2015 Nevada Scholastic Chess Championship Report
Posted in News on March 28th, 2015 by Tom BrownscombeOn Saturday March 21st, 2015, a record setting 206 young chess players came to the Learning Village in downtown Las Vegas to play in the 2015 Nevada State Scholastic Chess Championship. The tournament had four separate sections. The K-12 and K-8 sections were played in one building with a five round schedule, while the K-5 and K-3 sections were played in a nearby building with a six round schedule.
Twelfth grader Cameron Patterson from Advanced Technologies Academy managed to improve over his impressive 2014 performance in the K-12 section. In 2014, Cameron won the Nevada State High School Individual Chess Championship with a 4.5/5 score. But this year he repeated as Nevada State High School Individual Chess Champion with a perfect 5-0 score. Twelfth graders Jett Marcos, Jonathan Mikolic, and Jesstin Estavillo tied with ninth grader Royce Pereira for second place in the K-12 section with 4 points each. Patterson, Mikolic, Estavillo, and Pereira are all students at Advanced Technologies Academy. This means that Advanced Technologies Academy dominated the team competition, winning the 2015 Nevada State High School Team Chess Championship with a tremendous team score of 17 points, 6.5 points ahead of the second place team, Spring Valley High School. Ninth grader Naomi Santiago was the top scoring girl in the K-12 section with 3 points.
In the K-8 section, seventh grader Michelangelo Barozzi of the Meadows School matched Patterson’s achievement. Barozzi won the 2014 Nevada State Middle School Individual Chess Championship with a score of 4.5/5. And this year Barozzi defended his title in style by winning the K-8 section with a perfect 5-0 score. Grant Giovannetti, Richard Zhou, Rishabh Saran, Ricardo Vazquez, Nicholas Isacoff, Diego Santiago, Pancratius Ventura, and Ethan Silva tied for second through ninth place with 4 points each, with Reno resident Grant Giovannetti taking the second place trophy on tie breaks. Giselle Kimball, Amber Hankins, Katherine Van Voorhis, Nadya Perez-Martinez, and Aisha Sanwal were the top scoring girls in the K-8 section with 3 points each, with Kimball taking the honor of most successful girl in the K-8 section based on tie breaks. Richard Zhou, Rishabh Saran, and Diego Santiago led Hyde Park Middle School to the 2015 Nevada State Middle School Team Chess Championship with an impressive team score of 15 points, 1.5 points ahead of the second place team from The Meadows School.
Fifth graders dominated the K-5 section, winning all ten individual trophies. Top seeded Samira Prieto earned the title of 2015 Nevada State Elementary Individual Chess Champion by achieving a perfect 6-0 score in the K-5 section. Ryan Ornstein, Tanush Saran, Alexander Chang, Carson Abbott, and Zala Quinn tied for second place with 5 points each. Saint Viator Catholic School scored 16.5 total team points to win the title of 2015 Nevada State Elementary Team Chess Champions, narrowly defeating the second place team total of 16 points earned by The Las Vegas Day School.
In the K-3 section, second grader Chris Bao of the Las Vegas Day School showed all of the third graders who is boss by winning the title of 2015 Nevada State Primary Individual Chess Champion with a perfect 6-0 score. Third graders Sanjeev Chundu, Kyrus Huang, and Ben Garber tied for second place with 5 points each. The Las Vegas Day School dominated the team competition with a whopping 20 points to earn the title of 2015 Nevada Primary Team Chess Champions, 6 points ahead of the second place team from Saint Viator Catholic School. Unfortunately, a computer operator error, followed by a proof reading failure, led to a few mistakes during the K-3 individual awards ceremony. Sanjeev Chundu should have received the second place trophy due to his superior tie breaks. Chase Giovannetti should have received the ninth place trophy, and Angelina Huang should have received the tenth place trophy. Everyone associated with the tournament would like to apologize for these mistakes, and all three of these players will be properly recognized for their achievements during one of the youth awards ceremonies at the 2015 Las Vegas International Chess Festival.
Cameron Patterson has been nominated to represent the state of Nevada at the 2015 Denker Tournament of High School Champions. In the event that Cameron is not able to attend, second place finisher Jett Marcos will take his place. Michelangelo Barozzi has been nominated to represent Nevada in the 2015 Barber Tournament of K-8 Champions. Unfortunately, Michelangelo can’t attend due to a prior commitment. So Grant Giovannetti will represent Nevada at the 2015 Barber Tournament of K-8 Champions. Naomi Santiago has been nominated to represent Nevada at the National Girls Invitational Tournament, and Giselle Kimball has been nominated to represent Nevada at the 12th Annual Susan Polgar Foundation Girls’ Invitational Chess Tournament.
Al Losoff, Janelle Losoff, Juan Jauregui, and Sabrina Jauregui organized the 2015 Nevada State Scholastic Chess Championship on behalf of Vegas Chess Festivals, LLC and the Las Vegas Chess Center. Tom Brownscombe, Al Losoff, Juan Jauregui, Allen Magruder, and Janelle Losoff served as the tournament directors, while Gale Winds served as chief score keeper for the K-5 and K-3 sections.
For complete individual and team results in tie break order, please visit our results page. For complete individual results in rating order with official USCF rating changes, please visit the member services area of the US Chess Federation website.
