SuperNationals VIII: Friday Recap + Saturday Preview

Editor’s note: This report will be updated with more games and photography throughout the day.

If any information is inaccurate, any names are misspelled, or any photos of champions are missing, please email Click here to show email address with corrections or additional photos.

Headed into the second day of the main SuperNationals VIII tournament, 212 players boast unblemished 2/2 scores across the six Championship sections. With the grueling triple-round day ahead, will there be any unblemished 5/5 scores when all is done tonight?

Round 3 begins at 9:00 a.m. EDT (and 9:30 a.m. for the K-1 sections), with rounds 4 and 5 scheduled for 1:30 p.m. (all rounds) and 6:00 p.m. (and 5:30 p.m. for the K-1 sections).

Coverage of the top boards (follow along here) with WGM Sabina Foisor will be available on the US Chess Twitch channel, and players (and their parents and coaches) can submit games from the tournament to Sabina here for a chance to get their analysis featured on stream. Submitted games are also eligible for publication in Chess Life or Chess Life Kids at a later date.

DaVaun Williams, also known as “H1Chess,” is also covering the event by analyzing games of players rated under 1300 and not competing in Championship sections. Learn more here.

All game highlights below are courtesy of WGM Sabina Foisor, who picked out her favorite moments from her commentary to highlight here. Some additions were made (based on time and interest) by your reporter, as were all of the grammatical or chess-based errors you may find in the analysis.

K-12: Big Names Shine

40 of the 243 entrants in the K-12 Championship remain perfect, including the top seven highest-rated entrants. Standings are available here.

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Hardaway (R) is the top seed in Orlando, but fellow New Yorker Adewumi is close behind (Photo by John Hartmann)

GM Brewington Hardaway entered as the top seed, and the New York sophomore did not disappoint yesterday. His fellow New Yorkers senior IM Nico Chasin (coming off two championships on Thursday) and freshman IM-Elect Tanitoluwa “Tani” Adewumi (both representing Columbia Grammar & Prep) are right there with him. Below are some of Sabina’s favorite moments from the New York trio’s games:

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Florida's Bach Ngo survived a tricky endgame upset bid and remains the highest-rated challenger to the New York contingent (Photo by John Hartmann)

FM Bach Ngo is the lone Floridian in the top five of this tournament, and New York sophomore Tim Shvarts (2118) had a chance to shake up the standings here:

With 10 of the 27 DGT boards dedicated to the K-12 Championship, it’s no surprise that the majority of today’s highlights come from this section. Below are two games from FM Linxi Zhu — a 5th grader from (you guessed it) New York — as well as a highlight from California freshman FM Isaac Wang.

Finally, Texan freshman and former National Middle School Champion IM Eric Chang Liu kicked introduced himself to the K-12 section with a thrilling, stunning attack in the Tal Variation of the Advanced Caro-Kann.

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Eric Liu's handling of the Tal Variation would do its namesake proud (Photo by John Hartmann)

With its well-deserved reputation for being ultra-solid, any game that sees Black resign before move 20 in the Caro-Kann (without making any obvious errors) is worth careful study.

It wasn’t all business as usual on the top boards, however. FM Rose Atwell was the highest-rated player to be “semi-upset,” as the 2360-rated Californian was held to a draw in round 2 by Anish Mariappan, 2077 from Maryland.

K-8: Lin Leads Way

Bryan Enming Lin and Srikar Jiyam pose with Dewain Barber for the ceremonial first move (Photo by John Hartmann)

Dwight Barber prepares his ceremonial first move against Anjyu Fujita on board 2 (Photo by John Hartmann)

Only 29 players remain in pursuit of perfection in the K-8 Championship, with Hunter College Campus School FM Bryan Enming Lin (2395, NY) leading the way. But, on board two, FM Andrew Jiang was held to a draw by Virginia’s Kavin Sathieth.

One player to watch is Texan Elbert Fang, an 8th grader rated 2249. His straightforward attacking victory yesterday afternoon is the type of dangerous chess that avoids upset bids from lower-rated players. It can also be hard to face later in the tournament when one is tired and does not have much time to prepare for the next round.

Another upset of note was on board 11 of the first round, with Texas’s Kyle Wang (2188) upset, losing in first round to Leon Shevelenko (1695, New Jersey).

K-6: A Round 1, Board 1 Upset!

In the K-6 Championship, 21 players enter Saturday with 2/2 scores, but the section’s highest-rated player is not among them!

California’s CM Ethan Guo found himself on the wrong side of a particularly camouflaged tactic against North Carolina’s Sanchit Haripradeep (1603). As is often the case, Haripradeep almost immediately gave Guo more chances after winning the Exchange. But, in a fantastic display of nerves, Haripradeep never let Guo take over, eventually having to “settle” for a draw against a player rated 648 points above him.

