Super Sunday in Nashville

After a few rainouts, it’s Downtown Super Sunday today in New Orleans, a day when the downtown tribes of Mardi Gras Indians take to the streets, displaying their amazing costumes and battling to determine who’s the “prettiest.” There has been more rain and flooding this weekend in the city, but the latest word is that the parades are on, rain or shine. It’s a different kind of Super Sunday in Nashville, where the battles are on the chess board, and trophies (instead of pride) are the quarry. Approximately 2301 (per Jeff Weiwel) players are engaged in the final rounds of the 2019 National Elementary (K-6) Championship, and everyone is hoping to bring some hardware home on the airplane! K-6 Championship

Abinav Rajiv Mundayat enters today’s play as the sole remaining perfect score in the K-6 Championship. Five players – Ming Lu, Jason Liang, Vyom Vidyarthi, Harry Le, and Daniel Mero – are a half-point behind at 4.5/5. Mundayat, rated 1988, took his place at the top of the table with this win over Alexander Rutten.

[pgn] [Event "2019 National Elementary Championship"] [Site "?"] [Date "2019.05.11"] [Round "5.2"] [White "Mundayat, Abinav"] [Black "Rutten, Alexander"] [Result "1-0"] [ECO "B56"] [WhiteElo "1988"] [BlackElo "2152"] [PlyCount "69"] [EventDate "2019.??.??"] 1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 d6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nf6 5. Nc3 a6 6. Nb3 Nc6 7. Be3 e6 8. g4 b5 9. a3 Bb7 10. g5 Nd7 11. f4 Nb6 12. Be2 Be7 13. O-O Rc8 14. Qd2 Nc4 15. Bxc4 bxc4 16. Nc1 Nb8 17. N1e2 Nd7 18. Ng3 Nc5 19. Rad1 h5 20. h4 Qc7 21. Qf2 Nd7 22. Bd4 f6 23. f5 e5 24. Be3 fxg5 25. hxg5 h4 26. Nge2 h3 27. Kh2 Kf7 28. Ng3 Rh4 29. Rg1 Rch8 30. f6 Bxf6 31. Nf5 R4h5 32. gxf6 g6 33. Nxd6+ Ke6 34. Rxg6 Nf8 35. Rg7 1-0 [/pgn]

Key Round 6 pairings: Mundayat has Black against first seed Lu. Le takes White against Liang, and Mero has White against Vidyarthi. Betsy Zacate has sent a photo of the top two boards they unfolded; the Lu-Mundayat game is in the foreground.

K-5 Championship

Jack Yang and Cooper Ho (seen above) share first place in the K-5 going into today’s sixth round. Both players are at 5-0 and face off against each other on the section’s top board. Doruk Emir and Andrew Feng are nipping at their heels, and share =3rd-4th place with 4.5/5. Yang defeated Caden Qiao in round five.

[pgn] [Event "2019 National Elementary Championship"] [Site "?"] [Date "2019.05.11"] [Round "5.7"] [White "Yang, Jack Natha"] [Black "Qiao, Caden"] [Result "1-0"] [ECO "D50"] [WhiteElo "1908"] [BlackElo "1866"] [PlyCount "149"] [EventDate "2019.??.??"] 1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nf3 d5 4. Nc3 Bb4 5. Bg5 c5 6. cxd5 Qxd5 7. Bxf6 gxf6 8. e3 Nc6 9. Bb5 cxd4 10. Bxc6+ Qxc6 11. Qxd4 Bxc3+ 12. Qxc3 Qxc3+ 13. bxc3 e5 14. O-O Bg4 15. Nd2 Rd8 16. Nb3 Ke7 17. f3 Be6 18. Rfd1 Rxd1+ 19. Rxd1 Rc8 20. Rc1 Bxb3 21. axb3 a5 22. Kf2 b5 23. Ke2 Ra8 24. Ra1 Kd6 25. Kd3 Kd5 26. e4+ Kc6 27. Kc2 h5 28. g3 a4 29. Kd3 Rd8+ 30. Kc2 Ra8 31. Kd3 Kc5 32. bxa4 Rxa4 33. Rxa4 bxa4 34. Kc2 Kc4 35. h4 f5 36. exf5 a3 37. f6 a2 38. Kb2 a1=Q+ 39. Kxa1 Kxc3 40. Kb1 Kd2 41. Kb2 Ke3 42. g4 Kxf3 43. gxh5 e4 44. h6 e3 45. h7 e2 46. h8=Q e1=Q 47. Qh5+ Kg3 48. Qxf7 Qd2+ 49. Ka3 Qd6+ 50. Ka4 Qa6+ 51. Kb4 Qb6+ 52. Kc4 Qc6+ 53. Kd4 Qd6+ 54. Ke4 Qb4+ 55. Ke5 Qf4+ 56. Ke6 Qe4+ 57. Kd7 Qb7+ 58. Ke8 Qc8+ 59. Ke7 Qc7+ 60. Kf8 Qc8+ 61. Kg7 Kxh4 62. Qg6 Qc3 63. Kh7 Qc7+ 64. f7 Qd7 65. Qh6+ Kg4 66. Qg7+ Kh5 67. f8=Q Qd3+ 68. Kh8 Qe4 69. Qff7+ Kh4 70. Qff6+ Kh3 71. Qfh6+ Qh4 72. Qc3+ Kg4 73. Qd4+ Kf5 74. Qhxh4 Ke6 75. Qhf6# 1-0 [/pgn]

Meanwhile, Ho was busy beating Jayden Lang.

