The United States Chess Federation - The National High School and All Girls Begin in Columbus

The National High School and All Girls Begin in Columbus

By Shaun Smith
April 17, 2010
The main event playing hall This year's High School Nationals is being held at the Hyatt Regency in Columbus, Ohio. The playing area is amazing. The main room holds the over 1300 players in attendance under a beautiful blue lit ceiling and the top players play on the stage next to a large window bringing in natural light to all the players. Day one of the High School Nationals saw a large number of upsets, including Alec Getz from Hunter College HS going down to Peter Lessler from Washington, and Illinois' Eric Rosen lost to New Jersey's Max Yelsky. Peter Lessler FM+two IM norms Alec Getz Even with the large number of upsets in the first two rounds, the standings have the expected teams and individual leaders on top. In the K-12 Championship individual standings a large group of National Masters and Experts, including Shinaksu Uesugi, Aleksandr Ostrovskiy and Scott Low. Despite Getz's early upset, his team, Hunter College HS, still leads the K-12 Championship. Shinsaku Uesugi Jake Miller from Rockland Country Day School from New York was kind enough to share his round two win over Ryan Christianson with CLO: 4355 Jake Miller Will the trend of upsets continue? Or will the top seeds hold their ground and win as expected? Follow the standings and pairings on the official results & pairings page and look out for tomorrow's CLO report, which will include more games and photos as the tournament leaders become clearer. All-Girls Nationals Just over 200 girls are competing in the 2010 edition of the event. The All-Girls Tournament's first day saw Jasmine Fermin and Najeebah Williams from Chess-in-the-Schools best a field of 9 teams with a perfect 8-0 score to take the bughouse title. Rochelle Ballantyne, also from Chess-in-the-Schools, took first place on tie-breaks in the All-Girls blitz tournament over a field of 34 players. Rochelle Ballantyne All-Girls Blitz Winners 1^st Place - Rochelle Ballantyne, 7/8 2^nd Place - Alexandra Botez, 7/8 3^rd Place - Apurva Virkud, 7/8 A group of strong girls including Anna Matlin and Rochelle Ballantyne lead the way as the tournament's 18 and under section goes into round two this morning. Follow the All-Girls results & pairings here. Look for more updates on the Girls and the High School as the weekend continues!