Faraday's Hobbs Grabs K-8 Under 750 Crown in Nashville

SuperNationals V: Part 3

Kiana Hobbs held a modest 429 USCF provisional rating heading into SuperNationals V completed April 7 in Nashville.

The Michael Faraday (of Chicago) 8th grader had played in only one-rated tournament, a Rated Beginners event in Wisconsin the year before, losing three matches and winning one game.

But today Kiana is a National Champion, having won all seven of her matches in her 329-player SuperNationals section, achieving the only perfect score in the bunch.

Tasha Schuckman, a 5th-grader from Hudson, near Bloomington-Normal, was a mere half-point from perfect, compiling a 6.5/7 tally. Tasha tied for 2nd-5th place, taking home the fourth place trophy on tiebreaks.

Sixth-grader Rithika Kyaw from Hadley Junior High in Glen Ellyn finished 5.5/7, in a tie for 14th to 26th place, earning the 18th place trophy.

In the K-8 Under 1000 section, a pair of seventh-graders from Chiddix Junior High in Normal both wound up 5.0/7 to tie for 16th-31st place. Thriambak Giriprakash won the 17th place trophy while Nikhil Madugula came in 27th place on tiebreaks.

Evans Junior High of Normal's Shanku Nair, a 7th-grader, was the top Illinois finisher in the K-9 Under 1250 section, finishing with a 5.0/7 score, 25th place on tiebreaks. Sister-city rival Kingsley Junior High of Bloomington was the top Illinois team in that section finishing 12th, with Vishvarath Karthikeyan, Nithin Sebastian, Jared Schuckman and Noah Pearson contributing to the team score.

In the K-3 Under 800 section, 3rd grader Matthew Hughes of Hinsdale's Monroe Elementary earned a 6.0/7 score, taking home the 9th-place trophy. Third-graders Vinny Galassi, also of Monroe, and Siddhartha Kyaw, from Churchill Elementary in Glen Ellyn, tied with 5.5/7 scores. On tiebreaks Siddhartha earned 21st and Vinny was awarded 30th place. Overall, Monroe Elementary took 20th place in the team competition of the section, despite posting only three of four possible scores. The K-3 Under 800 section was the largest of the SuperNationals with mind-boggling 423 entrants.

In K-6 Under 1000 team competition, Avery Coonley School of Downers Grove grabbed eighth place hardware with fourth-grader Alexander Turk (4.5) and three second-graders contributing to the team score: Darsh Patel (4.5), William Tan (4.0) and Christian Turk (4.0). All four finished in the top 128 of the 315-entrant section.

Unrated Competitors

In K-9 Unrated competition, Faraday eighth-grader Almier Dowdell scored 4.0/7 as a first-timer, placing 31st on tiebreaks.

In K-3 Unrated play, Dhruv Malladi of Sprague Half Day School (Lincolnshire) tied for 10th to 26th with an impressive 5.0/7 score. The kindergartner took home the 22nd place trophy on tiebreaks.