Hundreds Head to Spokane Early For K-12 Grade Championships Side Events

Thursday saw 247 blitzers, 42 teams of bughousers, and 130 puzzle solvers enjoy an early start to the weekend’s festivities in Spokane, WA. Let’s take a look at Thursday’s winners before previewing the main event, which begins today at 1:00 p.m. PST (and 1:30 p.m. PST for grades K-1) with coverage from WGM Sabina Foisor on our Twitch channel.

Bughouse Championship

Team Texas won the K-12 Bughouse Championship with CM Logan Shafer and FM Vaseegaran Nandhakumar cruising to a perfect 12/12 score.

Five teams tied for second through sixth with 9/12 apiece. The two high school juniors enter the 11^th grade section as the second- and sixth-highest-rated competitor, respectively.

Winners will be presented with their awards Saturday afternoon at 1:15 p.m., before the start of Round 4, in Exhibit Hall A.

Blitz Championship

In the K-12 Blitz, Nandhakumar won his second title of the weekend, tying for first (but finishing second on tiebreaks) with Washington's own FM Stephen Willy. Both players finished with 10/12 scores. Willy enters the 10th grade section as the highest-rated player. 

In the K-6 Blitz, there was a seven-way tie for first place with 10/12. Georgia's Alexander Joseph, a fourth-grader, took first on tiebreaks. The other co-champions, in tiebreak order, were: Aayansh Samanta (PA), Mehmet Yilanli (OH), Neevan Saddi (WA), Evan Jin (MO), Rafael Palathingal (WA), and Grayson Xiang (NY). Yilanli is only a second-grader, making him the youngest of the co-champions. Samanta and Xiang are also in fourth grade, while Jin is in fifth grade and Saddi and Palathingal are sixth-graders. 

Whitney Young Magnet School (IL) won the K-12 Blitz team championship with 23½/36, and P.S. 77 Lower Lab School won the K-6 (NY) Blitz with a 24½/36 score. 

Winners will be presented with their awards Saturday morning at 8:45 a.m., before the start of Round 3, in Exhibit Hall A.

Puzzle Solving Championship

130 junior tacticians got a head start on their weekend of tactics by entering in the National Puzzle Solving Championship, presented in partnership with ChessKid.

FunMasterMike (FM Mike Klein) of ChessKid served as the emcee for the 104 entrants in the K-6 Championship and the 26 Grade 7-12 participants.

If you missed your chance to meet Mike, he’ll be hosting today’s All-Comers Blitz from 2-4 p.m. in Exhibit Hall C.

Stay tuned for the final results of this event, and winners will be presented with their awards at 5:15 p.m. today in Exhibit Hall A.

Get ready!

Today’s games begin at 1:00 p.m. for all grades except K-1, which starts a half-hour later. The top boards for grades 2-12 will be streaming on Chess.com and WGM Sabina Foisor’s commentary will be available on our Twitch channel.

There are two rounds today, with Round 2 beginning at 5:30 p.m. for grades 2-12 and a half-hour later for grades K-1.

Before the main event begins, 30 lucky players will go head-to-head with GM Magesh Panchanathan, and several more are challenging NM Bryan Tillis in a charity simul to support US Chess’s Title I Schools program.

Those who want to learn from a grandmaster, but were unable to make Panchanathan’s simul, can check out his lecture at 4:30 p.m. in Room 401B before Round 2.

Also in Room 401B today, at 9:30 a.m., is the “My First Tournament Seminar,” which is a great resource for players and families attending their first national event.

Plus, check out the Girls Club Room, which opens at 11 a.m. today and features a welcome party, with a chance to meet WGM Zoey Tang, at 3 p.m.

Stay tuned all weekend on Chess Life Online for coverage of this event, including game highlights curated by WGM Sabina Foisor.

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