2020 SC Scholastic Championship Results! Ford Duncan New State Scholastic Champion!!
One hundred eighty-nine young future Masters and their families and some two dozen volunteers (that we know of) came together at University Ridge Saturday in Greenville on Saturday, February 29, to hunt Kings, double Rooks, promote so, so many pawns, and to generally get their passant en. The 2020 SC Scholastic Chess Championships for 2020 are in the books after many adventures on ninety-five chessboards, and a few others in the building as well!
(Left) 2020 SC Scholastic Championship Playing Hall, Greenville County Square; (Center) Organizer and Chief TD Gene Nix displays the golden trophies;
(Right) SCCA Pres. David Grimaud (L) with newly crowned 2020 SC Scholastic Champ Ford Duncan (R). Ford had a perfect score to take top honors in the tournament!
After five hard-fought rounds and one major venue shift to accommodate some election business (something about a Presidential primary, whoever that is), we had five clear champions and some very close runners-up!
High School (9th-10th) - 36 players
Ford Duncan, 5.0!; Connor Liu, Ryan McCrea, Matthew Johnson, Jacob Stoll, Aiden Costanzo, 4.0
(Ford Duncan is invited to participate in the DENKER Tournament of High School Champions representing SC!)
Haring Award (Top HS Female): Alexis Williams
Whatley G.R.I.T. (Polgar) Award (2nd HS Female): Tessa Bonnema
HS Teams: Governor’s School, 12.0; Daniel, 11.5; Hampton Park Christian, 8.0
Middle School (6th-8th) - 60 players
Eli Moore, 5.0!; Ahan Shi, Benjamin Webb, Eric Shi, Daryl Dowty, Allen Hong, Jaden Conner, Jonathan Wei, Kevin Chapman, Sai Kummari, Lincoln Boucher, 4.0
(Eli Moore is invited to participate in the BARBER Tournament of Middle School Champions representing SC!)
MS Teams: Hampton Park Christian, 13; Edwards, 13; Dent, 12; Midlands STEM, 11
Elementary School (K-5th) - 64 players
Caton Tsao, 5.0!; Miguel Shim, Abhinav Ramireddy, 4.5; Zachary Teachman, Ashika Nalamalpu, Callum Leys, Hudson Haley, Luke Kuehmeier, 4.0
(Caton Tsao is invited to participate in the in the new, ROCKEFELLER Tournament of Elementary School Champions representing SC!!)
ES Teams: Pinckney, 14; Tega Cay, 12.5; Clemson, 12.5
Primary (K-3rd) - 28 players
Jonathan Gao, 4.5; Justin Peng, Alexander Gilbert, Victor Ermolov, Levi Roberson, 4.0; Connor Mullins, 3.5
Primary Teams: Pinckney, 11.5; Tega Cay, 11.0; Sterling, 8.0; East Link, 7.0
37 young ladies completed, comprising nearly 20% of the field!
Any event of such size requires a volunteer army, who all deserve medals for their valor! Everyone listed did more than I know, as did others who are not listed:
David Acosta: Floor TD
Ani Agnihotri: Volunteer Coordination; floor TD; pretty much everything
Arati Agnihotri: Score table
Liza Bajarias: Score table, signage
David Blair: Floor TD
Surendra Bodepudi: Score table
Will Brown: HS & MS Tournament Director, set-up; relocation supervisor.
Stu Chagrin: Floor TD, morale control
Kim Conner: Score table
Daryl Dowty, Jr.: Provided & set up chess sets
Frank Gibbes: Registration table
David Grimaud: Everything, including registration & check-in; disaster abatement
Geoffrey Grimaud: Online registration database
Maureen Grimaud: Everything else, including signage
Sara Hamby: Set-up
Sandra Hunt: Score table
Roger Johnson: Registration table, floor TD
Susan Key: Score table
Matthew Leys: Set-up & take-down; signage; FAQ & site maps; board numbers
Serena Li: Score table
Mike Moore: Floor TD
Fei Peng: Crowd control
Drew Plyler: Website, signage, Assistant & Floor TD
Bhavin Sanghani: Floor TD
EC Setser: Set-up
Daniel Smith: WinTD technical assistance; floor TD; Awards Presentation
Joys Stoll: Score table
Patricia Whitener: 4H Coordinator, site facilitator & liaison, set-up, take down, disaster abatement.
Many Parents: Pitched in to move material when we had to clear the room for another function.
I am inexpressibly grateful to all who joined in to make this a wonderful day for the young chess players. To families who traveled a long way and who support chess all week long, to those who rolled with the punches on an eventful day, and to everyone who did all they did to keep the event festive, you are superb!
Gene Nix
US Chess Report: US Chess MSA - Cross Table for 2020 SC SCHOLASTIC CHAMPIONSHIPS (Event 202002298502)