2014 Nashville City Championship: Part III

The stage is now set for the 2014 Nashville City Scholastic Championship. Nearly 160 students and their families made it to the campus of Battle Ground Academy (BGA) in Franklin, Tennessee on Saturday, December 14th to determine the final qualifying spots in each section. Franklin is a quickly growing suburb south of the Music City where you will find the lavish homes of many middle-Tennessee musicians and professional athletes. 

This was the third and final qualifier to find players in each section for primary (K-3), elementary (K-6), Jr. High (K-9) and High School (K-12). You can read about the first qualifier here and the second qualifier here. Franklin is a historically significant town where the famous Battle of Franklin was fought during the US Civil War. While no blood was spilled, the battles over the board were just as intense, as many ChessKids vied for the final, coveted spots in the 2014 cities.

Roger Chen lightens up the day. 

In the Primary Section, Roger Chen of Julia Green Elementary School played to perfection and guaranteed his spot by going 5-0. Roger helped lead his team to a top three finish in the state last chess season and this is his second Nashville City Championship in a row. Fuller Hessel only lost to Roger and that helped his tie-breaks to be the highest finisher with 4 points to also qualify. Fuller attends Harding Academy and this will be his first city championship. 

As a tournament director, I find myself explaining tie-breaks to families all the time. The most common tie-breaker used is called "modified median." This process is essentially the same thing as "strength of schedule." If the kids you play, win or lose, do well then that makes you look better in the tie-break standings. You can read the US Chess Federation official explanation here. Fuller is the second member of his powerful Harding Academy team to qualify.

Here is a game where Roger demonstrates a version of the famous Anastasia’s checkmate pattern.

In the Elementary Section, no less than eight players eagerly awaited the results of the tie-breaks to see who would qualify. Again, it was the player(s) who lost to the first place, 5-0 finisher Tanuj Koli from University School of Nashville (USN) that had the best shot at it. By losing to that first place finisher, you accumulate five tie-breaker points. Chirath Illukpitiya took the honors as the second qualifier after Tanuj. Tanuj’s family has been all around the country taking him to scholastic championships where he and his squad from USN have finished as high as third in the country.

Chirath’s family has also been all over the world playing chess! Their family originally hails from Sri Lanka, but they started their scholastic chess careers in Hawaii before eventually landing in Nashville. Chirath attends H.G. Hill Middle School.

Josh Campbell took first on tie-breaks and sealed his second straight ticket to the city championship. 

In the Jr. High Section, there was a three way tie for first and that is always the most painful tie-breaker. You can only beat the players they put in front of you and tying for first place typically does qualify. It actually came down to the second tie-breaker which is called Solkoff. After the second tie-breaker was calculated Josh Campbell of the Campbell Home School took home first place and Jack Lewis of the host school, BGA, took home 2nd place to make it to the city. Binula Illukpitiya was the other first place finisher, but unfortunately his tie-breaks did not help him join his brother this time around. This will be Josh’s second city in a row and the first ever for Jack.

In the High School group, NCC Instructor Nicholas Tomlin and defending city champ Adam Steed qualified. Nicholas attends the Shanan Home School with three other qualifiers from previous events and Adam attends BGA.

High School Qualifier Adam Steed 

Now we get to see who will get to take home to glass crescents in 2014. 

Look for a follow up article after the 2014 City Championship January 4-5. Here is a complete list of qualifiers for the scholastic sections:

Primary Section:

  1. Hemi Rambha (1236)                      - Sunset Elementary  
  2. Robert Cheng (1160)                      - Eakin Elementary
  3. Middleton Henry (824)                    - Harding Academy
  4. Owen Irving ( 924)                         -Julia Green Elementary
  5. Roger Chen (1192)                         - Julia Green Elementary
  6. Fuller Hessel (915)                          - Harding Academy

Elementary Section:

  1. Dhruv Chandra (1467)                     -Battle Ground Academy
  2. Noah Jarnigan (1330)                      -Ellis Middle School
  3. Aden Barton (1443)                         -University School of Nashville
  4. Emilio Chen (1357)                         -St. Bernard’s Academy
  5. Tanuj Koli (1440)                             -University School of Nashville
  6. Chirath Illukpitiya (1032 )                 -H.G. Hill Middle School

Jr. High Section:

  1. Puja Jagasia (1460)                        -University School of Nashville
  2. Vincent Zhang (1606)                     -Montgomery Bell Academy
  3. John Morphett (1638)                    -Montgomery Bell Academy
  4. Sailesh Sitaram (1559)                   -Brentwood High School
  5. Joshua Campbell (1530)                 -Campbell Home School
  6. Jack Lewis (1515)                          -Battle Ground Academy

High School Section:

  1. Epiphany Peters (2067)                 -Shanan Home School
  2. Luke Weishaar (1920)                    -Shanan Home School
  3. Weston Sharpe (1797)                   -Shanan Home School
  4. Jing Dai (1668)                             -Brentwood High School
  5. Nicholas Tomlin (1940)                  -Shanan Home School
  6. Adam Steed (1758)                        -Battle Ground Academy