SuperNationals VIII: Sunday Showdowns Set

Editor’s note: This report will be updated shortly with photography. But round 6 is already underway, so it makes sense to get the results and games reported on quickly.

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.

In yesterday’s report, I counted 212 players with perfect scores across the six Championship sections in Orlando. After three more rounds on Saturday, that number has dwindled to 11. (Note: first-person usage in the body of the report refers to the author, but first-person usage in annotations refers to the streamer/annotator WGM Sabina Foisor).

With the final two rounds taking place today at 9:00 a.m. and 2:00 p.m. (except K-1 sections, where those times are 9:30 a.m. and 1:30 p.m.), there are clear frontrunners in every section. In the three “oldest” sections, only one player enters with 5/5, and in the three elementary sections, the two unblemished scores will face off in round 6.

One difference between the section, however, is how large the “chaser” packs are. Only two players in the K-6 Championship sit on 4½/5, and only three make up that pack in the K-8. But, in the K-12 Championship, eight players boast 4½/5 scores. Simply put, the more players there are who trail the leader(s) by only a half-point, the more likely it is we’ll see a “logjam” atop the standings entering (or exiting) the final round.

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: The Next Generation Has Arrived

Top-seeded GM Brewington Hardaway continues his perfect streak after three more wins on Saturday in the K-12 Championship. The day started smoothly enough for the New Yorker:

Brewington Hardaway enters the final day as the only player with a 5/5 score in the K-12 Championship (Photo by Photography in Motion)

But nobody wins championships without a bit of good fortune. Or, to put a different spin on it, champions tend to create their own luck:

The sophomore has eight players on his tail with 4½/5 scores, however. Of note is that only one of those players (Washington’s IM Joseph Levine) is a senior. Three juniors (Florida’s Jacorey Bynum, Virginia’s Kent Slate, and New Jersey’s Roger Zhang) join Levine as does one sophomore (Virginia’s Pranav Swaminatham) and three freshmen. Some highlights from the "older" players' games:

As for the up-and-comers? All three of these ninth-graders should be familiar names to those who follow national scholastic competitions. IM Eric Chang Liu, from Texas, boasts the outright 2023 and a share of the 2024 National Middle School Championship title, New Jersey’s FM Narayan Venkatesh won the U-14 Open North American Youth Championship, and CM Anjaneya Sripathy Rao is the reigning Dewain Barber National Tournament of Middle School Champions champion.

Anjaneya Rao had perhaps the most impressive Saturday of any player (Photo by Photography in Motion)

Rao may have entered as the lowest-rated of the trio at 2242, but ratings are just numbers. Results, technically speaking, are also numbers, but here the results tell quite a story, with Rao scoring an upset of second-seeded IM Nico Chasin in round 4 and following it up by holding Liu to a draw in round 5.

To be clear, players with 4/5 scores are by no means out of the running for at least a share of the championship. Of the 19 players in this group, IM-Elect Tanitoluwa “Tani” Adewumi yielded two draws yesterday, but not for lack of fighting spirit.

Tani Adewumi (Photo by John Hartmann)

He clearly used all his time and even took some risk trying to break through against fellow New Yorker WIM Chloe Gaw’s excellent handling of the Sicilian in round 3.

In round 4, Adewumi was paired against yet another talented New Yorker: Stuyvesant sophomore Aiden Reiss.

Aiden Reiss (Photo by John Hartmann)

This game was, as commentator/annotator WGM Sabina Foisor put it, “fire”:

Likewise, Chasin is still very much in it with 4/5. His third-round win showed his form and his fifth-round win showed his ability to return to it:

The race for the team championship is tight, with New York’s Columbia Grammar & Prep (CGPS) leading with a 16/20 score. This team is deep, with Chasin, James Oh, FM-Elect Megan Paragua, and Adewumi each contributing four points. But New Jersey’s Livingston High School and Virginia’s Thomas Jefferson High School (TJHS) are each only a half-point behind, with Zhang’s 4½/5 score contributing heartily to Livingston’s score and Slate’s 4½/5 score doing the same for TJHS.

K-8: Lin, Hunter Lead the Way

In the K-8 Championship, top-rated FM Bryan Enming Lin likewise leads the pack as the only player with a 5/5 score.

Bryan Enming Lin (Photo by John Hartmann)

On his tail are CM Nitesh Cherukuri (MD), Artemii Khanbutaev (IL), Vijay Anandh (TX). 16 more players are close behind with 4/5 scores, and several of their games are highlighted below, too:

Lin’s Hunter College Campus School leads the team standings with a 14½/20 score, three-and-a-half points ahead of a trio of fellow New York schools with 11/20 scores (Success Academy Midtown West, CGPS, and Dalton).

