Arizona State Championship
No surprises in the K-1 Section. The clear favorite, Richard Qi, went 7-0 to win first by a full point. Zak Cancio, Zac Smith, Shaun Brennan, and Ryan Thompson all tied for second with 6 points. Flagstaff’s local elementary team, Killip Elementary, won K-1 team honors.
The K-3 Section finished in a four way tie for first: Ethan Li, Nathan Coll, Qiayo Wei, and Rhody Shiel. Ethan Li, the highest rated player and favorite heading into the event, seemed to be doing everything needed to win the section clear, but when he was unable to beat Drew Chickering in the last round, the other three Co-Champions were able to catch his score of 6 points out of 7. Greenfield Country Day School won first place team honors with 18 points.
In the K-5, we had a highly competitive section. Bryan Hu and Daniel Pecherski were the favorites heading in, but experienced players like Luc Lalonde, Kinsleigh Wong, Alec Andersen, Jarod Coulter, Jonathan Booher, and Shunta Hashimoto were going to give them a run for their money. When Daniel Pecherski beat Bryan Hu in round 6, many thought the tournament was his for the taking, but Kinsleigh Wong avenged his Tucson friend by beating Daniel in round 7. Because of Daniel’s loss, both Shunta Hashimoto and Luc Lalonde now had a chance to tie for first as well. Despite controlling most of the game, Shunta blundered under time pressure and Luc converted the win easily to become the fourth and final Co-Champion. Castle Hill Elementary dominated the team standings and won first by 2.5 points.
ACE regular, Richard Qi, captures first place in the K-1 section.
ACE's Game of the Month winner in March, Nathan Coll, was co-champion in the K-3 section.
The K-6 section saw the waking of a sleeping giant. Brennen Lee left his temporary retirement behind, and dominated the field by scoring 6.5 points out of 7. Brennen’s only draw went out to Dipro Chakraborty, who might have had a chance at Co-Champion if not for a stalemate in round 2. Tucson continued its reign over the team prizes when Basis Tucson won first by 4 points!
In the K-9 Section, the top 3 players (ranked by rating) heading into the tournament were Randel Eng, Eric Qi, and Manoj Panikkar. In that order is exactly how they finished, with their only losses coming to each other: Manoj lost to Eric; Eric lost to his teammate Randel in the last round; and Randel went unscathed, recovering from his dropped draw in round 4. The team standings were dominated by once again by Tucson teams. Orange Grove, Basis Tucson, and St. Gregory’s took first through third places in that order respectively.
The K-12 was full of surprises, upsets, and excitement from start to finish. An “insider’s perspective” can be found in Ben Marmont’s article below, but even an “outsider” like myself can tell the quick story of the High School section. When several of the favorites (from the individuals Jon Cox, Landon Brownell, and Vaishnav Aradhyula to the reigning National Team Champions Catalina Foothills) didn’t show, it was clear that it could and would be anyone’s tournament. The top team prize was never in doubt for Gilbert High, despite missing their top board Kaylan Burleigh, and in the end they finished clear first by 4 points. However, the individual prizes (both first place and the right to represent Arizona at the Denker Tournament of High School Champions come August) was a mess from start to finish. The highest rated players, Ben Marmont, Kevin Zhang, and Amanda Mateer all suffered upsets within the first three rounds, which left us with two unlikely front runners: David Adelberg and Nick Thompson. Nick Thompson lost to Kevin Zhang in round 5, which left young Mr. Adelberg (the fifth grader!) needing only a draw to clinch a first place tie. But he wouldn’t even need it when he took care of business in round 6, beating Nick Thompson, and winning first place outright. To my knowledge, David is the first fifth grader ever to accomplish this feat in the state of Arizona. Who won the right to Denker? Well, I believe that story would be better told by the Arizona Representative himself…
Jarod Coulter had a strong performance finishing in 7th place in the K-5 section.
Jonathan Booher scored 5.5 out of 7, finishing in 5th place in the K-5.
Daniel Pecherski was one of the co-champions in the highly competitive K-5 section.
Adversity is something that all chess players will encounter at some point in their careers. It’s how we deal with adversity that truly defines us. We will either rise above it and succeed, or falter and quit. This year’s State Championship in Flagstaff is a perfect example of adversity and what I had to do to overcome it.
