The 2004 version of the MCA Primary/Elementary team championships boasted the largest attendance ever. With 132 total teams, this tournament in Dearborn, at Fordson high school just topped the 128-team event in Lansing, 2002.

Michigan Primary (K-3) Team Championship
By Jennifer Skidmore

The 2003 Primary K-3 team event finished with 6! Champions. The question for 2004 was how many of those teams would again return to the top spot. Three of the six defending champion teams were among the top seeds.

The top seeded, defending co-champion, Uitca Roberts Rooks A eventually finished in tenth place. En route, they defeated Okemos Central Elementary B. This match was the only mark on an otherwise perfect score by Central board two, Ricky Cho. Ricky ultimately earned a silver medal with 4.5-points. The Rooks were tripped up in round two, as they lost to Ann Arbor Thurston B, who would eventually finish in ninth place. However, they got back on track in round three as they defeated neighboring Utica school and 2002 co-champs, Shelby Township Crissman A, 4-0. Roberts faced Okemos Hiawatha Elementary in round four. Hiawatha defeated the Rooks before finally finishing sixth. In the fifth round, Roberts defeated newcomers Flat Rock Bobcean 3-0. Roberts scored three match points and 12.5 game points in a balanced effort. Bronze medal winner Troy Walters, who played board three, led the team.

Ann Arbor Thurston B finished in ninth place. Ann Arbor Thurston is a relatively new participant, in only their second year of team competition. In the first round, they defeated an Ann Arbor neighbor, Go Like the Wind B. Go Like the Wind B featured silver medalist Joe Hakim on board four. Then in round two, Thurston B defeated the tenth place Roberts A before being shutout by co-champion Ann Arbor King Korchnoi in round three. In Round four, Thurston drew with yet another Ann Arbor team, Summer’s Knoll A. Summer’s Knoll was led by Jacob Fauman’s perfect score on board one and Kyle Webster’s silver medal performance on board four. In the final round, Thurston B was victorious over their fourth Ann Arbor opponent, leaving King Kaidanov out of trophy contention. Deniz Gulari earned a bronze medal on board four for King Kaidanov. Thurston B scored 3.5 match points and only ten game points to complete the event. Daniel Yuan earned a bronze medal on board two.

The defending co-champion Eaton Rapids Northwestern Knightmares completed a 3.5-match point, twelve game point performance to finish in eighth place. In round one, the Knightmares proved to be just that, as they scored 4-0 against West Bloomfield Pleasant Lake. They did not fare as well in round two, losing 3-1 to a very talented Spring Lake Jeffers team. Spencer Howe led the Jeffers team with a perfect score on board two and Jared Marod contributed a bronze medal performance on board four. In round three, the Knightmares were victorious over Ann Arbor King Kamsky. The Kamsky team from A2 featured silver medal winner Orion Sang on board three. Northwestern next defeated Ann Arbor Wines 3-1, losing only to Eric Larson on board one. Eric finished with a perfect score for the tournament. In the final round, eighth place Northwestern, drew with seventh place finisher Clio Edgerton Elementary as Joseph Johnson and Nathan Flancher completed silver medal performances on boards two and three.

The seventh place Clio Edgerton was led by silver medalists Zachary Pender, on board one, and Matthew Jones, whose opportunity for a perfect score on board three was stopped by a last round meeting with Northwestern. Edgerton was perfect in the first two rounds, shutting out both Ypsilanti Erickson, and then newcomers, Byron. In round three, they faltered a little, as they defeated Ann Arbor King Kaidanov by only a 3-1 score. However, eventual co-champion, Ann Arbor Thurston A proved a little too difficult for Clio to handle. Thurston A won by a score of 3-1. Edgerton then drew in the final round with Northwestern to complete a 3.5-match points, fourteen game point performance.

Okemos Hiawatha also scored 3.5-match points, but their 14.5 game points were enough to propel them into sixth place, ahead of Thurston B, Northwestern, and Edgerton. Hiawatha shut-out Ann Arbor Summer’s Knoll B in round one before drawing with Spring Lake Jeffers B in round two. Jeffers B was led by silver medal winners Mason Dial and Nic Ellingboe on boards two and three. Hiawatha returned to their winning ways in round three defeating Ann Arbor King Khalifman 4-0. Kelsey Aaronson earned a bronze medal on board four for this King team. Hiawatha also won in round four, defeating the tenth place Roberts Rooks. However, in round five, a Lansing Montessori team, looking for their first Primary Championship proved to be too much for them. Montessori defeated Hiawatha 3-1. Earning medals for Hiawatha were Sherwin Soroushian, with a bronze on board three, Waleed Yassine, and Charles Timmons who earned silver medals on boards one and four, respectively.

