The latest scholastic chess tournament held at P.S. 116 (210 East 33rd St, NYC) on Sunday, February 26 was the most successful event yet! The first tournament of the season in October 2005 drew 48 players whereas this tournament, only four months later, drew 148 across the six sections.
     The increasingly popular “No Score” section, where Kindergarten students can compete and be gently introduced to tournament chess, grew to 29 students (the October tournament had only 1 student, who had to be moved to Novice 1)! For this section, the Tournament Directors do not even reveal the results of the games (the reason for the “No Score” name).
     The Novice 1 section contained a whopping 45 players alone! Matthew Goldstein of Heschel and Max August of Horace Mann paced the field with perfect 4-0 scores, a full point ahead of the next closest players. Horace Mann won the team award for that section over Dalton, 12.5-10.5.
     The Novice 2 section was the smallest of the six with 9 players, claimed by Conan Lee of Special Music School and Nicholas Adler of Horace Mann, both with 4-0 scores. Evan Goldstein of PS 116 finished third with 3-1, the only other player with a plus-score. Led by Lee and Adler, Special Music School and Horace Mann tied as the top two scoring teams with 5.5 points (no team in this section had more than two players).
     32 Players participated in the Primary Section, and again there was a two-way tie at the top between Sumair Khanna of Collegiate, and Marco Vonderheide of St. David’s School, both with perfect 4-0 scores. However, the two winners had no team help whatsoever, and the top team prize was claimed by PS 116 with 11.5 points, besting Dalton (8.5).
     In the small Reserve section (10 players), Tegh Bala from Dalton won clear first place with a perfect 4-0 score. However, he too had no team help in his section, and the first place team prize went to Horace Mann (2 players) with 5 points to Bala’s 4, and the 4 of PS 116 (2 players).
     The Open section, played at Game/45 was the last section to finish for the day. It was a tough battle all the way, but when the smoke cleared Aaron Schein of Horace Mann could claim bragging rights with a perfect 4-0 score. This was the largest Open section yet with 22 players, and the average rating was over 1100! Horace Mann needed every one of Schein’s 4 points to claim the team prize over Collegiate by a final tally of 9 to 8.5.

     Congratulations to all of the players, and thank you for playing. More tournaments at P.S. 116 will likely be scheduled this school year, and we will keep you posted.