My story begins well before the tournament in Flagstaff. The 2007-2008 school year had been my most memorable in terms of chess. Over Thanksgiving weekend I pulled off my best tournament result ever, scoring 7.5/8 and winning the U2000 section at the American Open. A couple of months later, I pulled in the top expert prize at the Tucson Open with a 3.5/5 score. Over President’s Day weekend, I was part of the US Amateur Team West championship team. I was on top of the world, feeling invincible, and earning my peak rating of 2100. Becoming a master became not a matter of if in my mind, but when. The events that would soon unfold seemed unimaginable to me.
My very next tournament after reaching 2100 was an absolute disaster. At the March 9th Master Trek, I managed a dismal 1 out of 4 score. I attributed this result to not having played a fast time control like G/60 in a while, so I didn’t worry too much about it. When the March 29th Master Trek rolled around, I was psyched and ready to gain my rating points back that I had lost; However, I found myself playing faster than normal, missing tactics, and frankly not putting in the effort needed to win. I again scored 1 point out of 4.
My rating had plummeted to 2054. I was upset, but I knew I had to remain focused as I had the US Amateur Team Playoffs coming up, as well as Nationals in Atlanta. I headed to Tucson for the online Amateur Team Championship Playoff confident, feeling that I left my troubles back in Phoenix. Instead I scored 0/2, and my team lost in the Championship game. I was absolutely devastated. What had happened to me? Where was the kid who had dominated just a few months before?
With this rather confused and anxious mindset, I headed off to Atlanta for High School Nationals. Predictably, it was a complete disaster. I scored only 4 points out of 7, despite “out-rating” all of my opponents by at least 300 points. My rating had now dropped to 2021, a far cry from 2100 mark that I had achieved only a month earlier. I didn’t know what to do. For some reason I had lost my ability to play chess. I was facing the most adversity I had ever experienced in my young career, and the State Championship was just a week away…
Shunta Hashimoto had a chance to tie for first going into the last round, but finished in 8th place with 5 points out of 7.
Dipro Chakroborty gave Brennen Lee a run for his money in the final round, but the game finished in a draw, leaving him in 3rd place with 6 points out of 7.
Playing in the Denker Tournament of High School Champions has always been a dream of mine ever since I was a freshman. I always thought that I would have to have the tournament of my life in order to qualify. Players like Vaishnav Aradyhula, Landon Brownell, Jon Cox, and many others from Tucson are hard enough to beat once, and to beat all of them in one tournament seemed impossible. In fact, my sophomore year I did play one of the tournaments of my life, but it still wasn’t enough as I finished second behind Vaishnav. So when I found out that none of the aforementioned players were going to be at State this year, I was reenergized. For the first time in a month, I was truly motivated to overcome my slump, correct my attitude, and change my approach. I was going into State the top seed, so if there ever was a year for me to qualify for Denker, this was it! I decided that I would forget about the struggles I had experienced over the last two months in the negative sense, and I would use this tournament as a time to respond and change my recent trend.
I arrived in Flagstaff on Friday in a very positive mood. I had a good dinner, relaxed, and got a good night’s sleep. When Saturday rolled around, I liked my chances. I knew that anything other than a 3/3 score on day one would severely endanger my chances of finishing first, but I felt confident that this could be done. I had to remain focused. I got to the playing site and navigated the maze of hallways and corridors. I eventually found the K-12 playing room, a small band room separate from the rest of the tournament. I looked at my pairing and got ready, the first round was about to begin.
I had black in the first round against Richard Birberick from Gilbert High. The game started normally enough, until Richard played a move which appeared to blunder a pawn. What I had underestimated was the counter-play he got for the pawn, and the game became an intense fight. I had to play with precision because any wrong step could have lead to disaster. Fortunately I was able to avoid the danger and win. The game definitely could have gone smoother, but the early rounds are all about survival, and I had survived.
In round two I had to play the newly-crowned U1600 National High School Champion Jacob Maneth, also from Gilbert High. I was very wary of Jacob, as the last time we had played I had only managed a draw. The opening was a Tarrasch French, and I was able to gain a big advantage early in the game. I was able to convert my advantage into the full point without too much difficulty, which was very important as I hadn’t had a solid game like this one in what seemed like forever. I finally felt that I was getting back to my old self.
Eric Qi suffered a tough loss to his teammate, Randel Eng, in the final round. He finished in 2nd place with 6 points out of 7.
