Rookie Rally chess action acclimates students for state tourney

MADISON – Along with its on-site challenges, the 2022 Rookie Rally Chess Tournament on Feb. 5 helped the youth in preparing for the state tournament.

“A big thank you to Mill Creek Elementary and chess team sponsor Carlalee McKee for their support of this event,” Ranae Bartlett said. Bartlett is Executive Director of Madison City Chess Club. “We also want to thank our coaches and tournament directors.”

State Senator Tom Butler sponsored the tournament.

Rookie Rally had 136 competitors. The K-3 Under 300 section was the largest with 40-plus players. “It was exciting to see so many growing teams competing. The kids have really developed their skills over the school year. We are getting ready for STATE,” Bartlett said.

All contestants at Rookie Rally received a U.S. Chess Federation or USCF rating or an updated rating.

Winners in K-3 Under 300 Section were Jacob Bluestone in first place, followed in place order by Henry Smith, Yumito Okamoto, Kush Patel, Lucas Osipychev, Sarah Rytting, Zeynep Unal, Lewis Washburn, Dheeren Pammina and Daniel Lee.

Earning tie-breaker medals were Sarva Satheesh, Grace Lee, Gregory Ryan, Summer Seewald, Julian Guillory, Si Cha, Jackson Mayes and Top Female Zoey Mulloy.

The first-place team was Rainbow Elementary School with team members Jacob Bluestone, Sarah Rytting, Lewis Washburn, Gregory Ryan, Franklin Barbre and Natalie Doe. In second place, Columbia Elementary team members were Daniel Lee, Sarva Satheesh, Grace Lee, Si Cha, Sun Cha, Devin Polpanich and Noah Goerlich.

Third-place team from Horizon Elementary: Lucas Osipychev, Julian Guillory, Van McComb, Zoey Mulloy, Jade Brooks, Caleb Kornegay, Kevin Savoye, Kylie Harden and Bran Gibson.

Fourth-place team from Heritage Elementary: Zeynep Unal, Summer Seewald, Jackson Mayes, Umar Mohammed, Kyle Miller and Elizabeth Dew.

Fifth-place team from Mill Creek Elementary: Yumito Okamoto, Dheeren Pammina, Myles Pohl, Luke Waddail, Janvi Jinva and Grayson Bennett.

Other winners, starting with first place and then descending :

* K-3 Championship Section — Esteban Jerez, Kylie Zou, Alice Zou, Emory Howell, Elliott Poole, Jimmy Mchugh, Milan Malak, Esinam Tettey, Asher Allison and Isaac Doyle.

Tie-break medals: Cora Newberry, Avyaktha Subramania, Annabelle Hsu and Top Female Saisha Iyer.

First-place team: Horizon Elementary team – Esteban Jerez, Kylie Zou, Alice Zou, Alex Cai and Alexander Lee.

Second-place team: Rainbow Elementary team – Elliott Poole, Emory Howell, Jimmy McHugh, Asher Allison, Annabelle Hsu, Cora Newberry, Charlie Saulters and Yuito Oda.

Third-place team: Mill Creek Elementary team – Esinam Tetty, Avyaktha Subramania and Peter Gosier.

Fourth-place team: Heritage Elementary team – Milan Malak and Saisha Iyer.

Fifth-place team: Columbia Elementary team – John Park and Cohen Phillips.

K-5 Championship Section — Sophia Jerez in first, Samsara Rajbhandari, Jethro Jones, Andrew Tkach, Daksh Sunil, Vedanth Siva, Emerson Phillips, Noah Hsu, Tyce Crosswy and Genji Niinomi.

Tie-break medals: Mason Park, Isaac Kreusser, Isaac Rendon, Rylan Aungst, Abigail Barbre, Tiegan Eastman and Top Female Margaret Lin.

First-place team: Columbia Elementary team – Daksh Sunil, Vedanth Siva, Emerson Phillips, Mason Park, Tiegan Eastman and Rose Polpanich.

Second-place team: Rainbow Elementary team – Jethro Jones, Noah Hsu, Tyce Crosswy, Abigail Barbre, Aidan Kuang and Natalie Rytting.

Third-place team: Mill Creek Elementary team – Gengi Niinomi, Rylan Aungst, Isaac Rendon, Shravan Balaji, Lauren Cory, Rhyan Quansah, Alice Grieve and Sughan Manoharan.

Fourth-place team: Horizon Elementary team – Sophia Jerez, Samsara Rajbhandari, Ada Whitehead and Elise Gibson.

Fifth-place team: Heritage Elementary team – Andrew Tkach, Harold Brecher, Anushka Singha and Madison Dew.

* K-8 Junior High Section — Edward Xiao in first, Aadi Saxena, Artem Starenki, Andrew Yang, Marek Fries, Christina Yang, Aaron Chen, Jacob New, Kate Meyer and Anna Ai.

Tie-break medals: Caroline Wang, Isabelle Park, John Chen, Nirvana Rajbhandari, Laya Gowder, Abby Chan and Top Female Sahithi Mynampally.

In team competition, Discovery Middle School took first place, and Liberty Middle School was in second place.

* K-12 Open High School Section — Rachael Ehrman in first, Pranaav Satheesh, Andrew Yang and Mable Danh.