USA Wins 12 Medals, Top Honors at XV Pan-American U7-U17

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You could fill up a whole chess board with the 64 USA players who took the trip to Playa Salinitas, Sonsonate, El Salvador for the XV Pan-American U7-U17 Chess Championship.

There’s power in numbers, as USA won five gold medals across the 12 sections. Overall, USA finished with 12 medals and finished with the most podium points out of the 25 federations in attendance.

Photo courtesy Mohit Manchanda

As a continental event, medalists are eligible for direct titles (explained here). In order for the direct title to take effect, the player must reach a minimum FIDE rating threshold (usually 200 points below the ‘normal’ threshold for that title: see here). American players earned a total of 11 direct titles, some of which are already in effect.

And a big thank you to all the families who made the trip! (Photo courtesy Mohit Manchanda)

In the Under-15 Open, CM Vihaan Jain took clear first with a 7/9 score, earning the FM title. Shriyan Vuyyuru finished tied for second a half-point back, earning the bronze medal on tiebreaks.

Vihaan Jain. (Photo courtesy Mohit Manchanda)

My favorite win of Jain’s was this miniature in a sideline of the Sicilian Dragon. Despite being taken out of book early, Jain showed he had a better understanding of the position than his booked-up opponent:

Vuyyuru should also have picked up enough rating points to cross the 2000 threshold for his direct CM title to kick in. He came within a couple difficult variations of tying for first, as well:

Shriyan Vuyyuru. (Photo courtesy Mohit Manchanda)

In the Under-15 Girls, WCM Allyson Yu won the gold with a 7½/9 score, picking up 76 rating points. With this result, Yu crossed the 1900 rating threshold for her direct WFM title to take effect.

Allyson Yu. (Photo courtesy Mohit Manchanda)

Oh, and I might have buried the lede here: Yu is only nine years old. The New Yorker elected to “play up” three age sections for the challenge after winning the 2025 Pan-American School Under-9 Girls gold medal. Indeed, this victory makes her the youngest American to earn the WFM title.

Below is Yu’s favorite game from her tournament, with her own annotations:

Aakash Jani (L) was the top American finisher in the Under-13 Open, tying for third. Here he is with Under-13 Girls gold medalist Celine Chen.

In the Under-13 Girls, Americans swept the podium! WCM Celine Chen ran away with the event, winning the gold with an 8½/9 score despite playing up an age group.

Chen also won the direct WFM title, crossing the 1900 threshold by picking up 86 rating points for her 2133 performance. Below is a mature win as Black that shows excellent strategic comprehension:

Pear Xu was Chen’s closest competitor, finishing clear second with a 7/9 score, earning a direct WCM title as well. WCM Alicia Zhu finished in clear third a half-point back. Both players showed great comfort with imbalanced positions, outplaying their opponents as a result:

The Under-13 Girls Podium. Four Americans from left: Pear Xu (2nd), Celine Chen (1st), Alicia Zhu (3rd), and Olivia Xu (5th). (Photo courtesy Mohit Manchanda)

In the Under-11 Open, Americans took the top two slots with Sriansh Katta and Aayansh Samanta each finishing with 7½/9 scores and winning gold and silver, respectively, on tiebreaks.

Three Americans from left: Eric Liu (4th), Aayansh Samanta (2nd), and Sriansh Katta (1st). (Photo courtesy Mohit Manchanda)

Katta, who entered the tournament with a 2000 FIDE rating, is now a CM, and Samanta will become a CM upon reaching 2000 FIDE.

Katta’s win came down to the wire, bouncing back from Black’s queenside blitz to take over thanks to a well-timed tactic:

Samanta actually got the better of Katta in their head-to-head game:

In the Under-11 Girls, Americans Charlotte Tai-En Chang and Anjana Thottimpudi tied for second place with 7/9 scores, winning silver and bronze, respectively. Both players will earn the direct WCM titles upon reaching 1800 FIDE ratings.

Under-11 Girls. Left: Charlotte Chang (silver). Right: Anjana Thottimpudi (bronze).

