New York Chess - Mayor's Cup Chess a Huge Hit with Schools

Hello Chess Blog friends, the recent Mayor's Cup chess event in New York City was a huge success. More than 400 400 of the city's top-rated youth chess players competed in the 2014 NYC Mayor's Cup Chess Championships at PS 11 - The William T. Harris School for a chance to be crowned the "Best in the City."  

Three chess teams were tied in the standings of the Junior High/High School Open section heading into the final round, but Edward R. Murrow High School (Brooklyn) finished strong and took home the Cup, while PS 160K (Brooklyn) finished as the top team in the Elementary Open section. Alisher Podavonov (Brooklyn Tech) finished first in Junior High/High School Open section individual standings, and Aidan Ahram (NEST+m) was the top individual in the Elementary Open section.

The chess tournament, which was open to all NYC students in grades K-12 who are rated 600 or higher by the US Chess Federation, was produced by NYC & Company in partnership with Chess-in-the-Schools.

The teams from Edward R. Murrow HS, NEST+m and Stuyvesant were all tied atop the standings of the Junior High/High School Open section (grades 6-12, rated over 1,500) heading into the final round of play. In the end, Edward R. Murrow HS took home the Cup for the second time in the past three years as their top four players all finished in the top 20. NEST+m finished in second place followed by Stuyvesant, who finished third.

In the individual competition, defending champion Isaac Barayev (NEST+m) and Alisher Podavonov (Brooklyn Tech) were the only two competitors left in their section that had perfect scores as they prepared to face each other in the final round of play. Podavonov took home the gold medal as he defeated Barayev in the deciding match, and Barayev ended up in fifth place because of tiebreakers. Alex Spinnell (Stuyvesant) finished second followed by Shawn Swindell (Murrow) in third and Ashanti Murray (FDA) in fourth.

PS 160K took home the Cup as the top team in the Elementary Open section (grades K-5, rated above 1,100), while the team from PS 124M took silver, and last year's Elementary team champions from PS 503K finished in third. In the individual scoring, Aidan Ahram (NEST+m) and Jun Yan Li (160K) both finished with perfect scores, but Ahram was awarded the gold medal, while Li took home the silver due to tiebreakers. Tyler Roonprapunt (Dalton School) finished in third place followed by Justin Dalhouse (282K) in fourth and last year's Elementary individual champion Justin Chen (124M) in fifth.

In the Junior High/High School Novice section (rated under 1,500), East Side Community High School finished first followed by Edward R. Murrow HS and 318K. In the individual standings, Samuel Zhang (Stuyvesant) took home gold in that section followed by Allen Li (318K) and Ash Egyud (East Side Community HS).

In the Elementary Novice section (rated under 1,100), the team from Avenues: The World School took home first place followed by the team from PS307Q, who finished second, with the team from 503K, finishing in third place. The individual scoring was very tight, but in the end, Kunchok Khando (139K) took home the gold medal followed by Michael Ramon (218X) and Ryan Christi Chen (NEST+m) because of tiebreakers.

To find the complete team and individual results, please visit the NYC Mayor's Cup Facebook page. -- Shaun Smith/USchess.org

From Alexandra Kosteniuk's

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