[pgn] [Event "2019 National Elementary Championship"] [Site "?"] [Date "2019.05.11"] [Round "5.8"] [White "Lang, Jayden"] [Black "Ho, Cooper"] [Result "0-1"] [ECO "D10"] [WhiteElo "1866"] [BlackElo "1835"] [PlyCount "100"] [EventDate "2019.??.??"] 1. d4 d5 2. Bf4 Nf6 3. e3 Bf5 4. c4 c6 5. Qb3 Qb6 6. Nc3 e6 7. c5 Qxb3 8. axb3 Nbd7 9. b4 Be7 10. b5 e5 11. Bg3 exd4 12. exd4 O-O 13. bxc6 bxc6 14. Ba6 Rae8 15. Nge2 Nxc5 16. dxc5 Bxc5 17. O-O-O Ne4 18. Nxe4 Bxe4 19. Nd4 Bxg2 20. Rhg1 Be4 21. Nxc6 Re6 22. Bb7 d4 23. Na5 Bg6 24. Nb3 Re2 25. Rd2 Rxd2 26. Kxd2 Bb4+ 27. Kc1 Rd8 28. Rd1 d3 29. Ba6 Bf5 30. Bf4 Kf8 31. Be3 Kg8 32. Bc5 d2+ 33. Nxd2 Bxc5 34. f3 Be3 35. b3 Rd7 36. Bc4 a5 37. Bb5 Rd8 38. Bc4 Bg6 39. Bb5 a4 40. Bc4 a3 41. b4 Rc8 42. Re1 Rxc4+ 43. Kd1 Bc2+ 44. Kc1 Rc3 45. Rxe3 Rxe3 46. Kxc2 a2 47. Kb2 Ra3 48. Nb3 Rxb3+ 49. Kxa2 Rxb4 50. Ka3 Rf4 0-1 [/pgn]

Key Round 6 pairings: Ho plays White against Yang, while Emir has White against Feng. K-3 Championship

Two players – Anjaneya Rao (seen above) and Nikash Vemparala – share first place in the K-3 Championship heading into this morning’s sixth round with perfect 5-0 scores. Omya Vidarthi, Jasper Ho, and Evelyn Qiao trail the leaders at 4.5/5. Rao defeated Daniel Ziheng Yan last night after Yan made an unfortunate mistake early in the middlegame.

[pgn] [Event "2019 National Elementary Championship"] [Site "?"] [Date "2019.05.11"] [Round "5.11"] [White "Rao, Anjaneya"] [Black "Yan, Daniel Zihe"] [Result "1-0"] [ECO "C55"] [WhiteElo "1831"] [BlackElo "1665"] [PlyCount "101"] [EventDate "2019.??.??"] 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bc4 Nf6 4. d3 Be7 5. O-O O-O 6. c3 d6 7. Be3 Na5 8. Bb5 a6 9. Ba4 b5 10. Bc2 c5 11. Nbd2 Ng4 12. h3 Nxe3 13. fxe3 Nc6 14. Kh1 Bf6 15. a4 Be6 16. Qe2 Re8 17. Rf2 Qd7 18. Raf1 Rad8 19. Nh2 g6 20. Rxf6 Kg7 21. R6f2 f5 22. exf5 Bxf5 23. e4 Be6 24. Ng4 Bxg4 25. Qxg4 Qxg4 26. Rf7+ Kg8 27. hxg4 Rf8 28. Rxf8+ Rxf8 29. Rxf8+ Kxf8 30. axb5 axb5 31. Bb3 Ke7 32. Bd5 Nb8 33. g5 Nd7 34. Bc6 b4 35. Bxd7 Kxd7 36. cxb4 cxb4 37. Nc4 Kc6 38. Ne3 Kc5 39. Nd5 b3 40. Kg1 Kd4 41. Kf2 Kxd3 42. Kf3 Kc2 43. Ke2 Kxb2 44. Kd2 Ka2 45. Nc3+ Ka3 46. Kc1 Kb4 47. Kb2 Kc4 48. Nd5 Kd4 49. Nf6 Ke3 50. Kxb3 Kf4 51. Kc4 1-0 [/pgn]

Key Round 6 pairings: Leaders Vemparala and Rao face off, with Vemparala having White. Vidyarthi has White against Qiao, while Ho takes the Black pieces against the top player in the 4.0 score group, Alex Zhang. K-1 Championship There’s a four-way tie for first place in the K-1 Championship, with Sanjeev Ganga, Alexander Braun, Vihaan Jammalamadaka, and Kyle Yiwen Wang all at 5-0 heading into this morning’s play. Key Round 6 pairings: Wang has White against Ganga, while Braun has the advantage of the first move against Jammalamadaka. We’re Streaming!

WGM Katerina Nemcova and IM Eric Rosen are on hand in Nashville, analyzing today’s top games in the K-6, K-5, and K-3. The livestream can be seen at our US Chess Twitch channel: http://twitch.tv/uschess If you’re on-site, you can watch the stream live by going to the Presidential Boardroom B. Elsewhere…

Ryan Velez’ final seminar – “Preparing for International Youth Events” – took place this morning, and GM Mackenzie Molner will hold his final “All Comers” Blitz session in the Ryman Exhibition Hall C2. Girls Club!

The Girls Club is still open, and as US Chess Executive Director Carol Meyer noted, boys are welcome too!

Be sure to drop by and check things out! Note: all photos courtesy of Betsy Zacate /www.zacatedesign.com

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