2nd Annual Independence Day Open Scholastic

This is a continuation to my last blog, the 2nd Annual Independence Day Open, which you can read about here. 

The 2nd Annual Independence Day Open Scholastic was held on Saturday, July 6th, as a side event to the main tournament. It boasted 53 players in the combined K-3, K-5, K-8, and K-12 sections.

Out of the 19 players in the K-3 section, Kirin Alvin (779) finished in first with 3.5/4, beating Satish Avyukt (1062) in the final round. 5 players tied for 2nd place, including Avyukt, Vladislav Inchin (743), Aaron Guo (586), Pranav Kolluru (927), and Arjun Yandra (794)

The K-5 section had 14 players and was won by Zhiyuan Xiu, who, despite being one of the lowest rated players in the section, with a rating of 494, beat all of his opponents to finish with a clear 4/4. Second place went to Vedanth Iyer (unr) and Jacob Will Thessin (890) finished third with 3/4.

K-8 had 12 players and was won by Austin Lawhon (672) and Adan Lo (958) who both tied for first place with 3.5/4. Second place went to Cherish Mupkala (831).

Lastly, the K-12 section had 7 players. 1st place went to Trystan Lord (1252), who scored a sweeping 4/4 points; 2nd place went to Anderson Preis (904); and three players: Dhyaan Vijily (622), Yuvraj Kumpati (1227), and Somil Varshney (906) all tied for 3rd place with 2/4.

After the scholastic event had concluded, we organized an event where the two grandmasters playing in the tournament, GM Vojtech Plat and GM Gabor Nagy, played blitz games against the scholastic participants. It was a great opportunity for the participants, who got a chance to play strong grandmasters, and it was fun for both. Several players expressed that it had been their dream ever since they started chess to one day play a grandmaster, and they had finally gotten their chance!