I had to double-check that I was looking at the right section when going through Chang’s game below, as she showed patience far beyond her years to grind out this win:

Grace Lingxin Yan. (Photo courtesy Mohit Manchanda)

In the Under-9 Girls, Grace Lingxin Yan won bronze for clear third place with a 6½/9 score. When her FIDE rating reaches 1800, she will become a WCM thanks to her direct title.

Zayn Shanmuganathan. (Photo courtesy Mohit Manchanda)

In the Under-7 Open, Zayn Shanmuganathan won the gold with an 8½/9 score and an 1854 FIDE performance rating. He has earned a direct CM title pending his FIDE rating reaching 2000. This positional victory is quite a nice note to end on:

Finally, in the Under-7 Girls, Melody Zeng tied for second with a 7/9 score, just missing out on a podium finish, ending up fourth on tiebreaks.

Melody Zeng tied for second in her first international competition, ending up fourth on tiebreaks.

More games from the top boards of each section are available here.

In the Rapid side event, members of the USA delegation brought home nine more medals, including four more gold medals:

Under-11 Girls: Diya Balamurugan bronze 6½/9
Under-13 Girls: Christine Nguyen gold 9/9, Aashvi Sri Rangamreddy bronze 6½/9
Under-7 Open: Zayn Shanmuganathan silver 7/9
Under-9 Open: Ridhaan Dande, gold 8½/9
Under-11 Open: Aayansh Samanta gold 8/9, Advik Manchanda silver 7½/9
Under-15 Open: Miransh Purven bronze 7/9
Under-17 Open: Sriansh Katta gold 8/9

Under-11 Girls Rapid: Diya Balamurugan (3rd). (Photo by Mohit Manchanda)

Under-13 Girls: Christine Nguyen gold 9/9, Aashvi Sri Rangamreddy bronze 6½/9

Under-13 Girls Rapid: Christine Nguyen (L, 1st), Aashvi Sri Rangamreddy (3rd). (Photo courtesy Mohit Manchanda)

Under-7 Open: Zayn Shanmuganathan (2nd). (Photo courtesy Mohit Manchanda)

Under-9 Open: Druv Balamurugan (L, 4th) and Ridhaan Dande (1st). (Photo courtesy Mohit Manchanda)

Under-11 open: Advik Manchanda (L, 2nd) and Aayansh Samanta (1st). (Photo courtesy Mohit Manchanda)

Under-15 Open: Miransh Purven (L, 3rd) and Forest Sherwood (5th). (Photo courtesy Mohit Manchanda)

Under-17 Open: Sriansh Katta. (Photo courtesy Mohit Manchanda)

In the Blitz side event, members of the USA delegation won an additional eight medals, including three more gold medals.

Under-11 Girls: Kaira Ananya Ganesh gold 7/9
Under-13 Girls: Christine Nguyen silver 6½/9
Under-7 Open: Zayn Shanmuganathan silver 6½/9
Under-9 Open: Druv Balamurugan bronze 6½/9
Under-11 Open: Aayansh Samanta gold 7½/9, Advik Manchanda silver 7/9
Under-15 Open: Forest J. Sherwood bronze 6½/9
Under-17 Open: Sriansh Katta gold 7/9

Under-11 Girls Blitz: Kaira Ananya Ganesh (1st). (Photo courtesy Mohit Manchanda)

Under-13 Girls: Christine Nguyen. (Photo courtesy Mohit Manchanda)

Under-7 Open: Zayn Shanmuganathan. (Photo courtesy Mohit Manchanda)

Under-9 Open: Druv Balamurugan. (Photo courtesy Mohit Manchanda)

Under-11 open: Advik Manchanda (L, 2nd) and Aayansh Samanta (1st). (Photo courtesy Mohit Manchanda)

Under-15 Open: Forest Sherwood (L, 3rd) and Shriyan Vuyyuru (5th). (Photo courtesy Mohit Manchandan)

Under-17 Open: Sriansh Katta. (Photo courtesy Mohit Manchanda)

Four players became triple medalists: Samanta, Shanmuganathan, Nguyen, and, last but not least, Katta. Katta won three gold medals, but not all in the same age group! He won “his” section of the classical tournament, but elected to play the Under-17 section for the side events, winning the Rapid event outright and the Blitz on tiebreaks.

Results for the Rapid and Blitz are available on Chess-Results.com.