Winners!

Weibel's Fifth Grade First Place Team: Nathan Lee, Steve Yuan, Taho Naoi, Rachel Chao, Judy Kuo, Leslie Toy

The California State Grade Level Chess Championships May 17-18, 1997

By Alan M. Kirshner, Ph.D.
I am sure you have heard the expression, "There is no such thing as a free lunch." Well, this maxim proved false in Stockton on May 17 and 18 at The California State Grade Level Chess Championships. The Sunrise Rotary Club shocked everyone by providing an unadvertised free lunch. The parents who attended the Super Nationals in Knoxville, Tennessee just a few weeks before commented on how they had trouble even buying lunch there. Best of all, they loved Stockton´s "real"trophies, as they referred to them, in contrast to the small plastic ones handed out in Knoxville. They took every opportunity they could to compliment the tournament organizer, Steve Seegmiller, and his staff for running the type of tournament they had hoped to find in Knoxville. Apparently, Knoxville ran the Super Nationals to make money off the kids. Steve, with the sponsorship of six area Rotary Clubs and Delta Community College, only wanted to let California´s scholastic players and their parents know that the city of Stockton had plenty to offer. I am sure they lost money on this extravaganza, having planned for 350 with only 220 players showing. No one seemed to care. All the helpers, the Rotary Club members, their high school youth affiliate (Rotary Interact) and the Stockton Chess Club people, had smiles on their faces continuously. Don Shennum, a Senior Director, and his wife Laura headed the all-star cast of tournament directors. Steve asked them to take-over the tournament when the individual who had agreed to be the Chief Tournament Director dropped out a month before, pleading over-commitment. Don and Laura handled all problems in an efficient and professional manner. They did such a great job that I asked Don to be the Chief TD at my tournament next March--only if Laura comes along.

Four years ago, I came up with the idea to create an all-California scholastic tournament using a grade level approach as had just been established in the United States Chess Federation. California is split into two States, North and South, each with its own championships. Al Woolum, at that time in Bakersfield--now in Texas, was able to obtain the sanction of Southern California Chess Federation and I get the go ahead from CalChess. The tournament moves between the North and the South. The winners of this tournament are the only California champions. Next year the tournament will be in Southern California and Jay Blem, scholastic coordinator is now taking bids. I should note that Jay brought his National Chess and Games concession to Stockton, providing chess equipment at a very reasonable price.

Last year in Bakersfield, the tournament had all the grades through twelfth. In Northern California we only run kindergarten to eighth grade. We award ten individual trophies and three team awards in each grade. The students in fourth through eighth grade played six rounds, four on Saturday and two on Sunday. Kindergarten through third graders contested four rounds on Sunday, ending by 3:00 PM, giving the individuals from distant parts of the state time to travel home.

This year´s kindergarten champion is Nicholas Delaplane from Valencia. He won all four of his games. None of the ten players in the kindergarten section lost all their games and they all went home with trophies. Isaac Shaker and Thomas Crow tied for second with 2.5 points out of four. No team trophies were awarded in the kindergarten division.

Two future "greats" battled it out for first place in round four of the first grade section: Alexander Setzepfandt of the Berkeley Chess School and Sharon Tseung from Weibel Elementary School in Fremont. Alexander proved too strong Sharon for this day. Sharon tied with Richard Rico from St. Paul the Apostle in Los Angeles for second place. Weibel Elementary School won the first of their five top team trophies with St. Paul the Apostle in second, and San Fernando Elementary School in third place.

St. Paul´s E.J. Schloss, wearing a red beret instead of his usual Chess For Juniors cap, easily won the second grade section with four victories. Samuel Ramos-Perlberg took a second with 3.5 points and Daniel Schwartz went home with the third place trophy. Forest Park Elementary School from Fremont won the top trophy in this grade followed by Franklin of Stockton and Weibel of Fremont.

