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175 youth and adult players returned to Valley View Elementary for the 2nd Annual Pleasanton Open and K-12 Team Championship on April 19th, a co-presentation of Emerald Hills Chess and Tri-Valley Chess League and part of our monthly tournament series.
(See more action and trophy photos on Facebook and Instagram.)
Attendance was up 25 percent from last year’s inaugural 140-player tournament, attracting an even larger and stronger field from across the Bay Area.
In the 31-player Open Championship, there was a three-way tie for first at 3.5-0.5, led by top seed National Master Michael Lei Wang, last month’s champion Vedant Verma, and California High’s Harshit Ramesh. They each won $97. Top U1200 $60 prize winner was Donlon Elementary’s Yuvan Nandhakumar.
In the 34-player Experts (U1200) youth/adult section, Aaron Ahsan (Tri-Valley Homeschoolers) and Mahat Aravind (Mission San Jose Elementary) tied for first with perfect 4-0 scores, each winning $75 and trophies.
Six players tied for 3rd at 3-1 (in tiebreak order): Fallon Middle School’s Arnav Solan, Sairaghav Kumar, Nivedh Panchal (Mendenhall MS), Raymond Shao, Mason Deeble, and Taylor Yuhao Shen (Quarry Lane School, Top U1000). Abhi Arun Kumar (Horner MS) won 2nd Place, U1000.
In the massive 43-player Premier (U800) youth/adult section, unrated Omar Elnahas went a perfect 4-0 to take first.
Cottonwood Creek’s Anvit Nadendla tied with Ethan Sam (Sacred Heart Saratoga) and Nithilan Pandiarajan (Sierramont MS) for second at an undefeated 3.5-0.5.
Eight players tied for fifth at a strong 3-1 (in tiebreak order): Annika Majumder (Kolb), last month’s co-champion Rithvik Gudivaka (Fallon), brother Rishvik Gudivaka (Fallon), last month’s other co-champion Dev Girish Kumar (Fallon), Oliver Yu (Wells MS), Eileen Zhang (Fallon), Navaneetha Gowribalan (father to last year’s Open champion, Arjunsai Prabhu, top U600), and Aditya Ashwin (Cottonwood). Arastu Shrivastava (Amador) won second place U600.
In the 34-player K-12 U400-rated youth Challenger, there was a three-way tie for first with undefeated 3.5-0.5 scores, led by Saiansh Rastogi (Wells MS), Vedant Rao (Coyote Creek), and Vincent Winderl (Tri-Valley Homeschoolers).
Seven players tied for 4th at 3-1: Yash Bhagat (Diablo Vista MS), Advaith Aravind, Ayaan Karia (Mohr), Sahil Singla (Fallon), Kiaan Desai (John Green), Shreyas Deepak (Hidden Hills), and Kian Khan (Valley View).
In the 30 player Novices section, Praan Praharaj from host Valley View Elementary went a perfect 5-0 to take first.
Five players tied for second at 4-1: Reyansh Venkatraman (Hidden Hills), Grayson Kennedy, brothers Nirvaan and Vivaan Boraskar (Hidden Hills), and Siddharth Kumar (Fairlands).
Izyaan Chowdhary (Dougherty) picked up 7th place with a 3.5-1.5 score.
Finally, in the 28-team School competition, Fallon Middle School took first, with its top 4 out of 22 players combining for a modified 17.1 points (weighted more heavily for higher sections). Top four scorers were: Arnav Solan, Rithvik Gudivaka, Rishvik Gudivaka, and Dev Girish Kumar
Runners-up were the Tri-Valley Homeschoolers (Aaron Ahsan, Vincent Winderl, Elias Sayyar, Sami Sayyar)
3rd - Hidden Hills Elementary of San Ramon (Reyansh Venkatraman, Nirvaan Boraskar, Vivaan Boraskar, Shreyas Deepak)
4th - Cottonwood Creek K-8 of Dublin (Anvit Nadendla, Aditya Ashwin, Maxim Mironov, Oliver Lee)
5th - Fairlands Elementary of Pleasanton (Siddharth Kumar, Arjunsai Prahbu, Aadit Venkatesan, Sahil Vaishampayan)
6th - Mohr Elementary of Pleasanton (Ayaan Karia, Raghav Singh, Dev Modi, Raghav Tiwari)
7th - Valley View (Praan Praharaj, Kian Khan, Kunal Jain, Aria Ostrovsky-Beck)
US Chess Federation-Rated results and rating system explained
Thank Yous
Thank Yous
From lead organizers Emerald Hills Chess’s Eric Lai (Chief TD) and Bhavna Jain to:
Our floor TDs, including Head Floor TD Aryan Kumar, NM Aryan Achuthan, Yichen Hu, Saathvik Dharmapuram, and Karan Satish, all from the Tri-Valley Chess League.
Cecilia and the staff at Valley View Elementary and PUSD
Next Tournament in May
Next Tournament in May
The Tri-Valley May Open will return to John Green Elementary in Dublin on Saturday May 17th.
40+ individual trophies, $500 in guaranteed cash prizes over five youth and adult sections.
Learn more & catch the early bird discount
Fun, Educational Summer Camps, Sunday Training Class
We’re offering four week-long, half-day youth (Gr 1-12) summer camps this summer in three convenient Tri-Valley locations.
Educational and fun, they will feature small group classes tailored to each student’s level taught by experienced, engaging instructors.
We’ll also hold USCF-rated games, play exciting variants like bughouse and blitz, and give out trophies to top players.
Early bird discount is available until May 15th. Discounts for siblings and multiple programs are also available.
See locations, dates, and register for Summer Camps
Our weekly small group tournament training classes also continue on Sunday mornings at Pleasanton Mathnasium (replacing the Wednesday night Fallon classes).
Learn more and register by May 15th to catch an early bird
Calling all youth players in Tracy, Mountain House, River Islands, and Manteca: we’ve just started small group tournament training classes in Lathrop led by one of our most popular teachers, Coach Fred (above)!
Build your over-the-board skills while learning with and competing in USCF-rated games against other local rising youth players.
You’ll also get to play variants like bughouse and Chess960, vie for trophies, and develop your critical thinking and resilience in a social, fun environment.
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