Defending co-champion, Memphis A, was the only one of the top ten teams to lose in the first round. They did so by a very close margin to Byron. Memphis got back on track by scoring shutout victories over their next two opponents, Shelby Township Crissman B, and Utica Roberts Rooks B. This winning streak was interrupted by a draw with Ann Arbor King Kaidanov in round four. Memphis rounded out their tournament with a last round victory over Okemos Central A. Curtis Kuo earned a silver medal while playing board two for the Central team. Memphis finished at the top of all teams scoring 3.5-match points because of their fifteen individual game points. Many of these points came from Kenny Dunbar’s perfect score on board three and Edison Rose’s 4.5-point finish for a silver medal on board one.

Ann Arbor Go Like the Wind A became the second of four Ann Arbor teams to finish in the top ten. They swept Detroit Coleman A. Young in round one before being swept by Ann Arbor Thurston A in round two. Victories over Byron, Okemos Hiawatha B, and Spring Lake Jeffers B in the final three rounds completed a 4-1 performance for the Go Like the Wind A team. Samir Desai and Ryan Hancock won silver medals on boards one and two, respectively. Shilpa Sadagopan won a bronze medal on board four. At final count, Go Like the Wind had 13.5 game points.

However, Lansing Montessori Children’s House A, who also finished with 4 match points, had sixteen game points. Montessori got off to a great start by scoring 4-0 in their first two matches against Flat Rock Bobcean B and Detroit Wayne. This was the only loss for Wayne first board Juwan Outlaw as he went on to score four points and earn a silver medal. Montessori next defeated Okemos Hiawatha B 3.5-0.5. This was also the only loss for Hiawatha third board Meredith Fox as she finished with four points and a silver medal. In round four, Montessori gave Ann Arbor King Korchnoi their toughest match thus far before losing 1.5-2.5. Round five, Montessori defeated Hiawatha for the second time, this time the A team by a score of 3-1. Montessori’s sixteen game points were scored in part by three silver medal winners, Noah White, Dane Rosseter, and Austin Krause.

No team finished with a perfect score, but two were undefeated. The 2004 Michigan Primary (K-3) Team Co-Champions are Ann Arbor King Korchnoi and Ann Arbor Thurston A. Ann Arbor King was the only 2003 co-champion to retain their title. Thurston A and Ann Arbor King Korchnoi were the only perfect scores after round four. King Korchnoi shutout Utica Roberts Rooks B to start the tournament, before facing their next four opponents who would all finish in the top ten. Thurston A had a slightly easier schedule as they played Shelby Township Crissman B and Utica Roberts Rooks C in their first two rounds before facing three top ten opponents. The match between these two schools in round five was incredibly close as no fewer than four gold medals were won and lost. King was victorious on boards one and four, while Thurston won on boards two and three. Each member of the Thurston team, Graham Keep, David Vallem, Ashwin Fujii, and Deniz Karabakel, scored four points to win a silver medal. King was more varied as Chang Che won a silver medal with 4.5-points on board one, Calum McGuckin won a silver medal on board 3 with four points, and Nathan Pruitt was a gold medal winner on board four.

Congratulations to all of the players who participated.

Michigan Elementary (K-5) Team Championship
By Jennifer Skidmore

As many students begin to play chess at younger ages and more often, the average team ratings for this event become more and more accurate. In 2004, two teams had average team ratings over 1000, and 48 of our 66 teams had some sort of rating! In round one, tables one and two were determined in a convincing manner as Ann Arbor King Kasparov and Utica Roberts F were 4-0 against their lower rated opponents, South Lyon Sayre A, and West Bloomfield Pleasant Lake B. On table three, defending champions Okemos Cornell allowed Okemos Wardcliff a point, winning 3-1. Ypsilanti Erickson A defeated Clio Edgerton Elementary on table four, while the Erickson B team was the first upset of the event, losing to Otsego St. Margaret on table five.

