Knights chess camps and tournaments over the years. Each finished in the top half, with Shawn and Adam finishing in the top quarter of their grade. Torin Kuehnle, who used to play in Shining Knights tournaments, finished in the top 20 in the 5th grade section. Ben Halpern, who also competed in the 6th grade section, finished with just under a fifty percent score.
On November 16th, 10 players met in the 47th Friday Night Action. In the U1000 section, we had four players, so they played a quad, where each person plays another once. This section was won by Sai Musunuri. In the Open section, Joe Mucerino successfully returned to the event with a score of 3.5 - 0.5.
Seventy – five people arrived at Maple Glen hoping to win one of three City Chess Championships. In the K-3 section, Aneesh Raparla, fresh off his undefeated win in the Autumn Knight tournament, went 5 – 0. Risa Azim and Jack Lieberman both were 4 – 1, losing only to Aneesh. Eight players went 3 – 2. The top team was Whitemarsh Elementary with 7 game points.
In the K-6 section, Tate Park scored a perfect 5 – 0 result. Three players, Julien Mackensen, John Sachenik, and Peter Kimball, each scored 4 – 1. There were 9 players that went 3 – 2. The top team was Bridge Valley, which scored 12 game points.
In the K-12 section, three players, Angel “Josh” Hernandez-Camen, Andy Weng, and Adam Serota all scored 3.5 points. Josh won first place and the invitation to the Philadelphia Junior Invitational this summer. Eight players were within a game of the three winners. The top team was Pocono Mountain East.
If anyone has a game they feel is particularly good, please feel free to send it to me, as I am the editor of The PennsWoodpusher, the state chess magazine, and I might be able to use the game in my article on the event.
Hope to see everyone in Wayne Elementary on December 8th for the December Crush!
Here is the link to the final standings. Please remember that the USCF lists ties based on final rating, not tiebreakers.
On October 8, over 50 people met for the first Saturday tournament of the fall (Friday Night Action's occur once a month throughout the year.) There were three sections for the event this year. The largest section, the U400 K-6, is a great section for kids just starting out, had five new players. There were trophies for places 1st - 7th. There was a tie for first place between two players who had been to a couple of tournaments, with Nathan Tai and Henry Platt both going 4 - 0. Platt taking first on tie - breaks. The top team was Wayne Elementary with 9 total points.
In the U700 section, Aneesh Raparla had the only perfect score to take 1st place, 4 - 0. The top team was The Philadelphia School with 5 points. In the Open section, Jack Lieberman and Ana Hallman tied for 1st with a 3 - 1 score. The Independence Charter school won the team prize with a score of 4 total points.
On November 10th, Shining Knights will host the 2012 Greater Philadelphia Scholastic Chess Championship at Maple Glen Elementary in Fort Washington. The event is listed under the tournament tab! Look forward to seeing you all there!