Weibel´s strength really showed in third grade when in the last round their players sat at the top three boards. Timothy Ma saw five plies ahead to force a mate against his tough opponent Harry Gelb who had to be satisfied with the third place trophy. Saurabh Sanghvi of Weibel took second with 3.5 points and Andrew Hu of Weibel tied with Harry with 3 points. Weibel won the first place team trophy with 10.5 points out of a possible 12 and Biggs, near Chico, came in second with 5.5 points. Bill Bynum has developed a strong chess program in the Biggs schools. His personal dedication to chess deserves kudos. He brought 29 players to this tournament and around 45 to the CalChess Scholastic Championships in March.

The fourth grade championship looked like a shoe-in for Adam Lischinsky who at 1502 was almost 600 points above his nearest competitor. However, with no explanation, Adam withdrew after winning his first three games. The title was now up in the air. In round 6, undefeated Richard Zen (948) from St. Mark´s in San Rafael confronted Weibel Club´s Stephen Tu (636). Stephen defeated Richard, but because he had lost in round 2 to Chris Qualls, he now had an equal score with Richard of five points. The rules of the tournament called for a blitz game to determine the championship. Richard decided he did not want to play blitz and, therefore, the championship trophy went to Stephen, though they are in reality co-champions. Chris Qualls took home the third place trophy. Weibel won this division with 9.5 points to Biggs´ 8.5. St. Mark´s came in third in this team competition with 8 points.

Nathan Lee(1122) of Weibel had a perfect 6-0 to win the fifth grade championship. His team mate Judy Kuo (779) placed second with 4.5 points to Juan Corona´s (928) 4 points. Ernest Westphal from the Berkeley Chess School and Rachel Chou of Weibel also had 4 points, but had to be satisfied with the fourth and fifth place trophy due to tie breaks. Weibel received 14.5 points to win the team championship over St. Mark´s with 8 points. Vaughn Elementary School took home a third place trophy. Sixth grade had the toughest competition and some of the best games. Robert Wei (1278) of Weibel squeaked out a victory in round six over Michael Lum (1300) of the Berkeley Chess School. Weibel Club´s Robert Chan tied for second with Michael Lum and Jeffrey Pauls (1002), all with 5 points. My kudos, however, goes to Andrew Chang (1085) of St. Mark´s, who played outstanding chess against both Robert Wei and Michael Lum and lost because of time trouble in both games. Weibel added to their team hardware with a 14 point victory over Biggs who ended with 12 points. St. Mark´s took home third place with 11 points.

Kevin Sevilla (1355), of Chess For Juniors, defeated Elliot Temple (1435) of the Berkeley Chess School and this year´s CalChess State Champion, to enter the sixth round undefeated. He drew Gideon Sapp (1206)of Kennedy Middle School to win the championship with 5.5 points. Elliot took second and Gideon tied for third with St. Mark´s Daniel Gerstein. Biggs Middle School won the first place team trophy with 11.5 points to Piedmont Middle School and Mark Twain Middle School´s (Modesto) 9 points.

Turlock´s Josh Coar (unrated) obtained 5.5 points in the eighth grade section to become the new California champion. Mahmoud Daher (unrated) from Stockton´s Fremont Middle School and Liam MacDermed (1347)of the Berkeley Chess School tied for second place with 5 points each. The home town team, Stockton´s Fremont Middle School, won the championship for the second year in a row. Turlock Junior High School took second and Biggs Middle School third.

Sadly, Steve Seegmiller, who obtained national attention through the Air Force Reserve for his work with chess in the Stockton schools, will not be available to run the California Grade Level when it returns to the North in two years. His brokerage firm has transferred him to southern California. Jay Blem is already twisting his arm to get him involved with scholastic chess there. Yet, the Rotary people of Stockton have had a taste of success and one Rotary member, John Bentilacchi, has indicated that he might be interested in bidding on the tournament in two years. He has not committed, however, to a free lunch for all.

California Chess Journal,© Spring, 1997