MADISON – Local chess players were lucky to attend the best and biggest version of Summer Knights Chess Tournament that Madison has ever seen.

Rainbow Elementary School hosted this tourney on Aug. 27, the first one of the season. Dr. Ed Nichols, Superintendent of Madison City Schools, and Rainbow Principal Karl Fernandez welcomed contestants to the event. Rainbow’s facility offered spacious accommodations for the players to set up the tournament.

Participants even enjoyed a pizza slice or a cooling snow cone during the long day. Summer Knights included both rated and non-rated sections.

“Thank you to all the teacher sponsors and coaches and student volunteers who showed up to support the kids playing chess,” Ranae Bartlett said. Bartlett is Executive Director of Madison City Chess League.

“Thank you to our sponsor, CB&S Bank, for their continued support of this event!” Bartlett said.

“Setting an all-time record in registrants and attendance, many students were participating in their first chess tournament,” Bartlett said. “Summer Knights is a great teaching tournament where kids learn chess rules and how to use a chess clock and also get to practice notating their moves as they play.”

“Even experienced players who competed in the rated sections enjoyed getting back into the swing of things without any pressure from ratings reports while still winning lots of awards,” Bartlett said.

A summary follows for Summer Knights winners:

* Rated K-3 — Christopher Chan, first place; Aryaa Sathees, second; Junpei Noda, third; Jack Smith, fourth; Medha Akarapu, fifth; Arjun Sathees, sixth; Ahmad Kiel, seventh; Medha Prashanth, eighth; Shepherd Lecroy, ninth; Israel Perr, David Jones, Greyson Pitchko, Ezra Yaw, James Hopper, 10th; Rhema Gosier, Top Female.

* Non-rated K-6 — Will Tennille, first; Nathan Schultz, second; Evgenii Eliseev, third; Nathan Ventigan, fourth; Dohee Bak, fifth; Mason Skaja, sixth; Carter Lemaster, seventh; Aidan Knapp, eighth; Emerie Swain, ninth; Penelope Jones, tenth.

* Non-Rated K-12 — Jaxon Castor, first; Christopher Chatmon, second; Shahrukh Rasool, third; Cohen Tate, fourth; Kalief Farrell, fifth; Shiloh Stringer, sixth; Edward Lee, seventh; Hannah Barbre, eighth; Janvi Prajapati, ninth; Daniel Hsu, 10th.

* K12, Rated under 1000 — Kate Meyer, first; Laya Gowder, second; Milan Malak, third; Nathan Chiu, fourth; Joseph Park, fifth; Aaron Chen, sixth; Daksh Sunil, seventh; Emerson Phillips, eighth; Genji Niinomi, Asher Allison, Alice Zou, Tim Lee, Theodore Piper, Christina Wang, Anna Ai, 10th-place tie; Abigail Chan – Top Female.

* K-12, Open Rated — Sophia Jerez, first; Isaiah Mares, second; Yashoda Sarathchandra, third; Artem Starenki and Daniel Seewald, fourth; Kylie Zou, sixth; Jethro Jones, seventh; Esteban Jerez, eighth; Samsara Rajbhandari, ninth; Aasim Musani, 10th.

To review complete results from the non-rated and rated sections, visit madisonchess.com/tournaments/2022-summer-knights/standings.