Chantilly Students Excel at Chess Tournament

Following their success in May 2012 at the National Elementary Championships in Nashville, Tenn., Virginia scholastic chess powerhouse Greenbriar West Elementary  (GBW) was in the spotlight again recently, this time at the 2012 National K-12 Grade Championship held from Nov. 30 to Dec. 2  in Orlando.

More than 1,300 young chess players from 40 states competed at the Marriott Orlando World Center Resort in a three-day seven-round tournament. GBW was represented by 11 students from 3rd to 6th grade. 

The 5th grade team, consisting of Ryan Xu, Revanth Vejju, and Vivian Cao-Dao, won the team championship with a three-point margin. Ryan Xu also captured the 5th grade co-championship. After a disappointing draw in the third round, Ryan came back strong, finishing with an impressive score of six wins and one draw, losing out to the first place player only by tie-breakers in a field of 125 players. 

The 6th grade team, made up of Diego Gutierrez, Pranav Karthik, Rishabh Krishnan, Aditya Koneru, and Aditya Gude came home with fifth place in the 6th grade team championship. Diego’s strong performance of five wins won him 13th place individually in a field of 131 players.

Rishabh Krishnan won the under 1,000 second-place class trophy and first place in the K-6 blitz in 800-999 section. Vaghul Mahadevan from the 4th grade also participated. Also among the winners was Andrew Wang, who won 15th place in the 3rd grade section in a field of 145 players. Asrith Biradavolu won first place in the under 1,000 in 3rd grade  class trophy and third place in  K-6 blitz category under 1,000 category.