Your Junior High Champion, Randel Eng, was the only player in the K-9 to go undefeated, giving up only a draw in Round 4.
Round three continued the “Marmont v. Gilbert High” chess challenge. I had to play their top player in the tournament, Nick Thompson, with black. In our previous two games I had won convincingly, so I fully expected this game to be no different. To Nick’s credit, he surprised me greatly with his opening choice. I was on my heels for most of the opening and just when it looked like I was gaining the upper hand, he unleashed a startling attack against my king. However he misplayed the attack, and I was completely winning after some careful defense. Then, absolute disaster struck! All I had to do was play a simple forcing line, and it was over. Instead I played a line which looked like it would win quicker, except there was one problem: He was threatening mate-in-one! When Nick announced “checkmate”, I was completely shocked and devastated. What had I done? Did I really just blow my chance at Denker over something as silly as this?
That Saturday night was a very dark night for me. I spent hours in my room sulking, disgusted, angry, sad, and just about every other negative emotion I could conjure. Then I realized that, at some point, this “sweet pain” attitude had to stop. Being upset after a loss is something that will never, and should never, change in my approach. But there is a line of misery that I had been allowing myself to cross over during these last couple months of tournaments. This outlook was serving no purpose for me in my chess games or personal life. I was going to change the way I respond to losses and adversity, and it was going to start on Sunday…
Some quick calculations made me realize that if Sunday went perfectly, I could still qualify for Denker. Even though it was nearly impossible for me to take clear first, and even though I would for sure lose any tiebreakers because of my early loss, I still had all I needed: a fighting chance. This was possible because of the fact that the two youngest players in the section, David Adelberg and Richard Ding, were not eligible for the Denker qualification spot. I realized that if I could manage a tie or second to either one of them, I would still earn the right to go to Denker. So Sunday came with a sense of purpose. A perfect score of 3 for 3 would achieve my dream.
In round four I had to play my friend, Amanda Mateer, with black. This was a tough pairing, as not only is she very good, but she also wanted Denker as badly as I did. Someone’s dream was going to end with this game. Fortunately for me, it wasn’t my dream that would end this time around. I played one of my best games of chess I had played in a long time, and I was able to win. I felt bad about eliminating her from contention, but this win had refueled my purpose and given me hope of achieving my goal. When I saw that David Adelberg had drawn Kevin Zhang, my biggest rival left for Denker, I told myself that Amanda’s loss would not be in vain: I was going to qualify for Denker.
Your author and 2008 Denker Representative, Ben Marmont (far left), poses with the 2008 US Amateur West Team Champions 'We Have Cox'.
David Adelberg won the K-12 section. He's the first 5th grader to do this in Arizona Scholastic Chess History.
Round five saw me play Gilbert High’s Jon Smoot. The game started off terribly for me, as I had no idea what was going on in the opening. I soon found myself in a worse position. However, I battled my way back into the game and managed to outplay my opponent in the Middle-game. Winning that game was critical to setup my last round match up against Zhang.
Kevin Zhang is an opponent I have always struggled with. Something about the way he plays just gives me fits. I prepared a line against his Caro-Kann Defense, and I felt ready. Finally, something broke my way when my preparation worked beautifully. It was obvious to me that Kevin had never seen my line before, as he responded poorly. I was able to get an advantage early. However, my advantage was one of a temporary nature, and if I allowed Kevin some time to develop the position, the game would probably peter out to a draw. This, of course, was not acceptable. I spent immense effort to keep my pressure in the position, and I was rewarded when Kevin blundered. I immediately pounced on his mistake, and won in 21 moves. I had done my part. Now it was up to David Adelberg to at least hold a draw against Nick Thompson. If he was able to do this, I would be Arizona’s Denker Representative. When David finally “sealed the deal” and won, I was happier than I had been in months with my chess. I had come back from the horrible set back in round three, I had had the perfect Sunday I needed, and I was going to Denker.
In hindsight, I don’t think this tournament could have been any more perfect, even if I had gone 6-0. In the midst of one of the worst chess slumps of my life, this tournament challenged me in every aspect of my game that I was struggling with. It challenged me to psychologically recover from an extremely difficult loss, which I did. Then it challenged me to have the perfect Sunday and win under pressure, which I was able to do. I proved to myself in this tournament that when met with adversity, I can overcome. I can’t wait to represent Arizona at Denker. Boy, does that feel good to say.