The latest installment of the P.S. 116 tournament series was a great success, with 111 registrants for the rainy Sunday. In addition to the chess tournament, food was available (as always), but there was something new this time: a raffle! Sponsored by the new NYChessKidsShop, prizes included chess books, analog and digital chess clocks and…a free week of chess camp this summer! With ten prizes for just over 100 players, there was an excellent chance to come away with something. The crowd seemed to enjoy it almost as much as TD Gary Ryan enjoyed announcing it!

Now for the chess itself! As always, there were six sections in the tournament: three for rated players, and three for non-rated players, including the section for Kindergarten newcomers where we don’t reveal the scores—appropriately called “No Score.”

The Novice 1 section was claimed by Columbia Grammar’s Dylan Patterson with a perfect 4-0 score, edging out Dalton’s Josh Berman (who drew his last game with Horace Mann’s Daniel Heintz) by half a point. Berman led Dalton to the 1st Place Team trophy with 11.5 points, two points clear of Horace Mann.

Unfortunately, the Novice 2 section didn’t turn out to be much of a section, with only three players appearing for play. Christopher Garzon from the Lenter School went 4-0, finishing ahead of Lorenzo Su and Noya Leve who each had 2 points.

Dalton dominated the Primary section, with Tomas Vonderheide and Benjamin Issroff each finishing with 4-0 scores, and Seneca Meeks scoring 3.5. Vonderheide won 1st place on tiebreaks by a hair against his teammate. Consequently, Dalton won as the 1st Place Team with 14 points to the 9.5 of P.S. 116 (led by Kindergartener Kadhir Pillai, who went 3-1!).

Hunter’s Garrett Ng won the Reserve section with a perfect 4-0, a full point ahead of the field, and was rewarded with 207 USCF rating points for his effort, taking him over the 1000 mark. Congratulations, Garrett!

Salief Lewis of Hunter emerged victorious in the strong Championship section with 3.5 points, ahead of his closest rivals by half a point. Dalton finished as the 1st place team with 6.5 points, ahead of Columbia Grammar, Hunter, and P.S. 158, each of whom finished with 5.5.