In round 2, King Kasparov and Roberts F continued to command attention on tables one and two, once again defeating their opponents, Lansing Montessori Children’s House A and Spring Lake Jeffers W with 4-0 scores. On table 3, Cornell’s fourth board arrived in time for round 2 and they defeated Monroe Custer A on table three by a 3-1 margin. Pleasant Lake A upset Erickson A on table four, winning 3-1. Okemos Central defeated Detroit Wayne on table five, also by a 3-1 margin.

Interlude:

The Michigan Elementary team championships are my favorite event of the year. I love seeing them grow larger each year and I love the observations that you can use to connect various players to the event over time. The first Elementary team tournament was held 21 years ago, in 1983. Ironically, none of the teams that competed in that event were here this year. Instead, there were at least 14 new schools amongst the 43 represented. Two of these schools were able to breach the top ten in their first appearances as Ann Arbor Logan finished seventh and Monroe Custer finished tenth. Ann Arbor Logan also brought three other teams. Their coach, Dr. Sisira Amarasinghe, used to have children that played for Ray Garrison at Ann Arbor King. However, when they moved, they found no chess program at Logan, so instead started one! Monroe Custer has an interesting story behind it as well. The Custer coach and parent, Aaron Mason, played at these events in the 80’s as a Monroe high school player. Another new school, Monroe Hollywood, is coached by a current high school player, John Gattinger. Then, Pete Opfermann, Monroe middle school and high school coach, found another school to add, Holy Ghost Lutheran School. At least two new schools from the Detroit Leagues were added to this event, in addition to others in the K-6 section. Byron is a new school that brought players to both the K-3 and K-5 sections, as well as the Junior High and High School events in the next few weeks. I could digress for pages about the teams and their involvement in this event, but we would never find out who actually won! Thus, a word about some impressive players and then on to round three. A number of younger students competed in this event, but two of the top ten teams were led by second-graders on board one. Atulya Shetty scored 5-0 on board one to lead the Ann Arbor King Kasparov team, and Michael Carter scored 4.5-.5 on board one to lead the Monroe Custer team. We will look for exciting performances by these players for many years to come.

In round three, Ann Arbor Thurston faced Ann Arbor King Kasparov on table one. King Kasparov handed Thurston their only loss of the tournament in a convincing fashion, winning 4-0 for the third round in a row. On table two, Roberts F lost for the first time in the event to Spring Lake Intermediate School X. On table three, Okemos Cornell handed Ann Arbor Logan A their only loss of the tournament. Okemos Central A continued their charge to the top, defeating Spring Lake Intermediate School Y with a 4-0 score. And, on table five Ann Arbor King Kramnik and West Bloomfield Pleasant Lake A drew to move both schools just behind the leaders.

Round four saw Ann Arbor King Kasparov defeat Memphis A, once again with a 4-0 score. Was a 20-0 performance in the future for round five? On table two, Okemos Cornell defeated Detroit Bates 3.5-0.5. This was the only loss of the tournament for Bates. Okemos Central continued to win, defeating Spring Lake Intermediate School X 3-1. Table four was a draw between Shelby Township Crissman A and Ann Arbor King Kramnik. West Bloomfield Pleasant Lake recovered from their draw and defeated Roberts E in an incredibly close match on table five. This earned Pleasant Lake the opportunity to dictate the fate of the champion in the last round.