K-6: Multiple States Represented in Individual Standings, Speyer versus Dalton in Teams

In the K-6 Championship, CM Tariq Yue (PA) leads with a 5/5 score, a half-point ahead of New York’s Elliott Goodrich and Florida’s CM Maxwell Yang. Ten more players trail the leaders with 4/5 scores.

In the team standings, New York’s Speyer Legacy School (Speyer) leads Goodrich’s Dalton team by a half-point.

K-5: Battle of the Unblemished

The K-5 Championship is the first in this report to feature a battle of two 5/5 scores on the top board this morning. New York’s CM Sasha Milo Schaefer and Florida’s WFM Sophie Li each have a chance to separate from the pack with a victory.

Two of Schefer's wins are below, while Li will finally be able to play on a DGT board.

Five players trail the leaders by a half-point, and surely they’d all be happy to see a draw on board one! After being held to a draw by fellow New Yorker Winsley Wu last night, top-seeded Lev Shangin is among this group. Second-seeded Alexander Jasinski leads the group of players with 4/5 scores after being upset by California’s Vivaan Pavuluri in round 4. Pavuluri, in turn, lost to Li in round 5.

In the team standings, Li’s Oak Hall and New York’s P.S. 77 Lower Lab (PS77) are tied with 13/20 scores.

K-3: Tension at the Top

In the K-3 Championship, the two top seeds — Virginia’s Lukas Lebakken and Floridan’s Zhihan Samuel Xu — will meet on board one. As in the K-5, five players trail the leaders by a half-point.

In the team standings, Speyer leads PS77 by a full point.

K-1: One Versus Two

Finally, the K-1 Championship follows the exact same pattern of the two highest-rated players meeting on board one with 5/5 scores as five players trail them by a half-point. This morning, Mehmet Yilanli and Matthew Wang square off in Yilanli (1864)’s toughest test yet (Wang is rated 1398).

New York’s Trinity School leads the team standings with a 13½/20 score, a half-point ahead of Dalton. Florida’s Oak Hall is third with a 12/20 score.

Guests Everywhere!

Saturday was a big day for the Girls Club, with GM Susan Polgar spending most of her afternoon there for a lecture, Q&A, and meet-and-greet.

Over 100 girls and parents for the Q&As in the Girls Club Room at Supernationals VIII. Great work by the USCF Women’s Committee to support girls in chess! 👏🏻@USChess @USChessWomen #RebelQueen pic.twitter.com/JLXKu45gt5
— Susan Polgar (@SusanPolgar) May 10, 2025

Polgar also hosted her second book signing and gave a lecture earlier in the day to an audience of over 100 people, and GM Elshan Moradiabadi gave his grandmaster lecture later in the day.

The "all-comers" blitz sessions were in full swing with Special Guest Grandmaster Leinier Dominguez making his second appearance. Both GM Awonder Liang and IM/WGM Carissa Yip also spent their time taking on all challengers. While most challengers were kids participating in the main tournament, some challengers applied a very liberal usage of the word "all."

Wait @carissayipchess is playing Awonder in the all-comers blitz??????? #supernationalsviii pic.twitter.com/OXMCywlMtV
— US Chess (@USChess) May 10, 2025

ChessKid's FM "FunMaster" Mike Klein counts as part of All-Comers (Photo by John Hartmann)

With so many special guests running around, it started to feel like they were literally everywhere. In fact, it sure looks like two of the guest grandmasters are doing some volunteer directing in the K-1 section:

Carissa Awonder — Photos by Photography in Motion

Saturday also featured the annual Friends and Family tournament. Full standings, including prizes for player/coach and family categories, are available here.

Sunday Schedule

GM Leinier Dominguez is taking on all comers in blitz until 12:00 p.m. in Hall WA3 (Skittles). GM Elshan Moradiabadi's blitz session goes from 12:00 p.m. until 2:00 p.m. At 3:00 p.m., two teams of guest grandmasters will take on all challengers in bughouse at the same location.

WGM Tatev Abrahamyan's lecture is in Lecture Hall W300 at 11:00 a.m., followed by GM Awonder Liang's lecture at 12:15 p.m.

WFM Chouchan Airapetian will be leading a discussion on how to encourage more girls to get into chess at 1:30 p.m., also in W300.

More information, including awards ceremony times and locations, can be found here.

We want to take a moment to recognize and give a heartfelt thank you to all of the #SuperNationalsVIII staff for making this event possible! pic.twitter.com/gD67YUg8mU
— US Chess (@USChess) May 10, 2025

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