The beauty of a Swiss-paired chess tournament is that after a few rounds, players start to compete against others of a similar level. And when that happens, draws become more likely.

In the K-6 Championship section of the 2016 US Elementary Nationals, a pair of late draws deprived Aydin Turgut from top honors after five straight wins out of the gate.

Finishing in a six-way tie for second with 6.0/7, the Decatur-area 6th grader took home third place hardware on tiebreaks.

Chicago's Aria Hoesley (coincidentally from Decatur School) finished strong with three straight triumphs to join the 6.0-score group, taking sixth place hardware on tiebreaks.

Aria is no stranger to US Chess tournaments and recently competed in the National All-Girls competition in Chicago. En route back to Illinois, Aria wrote in to the ICA to say, "This tournament was the one of the most enjoyable so far because all of my opponents were really nice."  The Chicago sixth-grader said after her games, opponents consistently congratulated her -- and this writer can attest that level of sportsmanship -- sadly -- is not always seen at chess tournaments. Aria also praised the support of her "Decatur teammates and people back in Chicago."

Anthony He of Washington, Aydin's sixth-round draw partner -- who also drew in the seventh round -- had the highest tiebreak among 6.0'ers to nab second place.

The 6.0-score group also included Advaith Prabu (4th) and Samrug Narayanan (7th). Advaith formerly lived in the Bloomington-Normal area before relocating to Texas. Samrug, from Minnesota, frequently plays the Continental Chess Association events in Wheeling.

With 6.5, the section was won by Arthur Guo of Georgia who closed out the event with four straight wins, entering the final round in sixth place. None of the top five as of Round Six managed to win their final match -- proving once again that it ain't over 'til it's over.

Nicholas Ladan finished with 4.0 in that section.

The US Chess Elementary Nationals concluded May 8 in Nashville, TN. 2260 competed in one of the nine sections.

In the 283-player K-3 Championship, three Illinois players tied for seventh place with 5.5/7: Arthur Xu (7th), Alex Zhao (9th) and Dimitar Mardov (10th). Nine others compiled a similar 5.5 making it a 12-way tie.

Arthur earned the top tiebreak in that score group, beating the eventual champion Lucas Foerster-Yialamas (of New York) in the sixth round, but falling to the runner-up, Ming Lu of California, in the final round. Lu was the K-3's only Expert going into the competition.

Alex had drawn Lu in the second round -- going on to draw two other matches while winning four, going undefeated for the event.

Foerster-Yialamas handed Dimitar his lone loss in the fourth round.

Finishing a half-point back, tying for 19th place, were Avi Kaplan (42nd) and William Wang (45th), both receiving 25th place trophies. Avi's rating went up 100 points.

Vrishank Ramnath and Sohum Mehta posted 4.0's while Andrew Friedman and Natalie Wisniowski tallied 3.5. Andrew's rating climbed 125 points.

Avery Coonley's Adam Ozvath had the highest score of players rated 700-799, 3.0, with a slightly better tiebreak than a New Yorker. His rating improved by 123 points. Teammate Abhi Batchu was a half-point back with 2.5, taking third place honors for 700-799's.

Also with 3.0, their teammate Neola Edwin had the third highest score of players rated Under 600 in that section. Her rating zoomed up 222 points!

Aided by the scores from Alex, Neola, Adam and Yash Desai (also 3.0), Avery Coonley claimed 10th place team honors.

In the K-5's, Peter Zheng of the Champaign-Urbana area tied for sixth place with 5.5/7, taking home 17th place hardware. In total, 19 players compiled 5.5's while 310 competed in the section.

Nicholas Bruha tallied 5.0, tying for 25th place, receiving a 35th place trophy.

Ayush Banerjee and William Tan both scored 4.5's, tying for 48th place overall. William had the highest score for players entering the tournament with a rating 1100-1199; Ayush had the highest score with players rated 1000-1099; both winning trophies for that accomplishment. Ayush's rating escalated by 281 while William's went up 107.

Aagam Shah's 3.0 was the second highest among players rated Under 800. His rating was bumped 168 ticks.

Avery Coonley earned 17th place team honors with a 14.0 tally, aided by William's 4.5, Christian Turk's 3.5, and 3.0 from Aagam as well as from Sohan Bendre.  Coonley's 14 point tally was identical to the score of Success Academy of New York's Upper West Side, but ACS's tiebreak was better, 64.5-64.0. Who says that every little bit doesn't count!

In the K-1 Championships, kindergartner Aren Emrikian tied for third place with 6.0/7, taking 13th place on tiebreaks. Aren achieved the top score of any kindergartner in the tournament, a full point better than any of the others.

Other outstanding performances from Illinois included Mohit Bayyarapu with 5.0, tying for 23rd place. Ryan Kong and Declan Reenan posted 4.5's in the 317-player K-1. Declan's rating went up an impressive 158.

Avery Coonley earned the 8th place team trophy in the K-1 section thanks to the 4.5's from Ryan and Declan, and 4.0's from Jake Izhaky, Kavin Bendre, Ausin Lok, Liam Goyal and Kai Fan. Talk about a team with depth!

Normal's Colene Hoose earned a 27th place team trophy thanks to Mohit's 5.0, Pragyan Misra's 4.0 and Harshvardhan Bhangale's 3.0. 

Grove Elementary (Normal) notched the 37th place team award thanks to Arul Shegaonkar (4.0) and Dhruv Santosh (2.5).

Benjamin Elementary (Bloomington) was just a half-point behind in 38th place as a result of 3.0's from Rajeeth Ganesan and Sukhi Doddi.

In the K-6 Under 1000 section, Layla Rodriguez went undefeated with five wins and two draws. Her 6.0/7 score was good enough to participate in a 10-way tie for second place, taking 11th place on tiebreaks.

Tying for 18th place with 5.0's were Rujuta Durwas and Pranav Saravanakumar.

Illinois' best result in the K-5 Under 900 section was Matei Cotofrea with 3.5, coming in 247th out of 454 in the section.

In the K-3 Under 800 section, Josephine Swan was 5.0/7 to tie for 24th place (30th place trophy). Josephine's rating climbed an amazing 238 points!

 

---------------------------------------------  Earlier Posting ---------------------------------------------------

Heading into Round 6: Arthur Xu Leads K-3 Nationals; Turgut in 5-Way Tie Atop K-6's

Arthur Xu is the lone wolf atop the standings in the K-3 Championships in Nasvhille concluding today. Arthur's 5.5/6 is a half-point better than a 16-pack with 5.0's. 

Arthur's only blemish -- if you can call it that -- was a fifth-round draw against New Yorker Liran Zhou who is in the 5.0 score group.

Illinois' Alex Zhao is also holding strong in the 5.0 score group for the K-3's. 

Aydin Turgut holds the top tiebreak among the leading 5.5/6 score group in the K-6 Championships.

Four others have an identical 5.5 score... including Anthony He from Washington whom Aydin drew in the sixth round. The two actually have identical calculations in the top two tiebreaks at this time.

Aria Hoesley is a half-point back at 5.0, amidst a seven-pack of competitors tied for sixth place.

Aren Emrikian is in a 24-way tie for 5th place with 5.0/6 in the K-1 Championship section. Aren is one of only four kindergratners in that prestigious scrore group.

Peter Zheng (K-5) and Dimitar Mardov (K-3) both have 4.5's in their respective Championship sections.