Leaders Separate From Pack After Five Rounds in Baltimore

Asher Kirschbaum (R) shakes hands against Darren Wu, with Elizabeth Xia behind Wu. Xia and Kirschbaum both won, and are the only remaining players with 5/5 (photo Caroline King)

With five rounds in the books at the 2023 National Elementary School (NES) Championships in Baltimore, MD, the stage is set for "Championship Sunday." The K-6 and K-5 Championship sections each only have one player remaining with a perfect 5/5, and the two remaining 5/5 scores in K-1 are playing each other in round six. All of these sections are still up for grabs, then, but the most wild might be the K-3 Championship, which currently boasts a seven-way tie for first and zero perfect scores! The tension and drama is palpable, as captured brilliantly below.

The pressure is on at every board (photo Caroline King)

In the K-6 Championship, Florida's Oscar Izzy Williams is the lone player remaining with a 5/5 score.

Oscar Izzy Williams was a top finisher in the K-8 Blitz Championship a few weeks ago, and is atop the standings now in the K-6 (photo Caroline King)

Round three set the tone for this section, with one of the top seeds losing an absolutely wild Sicilian Najdorf in a 400-point upset. Guest Annotator IM Sandeep Sethuraman has all the details of this fantastic game.

In the K-5 Championship section, Vihan Jammalamadaka from Washington is in sole first in part thanks to this wild ride in a rare variation of the Sicilian Defense.

Vihan Jammalamadaka is in sole first after five rounds in the K-5 Championship (photo Caroline King)

If that name sounds familiar, you might recognize it from yesterday's report! Jammalamadaka is no stranger to being alone at the top, having won the K-6 Blitz Championship earlier this weekend.

Can he make it a double? Jammalamadaka won the K-6 Blitz Championship outright (photo Caroline King)

Vivan Mulay on the top board in the K-3 Championship (photo Caroline King)

In the wild K-3 Championship, no perfect scores remain. In part, this is because Floridian Vivan Mulay essayed a 300-point upset over expert Tariq Yue in the fourth round. Mulay played a nice English Opening which Yue tried to turn into a typical King's Indian Defense. Mulay was ready for this, never pushed his queen's pawn to d4, and managed to out-strategize his higher rated opponent from there.

Headed into round six, seven players are atop the standings. The highest rated among them is New York expert Linxi Zhu. Zhu's name should also be familiar, having won the K-3 Blitz Championship.

Linxi Zhu won the K-3 Blitz Championship outright, and is currently tied for first in the K-3 Championship (photo Caroline King)

Bates Academy won the K-6 Blitz Championship for top team (photo Caroline King)

Pennsylvania duo Benjamin Lin (L) and Tariq Liu won the Bughouse Championship (photo Dan Lucas)

Saturday's awards for the Blitz and Bughouse championship also celebrated Bates Academy's team win in the K-6 Blitz Championship. The Detroit school's triumph is particularly impressive as their team is competing in the Under 1000 section this weekend, and there were no "Under" sections in the blitz!

Not to be outdone by the Guest Grandmasters, WGMs Sabina Foisor and Jennifer Shahade also played a tandem simul as part of the Girls Club festivities on Saturday. This was just one of several highlights of a fun-filled day featuring trivia and human chess.

@JenShahade putting on a great trivia show in the amazing girls room at the national elementary championships 🏆 maybe my daughter will finally be into ♟️ pic.twitter.com/ivQldiKTfp
— Jesse Kraai (@JesseKraai) May 13, 2023

Shahade was getting some practice in before hosting a chess category on Jeopardy!, or maybe the Jeopardy! appearance was just her warm-up for the Girls Club.