CM Tariq Yue (PA) and Elliott Goodrich (NY) managed to avoid upset bids in their games, and are now sitting on the top two boards in this section. Goodrich, in particular, was in some trouble against Florida’s Jacob Tran (1600) in the first round, especially when Sabina came up with this resource for Tran on stream:

This game was particularly exciting for viewers, as Tran’s father was among the viewers of the stream, getting understandably excited about his son’s chances and overall quality of play to push Goodrich as hard as he did.

I want to take a brief moment to say that moments like this are particularly special, and they would not be possible without the contributions of a passionate community of chess-lovers.

We have never streamed all seven rounds of a scholastic event before, and in doing so we are able to feature more players who might not be on the top boards by the final rounds of the tournament, and this way we can share moments like this with their friends, teammates, coaches, and family. By sponsoring our stream, Precision Tune AutoCare has made this possible.

The idea to expand our stream in this way comes from Marketing and Communications Manager Bryan Tillis. A highly experienced coach, this expansion was one of Tillis’s first initiatives when he was hired last year, and it’s wonderful to see it come to fruition.

Finally, as should be obvious, WGM Sabina Foisor is one of the few people I know who would unflinchingly sign up to do seven multi-hour streams in order to highlight so much wonderful chess. It is truly a privilege to watch Sabina talk about chess and light up when games get exciting, and I am grateful that she is willing to share this gift with so many chess players and families this weekend.

K-5: 45's A Crowd

The K-5 Championship boasts the most perfect scores of any Championship section, with 45 players coming into the second day of action with two wins under their belt. The highest-rated among the top 45 is New York’s Lev Shangin, who happens to be the only 2200+ player in the section. Players at this level often show more comfort and familiarity in dynamic positions, and Shangin’s Sicilian here was no exception:

K-3: Two Experts Lead Pack

Another 40 players join the 2/2 club from the K-3 Championship, led by the two experts Virginia’s Lukas Lebakken and Florida’s Zhihan Samuel Xu. Enjoy Lebakken’s stylish conversion from last night’s victory:

Also of interest was the game on board four, where Tommy Kozlek (1930, MA) was defeated in round 2 by John Zheng (1367, PA), for a 563 point upset! Unfortunately, only the top three boards from the K-3 Championship were broadcast on DGT boards, but if we’re lucky, we might get a game submission from the victor!

K-1: Catch Mehmet If You Can

Of the 37 players with 2/2 scores, there’s a 466-point rating gap between Ohio’s Mehmet Yilanli and the second-seeded player (Matthew Wang, CA). 

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This section has seen the most upsets by far, including Grace Li (739, NY) defeating a 1280-rated player in the first round, and Ethan Ing (874, CT) and Vincent Gu (880, WA) defeating players rated 1324 and 1341 respectively.

And More!

Yesterday morning saw the four guest grandmasters pair up to deliver tandem simultaneous exhibitions against a handful of eager challengers. IM/WGM Carissa Yip and GM Elshan Moradiabadi took a slow, methodical approach to their games.

GM Awonder Liang, on the other hand, was moving so fast that WGM Tatev Abrahamyan is convinced she didn’t get to make a move on at least one of their boards! Still, only one player was able to hold the Liang/Abrahamyan duo to a draw:

Terence Kuang, a Californian 4th-grader rated 1281 (for now), was the only player to hold @Tatev__A and GM Awonder Liang to a draw in their half of the tandem simul.

You might get to see how he did it during @SabinaFoisor's livestream, starting now on https://t.co/5tWkYS80TD https://t.co/O4MSxy1cXG pic.twitter.com/Lslg22oKXQ

— US Chess (@USChess) May 9, 2025

The game, which was covered on yesterday’s stream of round 1, as well, is available below:

Today's Events

Today’s schedule is jam-packed with side events, as well. At the time of writing, Liang is taking on all-comers in blitz (until 12:30 p.m.), and GM Susan Polgar’s lecture begins at 11:15 a.m. The friends and family tournament is already underway as well.

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Carissa Yip during Friday's guest grandmaster lecture (Photo by David Llada)

This afternoon, after the scholastic meeting at 1:45 p.m. in Lecture Hall W300, GM Leinier Dominguez is taking on all comers in blitz in the skittles room (WA3) at 2:00 p.m. There will be a lecture from ChessKid at 3:00 p.m. in W300, and Yip’s blitz session begins in WA3 at 3:30 p.m. 

While you’re there, why not try to get a photo with FM Mike Klein of ChessKid, and be sure to get your copy of Rebel Queen signed by GM Susan Polgar at 4:00 p.m., as well. Polgar will also be visiting the Girls Club throughout the afternoon. Finally, at 4:15 p.m., check out Moradiabadi’s lecture in W300. 

Quick Links:

Official SuperNationals VIII website

New SuperNationals VIIII landing page

Broadcast of the top boards on uschess.live

SuperNationals VIII results & pairings

Official US Chess stream with WGM Sabina Foisor

All SuperNationalsVIII coverage on Chess Life Online

Follow #SuperNationalsVIII and @USChess on X for more coverage