Elementary Nationals in Nashville: Don't Take the Draw

You usually expect a few upsets at Nationals, but no one expected what happened in Round 1 this year. In the K-6 Championship, 1348 rated Dominic Colombo pulled off one of the biggest first round upsets in Nationals History, by defeating a player rated 2200+ on Board 1. I talked to Dominic after the game and he said: "He offered me a draw in the middlegame but I was up a pawn and I was going to win more material, so I declined." It takes a lot of courage for a 1300 player to decline a draw against a 2200. His dad told me after the game "Thank goodness he didn't take the draw, or else Ben Finegold would have gone crazy!" Ben Finegold is notorious for telling his students never to accept draws, and it paid off bigtime for Dominic. 2nd seeded Christopher Shen is now on Board 1, and is the only 2200+ player to finish with 2/2.

We found Christopher Shen after he won his 1st game in K6."I love slow time controls so I think I can get 1st place" pic.twitter.com/fGI4EMhSf4
— US Chess (@USChess) May 6, 2016

Other players to watch are #3 ranked Samrug Narayanan: Samrug won a nice game with the c3 Sicilian in Round 2. #5 ranked Arthur Guo: Arthur is only in third grade yet he drew a Grandmaster in his last tournament! In the K-5 Championship, Maximillian Lu is the player to beat. He's played quite well and won both of his games to start with 2/2. Max is famous for recently beating the U.S. record for youngest master ever.

Your final master is Max Lu. Max recently broke the record for youngest master ever and is the #1 seed in the K5. pic.twitter.com/yc91a0l2vB — US Chess (@USChess) May 6, 2016

Others to watch are: #2 ranked Nate Shuman: Nate just barely scraped by to win his Round 2 game, but sometimes a tough game early gets you ready for the challenges you'll face later on.

11 year old expert, Nastassja Matus, is the #4 ranked player in the K5 section. pic.twitter.com/77wABWF32x
— US Chess (@USChess) May 7, 2016

In the K-3 Championship, Nico Chasin (2051 USCF) has been playing impressive chess in the first two rounds, and had to be happy to see the only other 2000+ player held to a draw in round 2.

The #1 ranked player in the K3, 9 year old Nico Chasin, is rated above 2000 and also has a great sense of style! pic.twitter.com/i6diXURY9Q — US Chess (@USChess) May 6, 2016

Others to watch: Christopher Yoo: The only player left with 2/2 who is above 1900. K-1 Championship Harshid Kunka is just 6 years old yet he's already above 1600. Trust me that it's very difficult to be so high rated when you are only six. He is the top seed but there are a few other 1500+ players in the field. I think they should accelerate the pairings in the K-1 more than usual, due to the relatively lack of draws at this level. It wouldn't shock me to see two players finish with a perfect 7-0. For instance right now there are 61 players with a 2/2 score.

6 year old Harshid Kunka is rated 1600+ and is the #1 player in the K-1. He faces off against Xan Meister in Round 2 pic.twitter.com/hglxiMykDq
— US Chess (@USChess) May 6, 2016

Others to watch: Nitish Nath: Nitish is in first grade and rated 1563. I'm mainly impressed with him because one thing that's obvious is that everyone moves really fast in the K1 section. Within 30 minutes over half the games are over, including many of the games on the top board. However Nitish and his opponent played at the pace you'd expect a seasoned vet to play. If Nitish is capable of spending all of his time during the game, this could give him a big leg up on his opponents. Aside from the tournament, GM Irina Krush played a simul and gave a blitz exhibition. The kids went absolutely bananas over Irina. It's a great initiative for US Chess to bring superstars like Irina to their National events.

Many time US Women's Champion @irinakrush is surrounded by fans as she plays all comers in blitz pic.twitter.com/wjcfSNJHs8 — US Chess (@USChess) May 6, 2016