A select group of Success Academy scholars headed south this past weekend to compete in the 2018 National K-12 Grade Chess Championships. This event, held in Orlando, Florida, is set apart from other national tournaments in that scholars compete in teams and divisions based on their grade in school rather than on their chess ranking. Scholars from SA Upper West (3rd grade), SA Union Square (4th grade), SA Hudson Yards (5th, 6th, 7th grades), SA Bed Stuy 1 Middle School (8th grade), and the SA High School of the Liberal Arts (11th grade) gave it their all during seven intense games, and they returned laden with trophies!
In a particularly exciting outcome, Nathaniel Mullodzhanov, of the SA Union Square fourth-grade team, placed 1st overall in the Blitz (speed chess) portion of the tournament, beating out 160 players and making him the 2018 K-6 Blitz Champion! Nathaniel also led his team to place 4th out of 29 teams in their division, and he placed 5th individually out of 187 players. Between the Blitz and 4th-grade division games, Nathaniel played a total of 19 games over the weekend and won 17 of them — an outstanding result that included defeating an expert player with a rating of 2107!
SA Union Square 4th Grade Team (from left to right): Naveen Paruchuri, Krish Patni, Coach Dakim Vanterpool, Nathaniel Mullodzhanov
SA Hudson Yards Middle School teams and players also did exceptionally well, with 5th- and 7th-grade teams placing 2nd in their divisions (out of 21 and 20 teams respectively), and the 6th-grade team placing fifth out of 21 schools. Two Hudson Yards scholars, Silas Smith (6th grade) and Ian Chen (7th grade), defeated expert players with ratings higher than 2000!
SA Hudson Yards Middle School team (from left to right): Jayden Diaz, Kyle Chen, Ian Chen, Nura Baalla, Coach Chris Johnson
Congratulations to our scholars — and to the coaches who made it all possible! And a special thank you to Matthew Morales, chess coach at SA Bronx 1, who, in his interim role as Chess Manager, captained the whole crew!
3rd Grade Championship
Success Academy Upper West
Team Result: 15th place out of 35 teams
Rhyan Grennan (3.5/7 games)
Hannah Lee (3/7 games)
Misha Raitzin (3/7 games)
4th Grade Championship
Success Academy Union Square
Team Result: 4th-place trophy out of 29 teams
Nathaniel Mullodzhanov (6/7 games) (5th-place individual trophy)
Krish Patni (4.5/7 games)
Naveen Paruchuri (4.5/7 games)
5th Grade Championship
Success Academy Hudson Yards Middle School
Team Result: 2nd-place trophy (4th place in tie breaks) out of 21 teams
Nathan Booncharoen (5/7 games) (19th-place individual trophy)
Aston Roberts (5/7 games) (20th-place individual trophy {27 in tie breaks})
Aarush Naveen (5/7 games) (20th-place individual trophy {32 in tie breaks})
Aritro Chakravarty (4/7 games)
Minal Omer (4/7 games)
6th Grade Championship
Success Academy Hudson Yards Middle School
Team Result: 5th-place trophy out of 21 schools
Silas Smith (5/7 games) (15th-place individual trophy)
George Best (4/7 games)
Ann Goldey (3/7 games)
Seth Fenton (3/7 games)
7th Grade Championship
Success Academy Hudson Yards Middle School
Team Result: 2nd-place trophy out of 20 schools
Ian Chen (5/7 games) (15th-place individual trophy)
Jaden Diaz (5/7 games) (15th-place individual trophy {23rd in tie breaks})
Kyle Chen (4.5/7 games) (3rd-place trophy for players rated 1200-1399)
Nura Baalla (4/7, 1905)
8th Grade Championship
Success Academy Bed Stuy 1 Middle School
Team Result: 6th place out of 18 schools
Jessica Hyatt (5/7 games) (10th-place individual trophy)
Geordany Solomon (4/7 games)
Geah Jean Baptiste (4/7 games)
Alexander Arriaga (3.5/7 games) (1st-place trophy for players rated 1000-1199)
11th Grade Championship
Success Academy High School of the Liberal Arts
Team Result: 6th place out of 15 schools
Joshua Abbey (4/7 games)
Philipos Mekonen (3/7 games) (3rd-place trophy for players rated 1000-1199)
Ka-Nefer Petersen (3/7 games)
Kadidia Sylla (3/7 games)
