by Jennifer Shahade

The Elementary Nationals concluded on Mother's Day in Nashville (May 11-13) with a surprisingly large number of clear winners. Ryan Moon (K-6 Open), Rob Perez (K-5 Open), Benjamin Moon (K-3 Open), James Christopher Wicka (K-3 Unrated),Kadhir Andres Pillai (K-1 Open), Jake Wong (K-3 U800) all earned clear first in their respective sections. It also wouldn't be fair not to mention Zachary Martin and Raimonds Lauzums from the K-5 U900, Jason Edgerton and Katie Hong (K-6 U1000) All four players scored 7-0, but despite accelerated pairings, there were not enough rounds to determine clear winners!

You can find the rest of the results, including team standings at the following links:

K-6 Championship
K-5 Championship
K-3 Championship
K-1 Championship
K-6 U1000
K-5 U900
K-3 U800
K-6 Unrated
K-3 Unrated


A player's view at Sunday night's closing ceremony. Photo Betsy Dynako

A particularly impressive feat this year was I.S. 318's victory in the K-6 Championship. I.S. 318, a junior high school (6-8) located in Williamsburg, Brooklyn defeated Horace Mann from New York on tiebreaks. Fresh from their victories in the K-8 Open, at the Junior High Nationals, I.S. 318 did not have any easy road to victory in Nashville. Their plane from LaGuardia was delayed and they missed their connection in Detroit. Then they ended up in Memphis, where they drove 240 miles on Friday morning to Nashville. They made the first round--thirty minutes late. Here is a game by Steven Cardenas, a sixth grader from 318:



A longer report by GM Michael Rohde, with an extensive photo gallery by Betsy Dynako will appear later this week.