This past weekend, we had the 3rd in the series of Pennsylvania State Championships. This Championship was for the G/15 d3 East title. We had a lower turnout than initially expected due to various factors, but all those who participated benefited and had a good time.
G/15 is an excellent time control because it is long enough to take the games seriously (you will note almost everyone is taking notation in the pictures) but fast enough to play quite a few games. In both sections, the players got in 7 games. The links at the end of the article will take you to the rating reports and SwissSys.com.
The scholastic had 20 players ranging from entirely new to the 800s, so not surprisingly, many players got to play an excellent range of opponents. The two winners, 6 – 1, were highest-ranked Christopher Romeril and eighth-ranked Aryan Amirtharaj. I offered to let them play for first place, but they decided to go with tiebreaks, a win for Chris, who won his 2nd Under 900 1st place (remember, this event is only quickly rated). In 3rd through 5th, all 5-2, were second-seeded Ryan Carr, 4th-seeded Aanya Kollur (who, as rarely happens, finished in the place she came in seeded at), and 11th-seeded Pranav Srinivasula.
IM Igor Khmelnitsky dominated the field the next day, going 7-0. IM Khmelnitsky was kind enough to give a couple of pointers to a few kids, gave Mohit a tip about the class he will be teaching, and had nice things to say about the library in the basement. Joe Mucerino, the only person within about 500 points of Igor, came in 2nd-3rd with Mohit Maringanti. Both went 5 – 2. Sixth-seeded Mahika Ralhan scored 4.5. She still finished in the money and won a trophy as well. In 4th – 6th were Jayden Yang, Azim Julkipli, and Chris Romeril. Yes, the same Chris who won on Saturday. He has gotten tons of experience playing in 4 of the state events and picked up hundreds of rating points, too.
As noted, this was the 3rd in the series of Pennsylvania State Championships. There will be a G/75 event in January / February, and then in April will be a G/26, d3.
https://swisssys.com/report_viewer.php?upload_file=events/Pennsylvania%20Scholastic%20Game%20Chess%20Championship%20East.json&tournament=Pennsylvania%20Scholastic%20Game%20Chess%20Championship%20East§ion=Under%20900&time_stamp=11/18/2023%20-%2016:48 – Swiss Sys Under 900 standings
US Chess MSA – Cross Table for PENNSYLVANIA SCHOLASTIC GAME CHESS (Event 202311180512) – Standings with ratings for Under 900
https://swisssys.com/report_viewer.php?upload_file=events/Pennsylvania%20Game%2015%20Championship%20East%206%20GPP.json&tournament=Pennsylvania%20Game%2015%20Championship%20East%206%20GPP§ion=Open&time_stamp=11/19/2023%20-%2016:58 – Swiss Sys Open standings
US Chess MSA – Cross Table for PENNSYLVANIA GAME 15 CHAMPIONSHIP E (Event 202311192562) – standings with ratings for Open section
