Five thousand players representing 48 states and 501 cities flew or
drove to Kansas City at the end of April to compete in the National
Scholastic Chess Championship. This "SUPERNATIONALS" combined elementary,
junior high and senior high tournaments under the undulating roof of
the great
downtown convention center Bartle Hall.
Imagine five football fields spread with long tables of chess boards
set with Staunton pieces, sections marked by great banners. At the far
end, the first boards of each section played before demo boards showing
the dramatic games to an audience of parents and coaches. In the high
school section, Irina Krush, highest rated at 2446, the Russian born
Brooklyn
player from Edward R Murrow High School, defended board one until she
lost to Richard Francisco in round 4. Then in the last round IM Hikaru
Nakamira (2418) accepted a draw and Dalton's Noah Siegel won resulting
in a 3-way tie with Hikaru and Samson Benen for first place with 6.5
out
of 7.
The chess struggles were great in all sections. PS 116 sent 11 players
and Saudin Robovic coached. The team gathered before each round to read
out the pairings and encourage each other to play with patience and determination.
Parents walked their little players into the tournament room to find their
place among the 2500 boards stretching for half a mile while the atmosphere
was set by the music to Searching for Bobby Fischer. After the rounds,
players, parents and grandparents watched Saudin analyze the games at
a round table in the immense skittles area while nearby at the Chessmaster
booth, lines formed to meet our resident celebrity Josh Waitzkin and to
get his autograph on books and boards.
Marc Anthony Parrino, 116's highest rated player at 1154, played a courageous
game against Thomas Riccardi in the fifth round and lost. (Riccardi beat
Tony Blum of Rippowam Cisqua in the last round to take 2nd place. Marc
ended up with 11th place, 5.5 points out of 7, out scoring players with
much higher ratings. Andres Fernandez played the best tournament of his
career to end up with five points, first place for players rated between
600 and 799. Here is a position from one of his games:
Andres played g5! for black. Chris Mikovich of Tampa greedily took
the pawn on a6 allowing …..Rxe3 and after White takes back, Andres won
with Rg2 MATE.
PS 116 placed 2nd behind Hunter in the K-3 Championship Section (Marc
Anthony Parrino, Andres Fernandez,, Nitai Leve, Spencer Berkman and Paul
Handorff and 12th in the K-3 Under 800 section with Rachael Cassar, Johncarlo
Pecorari, RJ Parrino and Jacob Gordon, who had his best tournament ever
with 5.5 points to win 2nd place under 600. Alehendro Fernandez played
in K and Matthew Battifarano played in K-5 under 900. The team will gather
to celebrate in the cafeteria, May 11th, at the annual PS 116 Parents
VS Kids Team Tournament and Potluck Supper.
National
Scholastic Chess Championship. This "SUPERNATIONALS" combined elementary,
junior high and senior high tournaments under the undulating roof of
the great
downtown convention center Bartle Hall.
