Whitney Young freshmen Akhil and Nikhil Kalghatgi have claimed the Bughouse Championship at the 2016 High School Nationals in Atlanta. The US Chess Experts finished in a three-way tie with 9.0 points but had the top tiebreak to claim the first place trophy.

The Arizona team of Kahl and Twitchell actually had better tiebreak numbers on three of the tiebreak formulas... but the Illinois twins had a one-point higher Modified Median, which was the first factor considered.

Kahl-Twitchell earned second place and Minnesotans Wahl-Tang, whom the Kalghatgi's split with in the second of five rounds, will be bringing home third place trophies.

56 pairs competed in the Bughouse event.

Blitz Results

The aforementioned Andrew Tang became the National Blitz Champion with an 11.5 / 12 score.

Highland Park's Jonathan Hrach and Stevenson's Alex Bian had the highest Illinois tallies with 10.0, tying for 5th place. On tiebreaks, Jonathan took home 9th place hardware while Alex is taking home an 11th place trophy.

Akhil and his Whitney Young teammates Matthew Stevens and Phillip Parker-Turner all finished with 9.0 points, tying for 15th place, taking 18th, 17th and 19th place respectively on tiebreaks.

Nikhil and Naperville North's Danny Emge both finished with 8.0 points, out of the hardware awards, but still with impressive tallies, tying for 39th place in the field of 294 blitz competitors.

John Compton of New Trier took top honors for blitz players rated 1700-1799 with 8.5 points.

Naperville North's Harrison Loh had the same score, taking top honors for players rated 1600-1699.

With a score of 7.5, Naperville North's Ajay Balaraman tied for the best score of players rated 1400-1499, taking third place on tiebreaks.

For players rated Under 1200, New Trier's Saman Tabatabaee had the best score with 7.0, a half-point better than Whitney Young's Benny Chiang who placed second.

Whitney Young (35.0) claimed the third place team trophy for blitz behind two schools from Washington state. Naperville North placed 7th with 31.0 points, while New Trier and Highland Park both posted 29.0 points from their top four players. On tiebreaks, New Trier earned 11th and HP took 12th. 

The main event concludes Sunday, April 3. Stay tuned for those results!