by Tony Chen, Scholastic Coordinator
Sunday, June 25th marked yet another successful scholastic tournament in the Chess Club and Scholastic Center (CCSCSL) monthly tournament series. In order to compete in this Summer Showdown chess tournament, 92 students convened at The Center for Global Citizenship on the SLU campus to determine the best of the best in June.
After four grueling rounds, K-12 section had two players finish with perfect scores. In the last round, the highly anticipated match between the top two rated players Asish Panda and Rowan Riney, took place. Due to a blunder, Riney handed over the win as well as the title of first place. Even though Asish Panda and Jacob Sanders were tied in points, Panda took first place in the K-12 section over Sanders due to tiebreaks. Third place finisher in the K-12 section went to David Brooks Jr. with three and a half points. After the decisive top three, numerous players were tied for fourth with three points. Other K-12 trophy winners include Robert Mize for top under 800, Anushka Rawat for top female player, and Owen Farra for top unrated player.
The K-6 section also had two players finish with perfect scores. Camden Hosler and Lambert Ji both finished the tournament with a perfect four points. However, again because of tiebreaks, Camden took first place while Lambert took second. Third place came to Prakesh Ramakrishnan with three and a half points. Along with the top three, other winners include Helene Barnett for top under 600 player, Samuel Lu for top unrated player, and Aishwarya Pande for top female player.
The team competition segment of the tournament drew a lot of attention. In the K-12 section, Parkway Northeast Middle School took first place with a commanding sixteen points, while the second place team Waldorf School acquired five points, and the third place team Belleville Central Junior High acquired three and a half. The K-6 section of the team competition was also a blowout with New City School winning first place with a whopping thirteen points, while Oakbrook Elementary took second with seven and a half, and Argo School took third also with seven and a half points due to tie breaks.
Congratulations to all the winners and thanks to all the families and organizations that help us make these monthly tournaments possible. Please join us for the next phase of our monthly scholastic tournament venture, on Saturday, July 29th, at Cook Hall of SLU campus.
