Top Seeds Hold Top Spots after Round 1 of National HS Championship

The 2022 National High School (K-12) Championship continues this evening, as the players make their way through Round 2. At the top boards, the first round went as expected with the higher rated players capturing the points.

Though he eschewed the preliminary Bughouse and Blitz tournaments, 2021 National Open champion IM Arthur Guo entered the K-12 Championship section as the highest rated player, surpassing 2022 Blitz champion IM Anthony He by only 9 points.

On Board 1, Guo demonstrated his prowess with a clean win against Kabilesh Yuvaraj.

2022 NHS Round 1 Arthur Guo — IM Arthur Guo considers his third move during Round 1 of the 2022 National High School Championship. Photo: Caroline King

On Board 3, FM Nico Chasin opted for an attacking posture with a Benko Gambit as Black, converting the open queenside initiative into a winning endgame against Ananya Ananth.

2022 NHS Round 1 Nico Chasin — FM Nico Chasin adjusts his pieces before the clocks start for Round 1 at the 2022 National High School Championship. Photo: Caroline King

On Board 13, Bijan Tahmassebi was able to gain an initiative on Neil Lad’s uncastled king after sacrificing an exchange and sealed the deal by snagging his opponent’s queen.

Prior to the “main event” competitors took part in the Bughouse and Blitz tournaments, as well as a simul conducted by this year’s guest grandmaster Ben Finegold. Throughout the afternoon, those who weren’t in the playing hall stopped by to test their blitz skills against a good-natured and chatty GM Finegold.

Our photographer Caroline King captured the focus on some of the nearly 1,100 competitors during the first round of the tournament.

On Saturday, play continues with Rounds 3, 4, and 5, along with a number of events throughout the day.

US Chess Girls Club

In addition to regular programming throughout the day, the US Chess Girls Club will be hosting a special meet-and-greet with US Chess Women’s Program Director WGM Jennifer Shahade for her new book Chess Queens, to be followed by a roundtable discussion about content creation with female chess Twitch personalities Epiphany Peters, WFM Devina Devagharan, WIM Luciana Mendoza, and Karen Boyd.

Friends and Family Chess Tournament

Join other parents, grandparents, and friends for a special Friends and Family Tournament on Saturday. Four rounds of G/30 games in rated and unrated sections. Entry fee is only $30 on-site.

Watch Live on Twitch

Starting on Saturday evening for Round 5, US Chess broadcast ive commentary and analysis from our Twitch channel with special guests FM Gauri Shankar and WGM Sabina-Francesca Foisor, who will make sense of the 64 squares and connect all the critical moves for the top boards. First broadcast begins at 8 p.m. ET, 7 p.m. CT on Saturday. Watch live at www.twitch.tv/USChess.

As always, we’ll be keeping up with the event here at Chess Life Online and on the US Chess Twitter account. Follow and share your photos and experiences at #HSChessChamps.