Excitement reigns as chess players return in Summer Knights tourney

MADISON – Chess often carries a subdued, stoic atmosphere, but the player rooms were filled with energy at the 2021 Summer Knights Chess Tournament.

“We were so excited to host our first over-the-board tournament of the school year,” Ranae Bartlett said. Bartlett is Executive Director of Madison City Chess League. “We want to thank everyone involved in launching the 2021 chess season, especially our volunteer tournament directors and coaches.”

“A big thank-you goes out to Rainbow Elementary for hosting this event,” Bartlett said.

* K-12 Open Section — Victor Lundy claimed first-place honors, followed by Jethro Jones, second; Andrew Yang, third; Artem Starenki, fourth; Nirvana Rajbhandari, fifth; and Zachary Calinsky, sixth.

* K-12 Under 1000 Section — Caroline Wang earned first place. Sophia Jerez, second; Kylie Zou, third; Isabelle Park, fourth; Esteban Jerez, fifth; Andrew Park, sixth; Kate Meyer, seventh; Jacob New, eighth; Jason Park, ninth; Noah Hsu, tenth; Christina Yang, eleventh; Sahithi Mynampally, twelfth; Tim Lee, thirteenth; and Samsara Rajbandhari, Top Female (This award goes to the girl with the highest score who did not place otherwise.).

* K-12 Under 500 Section — Jaxon Kimberly captured first place. Andrew Tkach, second; Anna Ai, third; Jimmy McHugh, fourth; Arush Sharma, fifth; Cooper Meyer, sixth; Emerson Phillips, seventh; Lewis Washburn, eighth; Isaac Doyle, ninth; Mason Park, tenth; Sean Rowe, eleventh; Daniel Tkach, twelfth; Ellie Chan, thirteenth; Ryan Quansah, fourteenth; and Abigail Barbre, Top Female.

* Non-Rated K-12 Section — Jackson Martin rated in first place. Lily Harper, second; James Cairns, third; John Chen, fourth; Nathan Chiu, fifth; Ryan Phillips, sixth; Aaron Chen, seventh; Abby Chan, eighth; Ryan Milburn, ninth; Alex Dyer, tenth; and Tyler Dunham, eleventh.

* Non-Rated K-6 Section — Genji Niinom was the first-place player. Vedanth Siva, second; Joshua Major, third; Jack Phillips, fourth; Caden Hott, fifth; Victor Stephenson, sixth; Arend Hall, seventh; Hudson Clemmons, eighth; and Tejas Iyer, ninth.

* Non-Rated K-3 Section — Milan Malak won first place. Tyler Pysh, second; Grason Riddle, third; Lucas Osipychev, fourth; John Park, fifth; Charlie Saulters, sixth; Elliott Poole, seventh; Ishaan Kishor, eighth; Zacchaeus Coduti, ninth; Lucas He, tenth; Yuito Oda, eleventh; Allison Tubbs, twelfth; and Saisha Iyer, Top Female.