Sam Schenk Takes County K-12 Chess Championship
Williamsburg Middle School 6th-grader Sam Schenk went 4-0 to take first place in the Arlington Scholastic Open, a United States Chess Federation-sanctioned Swiss-system event held on Saturday June 14 at Yorktown High School.
Schenk, the top-rated K-12 chess player in Arlington County who is among the top one-hundred 6th-graders in the nation, was never in serious trouble in any of his games, winning his openings and then expanding and exploiting advantage in clean, methodical style.
Alexandria, Virginia 4th-grader Akhil Chava and Schaumburg, Illinois 3rd-grader Kevin Yuvaraj finished 2nd and 3rd. Both scored 3-0, with Chava taking 2nd-place on tiebreaker points.
Shawn Lisann, a 4th-grader at Chesterbrook ES in Fairfax, took 4th place in the tournament after upsetting the higher-rated Philip Suskin in the 2nd round using a sharp variation of the Fried Liver Attack. Suskin, a 7th-grader at Swanson MS, recovered with a 3rd-round win over Kevin Chumpitaz, an Arlingtonian 6th-grader who attends The Potomac School in McLean. Then Suskin faced Schenk on board one in the last round with a chance to tie Schenk and force a playoff blitz game. But in a tough, tense game Schenk gained a small material advantage and refused to blunder, securing the championship.
Daniel Bailey, a 6th-grader at St. Agnes School, and Nathan Snyder, a 7th-grader at Williamsburg MS, joined Lisann, Suskin, and Chumpitaz with 2 out of 4 scores.
Next year’s Arlington Scholastic Open, sponsored by the nonprofit Arlington Students Chess, is tentatively scheduled for June 20, 2015.
Williamsburg Middle School 6th-grader Sam Schenk went 4-0 to take first place in the Arlington Scholastic Open, a United States Chess Federation-sanctioned Swiss-system event held on Saturday June 14 at Yorktown High School.
Schenk, the top-rated K-12 chess player in Arlington County who is among the top one-hundred 6th-graders in the nation, was never in serious trouble in any of his games, winning his openings and then expanding and exploiting advantage in clean, methodical style.
Alexandria, Virginia 4th-grader Akhil Chava and Schaumburg, Illinois 3rd-grader Kevin Yuvaraj finished 2nd and 3rd. Both scored 3-0, with Chava taking 2nd-place on tiebreaker points.
Shawn Lisann, a 4th-grader at Chesterbrook ES in Fairfax, took 4th place in the tournament after upsetting the higher-rated Philip Suskin in the 2nd round using a sharp variation of the Fried Liver Attack. Suskin, a 7th-grader at Swanson MS, recovered with a 3rd-round win over Kevin Chumpitaz, an Arlingtonian 6th-grader who attends The Potomac School in McLean. Then Suskin faced Schenk on board one in the last round with a chance to tie Schenk and force a playoff blitz game. But in a tough, tense game Schenk gained a small material advantage and refused to blunder, securing the championship.
Daniel Bailey, a 6th-grader at St. Agnes School, and Nathan Snyder, a 7th-grader at Williamsburg MS, joined Lisann, Suskin, and Chumpitaz with 2 out of 4 scores.
Next year’s Arlington Scholastic Open, sponsored by the nonprofit Arlington Students Chess, is tentatively scheduled for June 20, 2015.
