Over 2,700 Compete in Maryland as K-12 Grades Kick Off

2,700+ in National Harbor

Most chess players come to realize early on in their playing careers that they might never reach the “Super-GM” strength of a 2700 rating. But, in National Harbor, Maryland, all 2,704 chess players — ranging from kindergarteners to high school seniors — are part of a different record-setting 2,700+ club at this year’s National K-12 Grade Championships.

Held from December 6 through 8, this year’s scholastic eclipsed the 2022 attendance record by over 200 participants. Registration for many sections had been full for weeks leading up to the event, making it a hot ticket.

Sarah Ransom performs at the opening ceremony. Sarah's mother, Robin, is President of the DC Chess Association (Photo by Caroline King)

The weekend full of chess, lectures, puzzle-solving, and more kicked into high gear on Friday with the first rounds of the main tournament. In case there was any doubt, we at US Chess will be plenty busy this weekend, with some of us wearing multiple hats (and vests), including US Chess President Kevin Pryor:

That floor TD sure looks like US Chess President Kevin Pryor! (Photo by Caroline King)

And They’re Off!

Over three days, players will compete in seven rounds of 90-minute games (with 10-second delay) based exclusively on their grade. With no “under” sections, many of the pairings in the first two rounds featured rating gaps hundreds of points wide.

As a chess teacher, these games are actually some of my favorite to use in lessons with scholastic (and novice adult) players. In many of the games broadcasted yesterday, the lower-rated players put up admirable fights before losing for instructive reasons.

The top-rated players in Grades 12, 11, and 10 (respectively): FM Avi Kaplan, IM Evan Park, and IM Erick Zhao (Photos by Caroline King)

The top-rated players in Grades 12, 11, and 10 (respectively): FM Avi Kaplan, IM Evan Park, and IM Erick Zhao (Photos by Caroline King)

Indeed, this was the case in the games from the top boards of the “older kids” last night. The top seeds of both the 11th and 12th grade sections are coming in hot off earning norms last weekend at the U.S. Masters in Charlotte. Below are instructive victories from Illinois’s senior FM Avi Kaplan and Pennsylvanian junior IM Evan Park:

Of the high school sections, the most interesting game featured the overall highest rated player, Pennsylvanian IM Erick Zhao. What looked like a sharp display of tactical acumen turned out to be more complex than a cursory glance might have suggested:

We will begin seeing separation by today’s final rounds, but, at the time of writing, most sections still feature tens of players with undefeated scores. In the eighth grade section, an impressive 40 players remained perfect after Friday’s games, including a half-dozen rated over 2200.

Below is an impressive game from the section's top-seeded CM Nitesh Cherukuri, a Maryland local. This game stood out to me as instructive because of the way Cherukuri used thematic plans from the opening to guide decision-making.

Another fine game came from the second board of the third-grade section. A regular fixture at international youth competitions, Illinois’s Aiden Li showed a fine grasp of his principles of attacking chess in the below game:

It wouldn’t be a National Scholastic without an upset! On the top board of the first round of the sixth-grade section, Virginia’s Kanav Shah pulled off a 708-point upset over CM Sharath Radhakrishnan. The game was a nail-biter down to the last move:

In the fourth-grade section, New York’s Ekam Singh Anand held Florida’s Aakash Jani to a draw despite the 525-point rating difference. Talk about three-result games:

Results and standings will be updated throughout the weekend, including team standings.

GM Versus Everybody

GM parents — GM Rashad Babaev during his simultaneous exhibition, as directed masterfully by Marketing and Communications Manager Bryan Tillis (Photos by Caroline King)

GM Rashad Babaev during his simultaneous exhibition, as directed masterfully by Marketing and Communications Manager Bryan Tillis (Photos by Caroline King)

Guest grandmaster GM Rashad Babaev took on 30 players in a simultaneous exhibition Friday morning, but that’s not the last we’ll be seeing of him this weekend! Shortly after his last game concluded, he moved over to begin his first of three two-hour blitz sessions against “all comers” before giving a lecture to cap off a very busy day.

Today, Babaev will be back with another lecture and more “All Comers Blitz” action in Prince George’s Exhibit AB. The lecture is at 11:30 a.m., while the blitz kicks off at 2:30 p.m. If you’ve never played a GM, this is your chance!

Girls Club

The Girls Club is always the place to be at National Scholastic Championships, and this year is no different. All weekend, special guests GM Irina Krush and Rochelle Ballantyne will be in attendance for a variety of games, lectures, and analysis.

Krush is an eight-time winner of the U.S. Women’s Championship and regular member of USA’s FIDE Women’s Olympiad team. Rochelle Ballantyne is a New York-based lawyer and expert-rated chess player whose journey was documented in Brooklyn Castle.

Grimaud Krush — GM Irina Krush is introduced by Maureen Grimaud (L) before her first lecture with Rochelle Ballantyne (Photos by Caroline King)

Ballantyne Krush — GM Irina Krush is introduced by Maureen Grimaud (L) before her first lecture with Rochelle Ballantyne (Photos by Caroline King)

Between all the planned activities, the Girls Club room will be replete with snacks, holiday card-making stations, and nail painting stations all weekend long.

Today, Girls Club attendees have already taken the ChessKid Puzzle Challenge with WIM Ivette Garcia Morales and played in a tandem simul against Krush and Ballantyne. This afternoon, stop by at 2:30 p.m. EST for a game of “Human Chess,” and stay for a lecture from Krush and Ballantyne at 3:30. There will be more activities tomorrow, starting with a 10:00 a.m. donut social!

Blitz and Bughouse

Almost 400 players made it to Maryland in time for Thursday’s National Scholastic Blitz Championship. Texas's Logan Shafer, a high sophomore, took first in the K-12 Blitz on tiebreaks ahead of Virginia's Aarush Vinod and New York's FM Bryan Enming Lin. Congratulations to Vinod for tying for first as a senior in his last year of scholastic competition, and to Lin for tying for first as only a seventh grader!

From left in tiebreak order: Logan Shafer, Aarush Vinod, FM Bryan Enming Lin (Photos by Caroline King)

Pennsylvania's Ariv Debmisra took clear first in the K-6 Blitz with a blistering 11½/12 score. Congratulations to the fifth grader for finishing a full point ahead of the field.

Ariv Debmisra (Photo by Caroline King)

Virginia’s Ronen Wilson and Brian Tay swept the National Scholastic Bughouse Championship with a 10/10 score. Wilson is currently undefeated in his section (tenth grade), while Tay is a junior who appears to have just come down for Bughouse and Blitz!

Follow the action

Round 4 begins at 1:30 p.m. EST for all sections, with top boards from grades 2-12 broadcast live. Shortly after, the Scholastic Meeting begins at 1:45 p.m. in Prince George AB.

US Chess will be going live on our Twitch at 5:30 p.m. EST for round 5, broadcasting coverage of the top boards in each section with commentary from WGM Sabina Foisor and NM Robert Ramirez. Be sure to give us a follow!