There were three perfect scores at the end of round four. Thus, the top two teams were to square off and leave the top 3.5-point team the opportunity to play the other perfect score for first place. So, the pairings were Okemos Cornell versus Ann Arbor King Kasparov on table one and Okemos Central versus West Bloomfield Pleasant Lake on board two. Before we find out what actually happened, let us review the trophy winners for the event. The fates were decided as far down as table twelve where Okemos Cornell B defeated Detroit Paul Robeson A to finish with 3.5-match points. This left the Cornell B team in fifteenth place. Hunter Landay (silver) and Nishant Jain (bronze) earned medals for Cornell B on boards four and one, respectively. A draw between Hiawatha and Holy Ghost Lutheran School on table eleven left both teams out of trophy contention. Silver medal winners Matthew Hempel and Tyler Fox played boards one and two, respectively, for Hiawatha. A win for Monroe Custer A over Otsego St. Margaret’s on table ten, earned Custer a tenth place trophy. Holly Coleman won a silver medal on board three for St. Margarent’s. Custer was led by a silver medal performance by Michael Carter. Utica Roberts E secured themselves eighth place, ahead of all other 3.5-point teams with a win over Farmington Hills Hillel A. Joanna Cogiel and Lorenzo DiPace earned silver medals on boards one and three, respectively, for Roberts, while Gino Pasquali added a bronze medal on board two. Ann Arbor Go Like the Wind A defeated Ypsilanti Erickson to finish with four points and in fourplace. Brice Marich earned a silver medal on board 4 for Erickson. Silver medal winners Akshay Jetli and Sahar Matloub played boards three and fourth, respectively, for Go Like the Wind. On table seven, Ann Arbor Thurston defeated Detroit Country Day to finish with four match points and in third place. Garrett Johnson earned a silver medal on board three for Detroit Country Day, his only loss coming in the last round. Thurston players Jonathan Zhou and June Ha Cha earned silver medals on boards one and three, respectively, while Lucy Yuan earned a bronze medal on board two. Detroit Bates defeated Spring Lake Intermediate School X on table six to finish in sixth place. Ian Edgerle won a gold medal on board three for SLIS X and John Champion was a silver medalist for Bates on board three. Draws on table four between Ann Arbor King Kramnik and SLIS Y and one table five between Memphis A and Lansing Montessori Children’s House, left all four schools with 3.5-match points. Montessori finished ninth, King Kramnik finished twelve, SLIS Y finished thirteenth, and Memphis finished fourteenth. Montessori had two players earn medals, Keenan Noyes won a bronze medal, and Bradley Petrowitz added a silver medal. Kyle Aaronson and Kevin Chang won silver medals on boards three and four, respectively, for King Kramnik. SLIS Y had silver medalists, Dillon Horne, and John Winningham on boards one and two. Jeff Weidner won a bronze medal on board three for Memphis A. Ann Arbor Logan A defeated Shelby Township Crissman A on table 3 to finish with a 4-1 match total. Their thirteen game points, earned them a seventh place trophy. Prashantha Amarasinghe and Tomonao Minoda earned silver medals on boards one and four, respectively, while Krishna Chokkaram added on bronze medal on board two.

And then, the entire tournament depended on what was to happen on tables one and two. Okemos Central defeated West Bloomfield Pleasant Lake in a very close match to earn them no less than a share of first place. Table one also proved to be decisive. Ann Arbor King Kasparov had their toughest match of the day before defeating the defending champions, Okemos Cornell, by a score of 3-1. Thus, the 20-0 performance by Montessori in the 2003 K-6 section remains unequaled. With a 4-1 score, Okemos Cornell fell to fifth place. Alan Li won a gold medal on board three. Pleasant Lake finished in eleventh place. Andy Sonenberg won a gold medal on board one. And the 2004 Michigan Elementary (K-5) Team Co-Champions, with 5-0 records, are Okemos Central A and Ann Arbor King Kasparov. All four players on both teams won medals. Chris Rockwell earned a silver medal, Brennan Andrews and Victor Wang won bronze medals, and Evan Hertafeld won a gold medal for the Okemos team. Atulya Shetty, Helen Chu, and Connor McGuckin won gold medals, and Andrew Elenbogen won a silver medal for the Ann Arbor team.

Thank-you to all of the players who participated.

The final title count at the end of the entire event, with all three sections, was Okemos 1, Ann Arbor 4, the rest of the state 0. Everyone should start making their plans for next year.

Michigan Elementary (K-6) Team Championship
By Jeff Aldrich

The K-6 may have been the smallest section this year, but it was certainly the most competitive. The small size increased the odds of a team to win a trophy as nearly 40% of the teams earned a trophy. Before we get to the tournament, I have to apologize to everyone in the section. The prizes at the tournament were not handed out in the correct order because my computer was not set up with the correct tie-breaks. I thought that I set up the program properly before the tournament, but apparently the settings were not saved. This error was not found until the trophies were handed out and everyone was already on their way home. What you see here is the team order as it should have been.

