Last week, 35 scholars from across the Success Academy network traveled to Orlando, Florida for some sunshine — and chess! Competing in the prestigious National K-12 Grade Championships, Success Academy improved from last year’s already stellar performance at both the individual and the team levels.
Standout individual competitors include SA Hudson Yards sixth grade scholar Nura Baalla, who drew against — and defeated — a player with a 2000 rating. The United States Chess Federation considers players rated 2000 and above to be at the level of Chess Expert. Nura finished in ninth place, winning 5.5 of seven games. SA Hell’s Kitchen third grader Brewington Hardaway finished in fourth place winning six of seven games.
The National K – 12 Grade Championships brought together over 1,800 players from across the nation. Our scholars competed against top players and teams, with strong showings across the board:
Third grade: SA Union Square placed fifth out of 30 teams
Fourth grade: SA Union Square took home fifth place out of 28 teams
Fifth grade: SA SA Hudson Yards placed sixth place out of 27 teams
Sixth grade: SA Midtown West placed fifth place (and tied for fourth place) out of 25 teams
Seventh grade: SA SA Bed-Stuy Middle School placed 10th out of 31 teams
Eighth grade: SA Harlem East took home fifth place out of 17 teams
Ninth grade: SA High School of the Liberal Art finished sixth place out of 18 teams
A big shout out to our parents and coaches, who continue to support our scholars’ love of chess. And congratulations to all our teams — we’ve listed our players below!
SA Union Square
Coach: Nicholas Norman
Grade 3
Naveen Paruchuri, Nathaniel Mullodzhanov, Krish Patni, Andrew Buchanan, Jag Dixit, Anya Omer
Grade 4
Aritro Chakravarty, Minal Omer, Aarush Naveen, Nathan Booncharoen
SA Hudson Yards
Coach: Christopher Johnson
Grade 5
Silas Smith, George Best, Emily Booncharoen, Seth Fenton
Grade 6
Nura Baalla
SA Midtown West
Coach: Waldemar Ortiz
Grade 5
Noni Hardaway
Grade 6
Kristian Garcia, Ethan Lee, Aidan Kuo, Jason Maldonado
SA Hell’s Kitchen
Coach: Robert Lazorchak
Grade 2
Gerard Petrella
Grade 3
Brewington Hardaway
SA Bed-Stuy Middle School
Coach: Tyrell Harriot
Grade 7
Geah Jean Baptiste, Geordany Solomon, Makhi Williams, Jessica Hyatt
SA Harlem East
Coach: Fritz Gaspard
Grade 8
Christian Chin, Edward Morales, Andrew Breton, Shadman Khan
SA High School of the Liberal Arts
Shout out to all the coaches for pitching in to support our high schoolers.
Grade 9
Samuel Eyre, Jason Zabre, Elliott James Deutou, Phillip Fenteng, Ramla Mohammed
Sign Up for Updates!
"*" indicates required fields
Share
