Championship Sunday at 2022 National Elementary!

It’s Championship Sunday at the 2022 National Elementary (K-6) Championship. With four national titles up for grabs — not to mention the team awards and the “under” titles! — we’re in for an exciting day.

Follow all the action with WGM Katerina Nemcova and FM Gauri Shankar on the US Chess Twitch channel at 10am and 2pm Eastern!

Shankar and Nemcova on the 2022 NES livestream — FM Gauri Shankar and WGM Katerina Nemcova, streaming from Columbus

Here’s the state of play for individuals as the sixth round gets started. For team standings, check the event page and click on team standings for each section.

K-6 Championship

Three players are atop the K-6 Championship leaderboard with two rounds to go. Issac Wang, Eric Chang Liu, and Anshul Shetty are all at 4½/5 heading into Sunday morning’s sixth round.

Liu and Shetty drew their first board game in round five, although it took a bit of a miracle for Liu to stay in the game and eventually snatch the half-point.

Meanwhile Wang took advantage of his opponent’s poor piece coordination to notch a fifth round win and jump to the head of the table.

Issac Wang (photo Philip Peterson)

Pairings in round six are up as of 9am Eastern. Liu has White against Wang, while Nate Ziegler takes White against Shetty. With five players — including Ziegler — at 4/5, everything is still to play for in these two final rounds.

K-5 Championship

Aiden Liu stands alone at the top of the K-5 Championship after five rounds.

Aidan Lu (photo Philip Peterson)

His victory over Aditeya Das was perhaps a bit fortuitous, but as they say, fortune favors the prepared.

Liu meets New York’s Carter Ho in round six, taking the White pieces for his trouble. With only four players in the 4½ point score group, the race for top spot is tightening, but at this point, it’s Liu’s to win.

K-3 Championship

Elliot Goodrich and Mason Jin Li will face off in round six of the K-3 Championship. As both players are at 5/5, this will be an important contest in the final standings. Goodrich will have the White pieces.

Goodrich defeated Alice Chovanec in round five, using some of the typical themes of the Meran Defense to great effect.

Meanwhile Li had to grind out a long win over third-seed Ted Wang to take his place atop the leaderboard.

With Harvey Hanke and Jeremy Tao at 4½/5, and a slew of competitors at four points, the K-3 is far from over. But a win by either Goodrich or Li would go a long way to settling matters.

K-1 Championship

Only two players in the K-1 Championship remain unblemished after five rounds. Aakash Jani and Umar Mansurov are both at 5/5 and will face off in Sunday morning’s sixth round, with Jani taking the White pieces.