The first two rounds of the tournament went fairly close to form, with only a few minor upsets. After round two, we were down to just six perfect scores and two more close behind at one and a half. Round three is where things started to get interesting. The 1.5-point teams, Detroit A.L. Holmes A and Detroit Fisher A, had drawn with each other in round 2. Fisher forged ahead with a close victory over the higher-rated Ann Arbor Forsythe. Forsythe was being led by a couple of former Ann Arbor Wines players. Holmes, though, was slowed by a strong Okemos Kinawa crew. On table three, Detroit Bates A brought Ann Arbor Emerson B back to reality 4-0. Number two seed Ann Arbor Clague edged out Detroit Robeson A. Clague is fed by players for the powerful Ann Arbor King program. Top seeded Ann Arbor Emerson A was held to a draw by Okemos Chippewa.

For round four, we were down to two perfect scores. There were another three teams a half point behind. On table three, Okemos Chippewa dropped down to play the top three-point team, Detroit Robeson A. Chippewa’s 3-1 victory kept them in contention for a championship. The remaining 2.5-point team squared off on table two, where Ann Arbor Emerson A dominated the match 4-0. The last showdown of perfect scores for this section was a 3-1 victory for Ann Arbor Clague over Detroit Bates A.

So, there were three teams left with a chance to claim the championship. Ann Arbor Clague was in the driver’s seat, needing only a draw to guarantee a piece of the title. The two Ann Arbor teams, which were the section’s top two seeds, met on table one. This left Okemos Chippewa to drop down to play top three-pointer Detroit Bates A. Bates was up for the challenge and dispatched of Chippewa and their title hopes with a solid 3.5-0.5 victory. This meant there would be no co-champions for the section. It would be one of the teams from the top table, Ann Arbor Clague or Ann Arbor Emerson. Emerson pulled out to a 2-1 lead on the bottom three boards, with their first board, Cameron Beatty, holding an advantage. As with any great team tournament, the title came down to the first board on top table, which was also the last game of the entire tournament. Despite fierce resistance from Lanxin Liu of Clague, Beatty held on for the win and the title. Ann Arbor Emerson A is the 2004 Michigan Elementary (K-6) Team Champion.

Further down the crosstable, Clio Carter had two bronze medal winners in Troy Yott and Bret Everett. For Spring Lake Z, first board Cameron Wiegand earned himself a bronze. Detroit A.L. Holmes A had a couple four-point silver medal performances in Clinton Boyd and Karon Jones.

For the team trophy winners, Utica Roberts K slipped into the top 10 as the team with 2.5 points that had the best tie-breaks, although they didn’t get their trophy right away due to my error. Roberts’ third board, James Gatt earned a bronze medal and fourth board, Amy Willaert scored four points for silver.

Moving up to the three-point teams, Ann Arbor Forsythe took ninth place with some balanced victories and no medal winners. Third board Matthew Hurd sounded off with a 4.5-point silver medal performance to help show Shelby Township Crissman the eighth place trophy. Detroit Robeson A finished seventh with silver medallists Robert Hughes (four points) on second board and Lamar Wint (4.5 points) on third board.

Last-round title contender Okemos Chippewa was the only team to finish with 3.5 points, finishing sixth. Top boards, Eric Wang and Evan Pan, both scored four points to earn silver medals. Fourth board Kavin Umakanthan took home a bronze medal on third board.

Ann Arbor Clague fell to fifth place despite winning their first four matches. Third board Anshul Mehta took bronze and fourth board Daniel Lehrman scored four points to place in the silver group. After losing to the eventual champions in round one, Lansing Montessori reeled off four wins to finish the tournament in fourth place. Ben White on board one, Eli Williams on board two, and Cedric Lee on board four all scored four points to earn silver medals. Okemos Kinawa was only stopped in round two by Ann Arbor Clague. Kinawa takes third place with a perfect score on board one in Max Wilson and four-pointer Vu Hoang on board two. The second place team was Detroit Bates A. Bates had three medal winners of three different colors; second board Dalton Barksdale took a gold, first board James Canty III took a silver with four point, and fourth board Leonard Crosby (second-grader!) earned a bronze medal.

The K-6 champions had gold medal winners on boards three and four, which was Jacob Joyce and Leon Sunstein, respectively. First board Cameron Beatty scored four points to take home a silver medal. Second-grader Zachary Wilkins deserves a special mention, since he scored three points on second board.