The 2010 Junior High School Nationals kicked off on Thursday in Minneapolis, MN with both the K-9 Blitz and Bughouse tournaments.
Earlier in the day the team of Michael Omori (Lakeside School) and Daniel Ho (King's Way Christian School) won first place in the Bughouse tournament. Later in the day Omori tried to add the blitz title to his resume against a total field of 186 players. In the end he came up one game short as Eldon Nakagawa from Our Savior Lutheran School (Oahu, HI) won first place with his last round sweep of James A. Black to score 11 out of 12 for clear first.
K-9 Blitz Top Finishers
1st - Eldon Nakagawa, 11 points
Eldon Nakagawa
2nd - Jeevan Karamsetty, 10.5 points
Jeevan Karamsetty
3rd - Andrew Tang, 10 points
Andrew Tang
4th - Jehron Bryant, 10 points
Jehron Bryant
5th - Michael Omori, 10 points
6th - Randy Rivera, 10 points
7th - Pobo Efekoro, 10 points
Pobo Efekoro
8th - Derek Chen, 10 points
Top K-9 Blitz Team: IS 318 from Brooklyn, NY
On Friday the main event begins at 1:00pm CT with just under 1,000 players currently registered to participate. Check back as I will be writing daily reports from the tournament with photos and game scores.