National High School Championships Feature Top-Heavy Field

The 2016 National High School Championships underway now in Atlanta features a top-heavy field, with seven players above 2400 , and over thirty masters.

After three rounds there are thirty players with an undefeated 2-0 score. Let's take a quick look at some of the favorites:

#1 Andrew Tang: This IM from Minnesota is a longtime student of John Bartholomew. He's the top rated player and was a key member of the Minnesota Blizzard in the U.S. Chess League

#2 Kapil Chandran: Kapil won the Denker High School Tournament of Champions in 2013. Amazingly he's still in High School and tearing it up.

#3 Aleksander Velikanov: Alexander just got an IM norm at a closed tournament at the Charlotte Chess Center. He hopes to carry his hot streak to a High School Championship

#4 Vignesh Panchanatham: FM Vignesh won clear first place in the 2014 Junior High Championship. Now he's competing in High School and remains one of the top seeds.

#5 Kesav Viswanada: Kesav went on a tear in the summer of 2014, earning all 3 IM norms very quickly. Amazing that an International Master is just 5th seed, but he is definitely one of the favorites to win it all

#6 Christopher Wu: Christopher told me that he often has accidents in the first day of Nationals. Well this time his games were super hard fought, but he managed to get the two wins. Now that he's escaped his most difficult day, maybe this will be his year to take first place.

#7 Justus Williams: Justus just won the New York State Scholastic Championship and appeared in a commercial during the Super Bowl. He won his first two games nicely and is looking really good going into Round 3.

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tGP50V1bQJQ&w=560&h=315]

#8 Ethan Li: Ethan (2397 USCF) is very happy to be 2-0 after a major scare in Round 2. He has shown himself capable of incredible performances, gaining hundreds of points in the 2014 World Open.

#9 Bryce Tiglon (2357 USCF) Bryce is a talented player from Seattle. He finished second place in the blitz tournament behind top seeded Andrew Tang.

#10 Aaron Balleisen (2317 USCF): Aaron competed admirably for the Carolina Cobras in the U.S. Chess League. In Round 2 he fended off a vicious attack to go to 2-0

Those are the top ten seeds right now but there are many others with 2-0 to watch. A few notables are:

9 year old 4th grader Arthur Guo (2168 USCF)