Arcadia Wins!

A strong performance by the their top two players led Arcadia (13.5) to
victory over Jefferson of Pullman (12.0) and Saint George's School (11.5)
in the 12th annual Winterfest Scholastic chess tournament. Fourteen schools
were represented by 42 players.

Grand Champion trophies went to Aditya Bandyopadhyay (5.0) in K-3 and
Shohom Bandyopadhyay (5.0) in K-6. Four players finished one point behind
Aditya: Isabella Rigutto, Max Johnson, Andrew Naresh, and Gabrielle Lee.
Isabella won first in her grade. Evelyn Arquette (3.0) was first in first
grade and Per Sande (2.0) was first in kindergarten. All players scoring
2.5 or higher went home with a medal or trophy. Sarah Gunn (2.5) won a
trophy for natable upset.

In the small K-6 section, A.J. Stenbeck (4.0) won first in fifth grade.
Tariq Ravasia (3.0) edged out Jack Morris (3.0) on tie-breaks for first in
fourth grade. All players with 3.0 or more won trophies. In addition,
trophies were taken home by Ethan Naresh (2.0) and Malachai Hernandez (2.0)
for upsets greater than 250 rating points.

Three high school juniors battled the strongest elementary school players
and four seventh graders in the K-12 section. Alex Popescu (4.5) topped the
field, wining a trophy and Visa gift card. Jack Harris (4.0) won a Visa
gift card and a medal, while Ken McGuire (3.5), who drew Alex and lost to
Jack, took home a medal for third place. Dan Heglin also won a medal for
biggest upset.

Correction: During the trophy presentation, it was stated inaccurately that
SGS and Jefferson tied. This error was due to a data entry  error that was
corrected just prior to the awards presentation. Individual standings were
corrected, but haste left the error in the team calculations.

Commentary by James Stripes, Tournament Director