National K-12 Grade Champs Underway in Florida
December 13, 2013
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A picturesque tournament site, Photo Frank Johnson
The National K-12 Grade Championships (December 12-15) are now underway in Lake Buena Vista, Florida near Disney World.

Results of Thursday side events are in the books, with bughouse teams of Sam Schmakel and Jimi Akintonde (1st on tiebreaks) and Nathaniel Kranjc and Max Zinski prevailing.

In the K-12 blitz: Nicky Rosenthal took clear first with 10.5/12 while the K-6 blitz saw a three-way tie between Cole Frutos, Franklin Zhou and Bryant Lohr with 10/12 each.
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The bughouse tournament, Photo Frank Johnson

Patricia K. Smith, USCF's Director of National Events, said she was delighted with the tournament atmosphere, the weather and the attendance. "The event got off to a great start with Jean Hoffman (our new executive director) introduction and announcement of her “meet and greet” on Sunday morning and Allen Priest singing the National Anthem for us.  NTD Mike Hoffpauir has done an impressive job so far and we are looking forward to working with him again in the future."

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The K-6 Blitz, Photo Melinda J. Matthews


Many young stars including NMs and Senior Masters are participating in the Main Event, which kicked off this morning. Schmakel and Rosenthal top the 12th grade section, while Arthur Shen and Varun Krishnan lead the 11th grade section. The 10th grade section features four masters: Josh Colas, Justus Williams, Patrick Chi and Issac Barayev. Christopher Wu and Andrew Liu are top seeds in the 9th Grade while Alexander Crump is the only NM in a non-high school section.

See Melinda J. Matthews tournament preview here. Stay posted for more photos and news from the event, and feel free to share games and photos with CLO via email ([email protected] ) or on our facebook and twitter pages.


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Photo Frank Johnson