Upsets Everywhere as Elementary Nationals Enters Final Day

Kids are often underrated and so it's normal to see one or two of the top seeds go down in National Scholastics. However at the National Elementary Championship in Nashville, Tennessee, the upsets are getting out of control.

In the K-6, K-5 and K-3, not a single one of the top 3 seeds has made it to 5-0. In fact none of the top two seeds even made it to 4-0!

K-6 Championship:

Only two players have made it unscathed thus far.

Anthony He is 5-0 after winning a tough endgame in the fourth round. What move did Anthony find to easily hold on to his extra pawn?

Show Solution

1...Kf6! so that if 2.Nxd5 Ke5!

Aydin Turgut is 5-0 after a very impressive handling of a good knight versus bad bishop endgame.

Aydin Turgut wins on Bd.4 and moves to 4/4 in K6. "I didn't know the exact opening moves but I knew the right plan" pic.twitter.com/EV4pbha14k
— US Chess (@USChess) May 7, 2016

These two will face off tomorrow on the top Board.

Others to Watch:

Christopher Shen: Christopher is the 2nd seed and is just a half point behind. He has been playing very mature chess thus far in the tournament.

Arthur Guo: Just a 3rd grader but on fire, coming off a draw against a GM in his latest tourney.

3rd grader Arthur Guo admires his good knight vs bad bishop position on Board 4 of the K6 section. pic.twitter.com/p4Qjh3jAzX

— US Chess (@USChess) May 7, 2016

Jason Wang: Jason is just in fourth grade and is actually undefeated. The playing schedule is so difficult for him that he opted to take a half point bye in Round 5 because his bedtime is8PM and he would not be prepared to play a game that lasts until 11 PM! I hope organizers notice players doing this and ensures that the rounds end no later than 9PM in future National events.

4th grade 2100 player Jason Wang is also 3/3 in the K6 Open."My hardest game was actually my first round vs a 1300!" pic.twitter.com/EhnWcYMiQa — US Chess (@USChess) May 7, 2016

K-5 Championship

Two players are at 5-0 in this section too:

1. Nastassja Matus: Perhaps she was inspired by Maggie Feng becoming the first girl to ever win a National Championship. As the top U12 girl in the nation, Nastassja hopes to become the second girl to win it all.

2. Gus Huston: Gus and his impressive 5-0 performance are the reason why Dalton currently leads the K5 team standings.

Others to Watch:

Maximillian Lu: Max is the #1 seed and also holds the record for youngest master in U.S. history. He's just a half point out and is certainly going to be a dangerous opponent for anyone.

#1 player in the K5, Max Lu, wins again. "I'm just gonna take it one game at a time". pic.twitter.com/6XwOxS4YtP
— US Chess (@USChess) May 7, 2016

Shelev Oberoi: Shelev is the only player to have drawn Max, so you know he must be a strong player!

K-3 Championship

Everyone was dropping like flies today in the K3 Championship section. In the end we have just one player with 5-0 as #10 ranked Lucas Foerster-Yialamas beat the number #3 seed tonight.

Lucas Foerster-Yialamas wins to become the only player with 5/5 in the K-3. "I had an intermezzo that he didn't see!" pic.twitter.com/7BMtbLx4kH — US Chess (@USChess) May 8, 2016

None of the top three seeds have 4.5 points, so it looks pretty certain that we will have a surprise winner of the K-3 section.

K-1 Championship

Harshid Kunka is still 5-0 and outrates all of the other undefeated players by about 300 points. He has played impressively thus far and will be hard to stop. There are still 6 undefeateds here so we could see two co-champions at 7-0. Another section could be added to the K1 in the future to avoid this type of situation.

Meanwhile at the tournament there is an awesome "girls club" where girls can go to hang out and play chess with other girls.

Awesome to see so many girls playing chess! These girls were hanging out and playing in the "girls club" pic.twitter.com/K7cmElK362
— US Chess (@USChess) May 8, 2016 Follow the action today and tomorrow on our twitter @USChess and find pairings and standings here.