The 2024 edition of the Minnesota Scholastic Championship was a great success, drawing 300 kids of all ages to compete in our premier K-12 tournament, held at the University of St. Thomas on March 9-10. Over 100 trophies were presented to deserving participants, and four new state champions were crowned!
In the K-12 section, Jordan Timm won his first high school championship with 6.5/7, defeating Joshua Rajadurai in a dramatic last-round clash. Jordan is one of Minnesota’s most active and talented players, and he will already be competing in his third Denker playoff in a couple of weeks. Tying for second place were Demir Augustine, Arvind Thiagarajan, and Cade Sigl, who scored an astonishing four upset wins. An honorable mention goes to Teddy Bower, who scored 5/7 and gained more than 300 rating points.
Eastview High School turned in a dominant performance in the team competition, taking 1st place by 2.5 points while repeating as champions. Rochester Century took second with only five players in a crowded field - the biggest success for a Rochester high school team in many years. An impressive 12 schools brought full teams - thanks to all for coming out to compete!
The K-8 section was decided in round 6 in a climactic clash between the top two seeds, as Alan Xu defeated Ahmed Ilyasov to end with 6.5/7 and win clear first place. The two will battle again in the Barber qualifier, though! Calder Nguyen turned in an impressive performance to win second place.
The Minnetonka Middle School West team proved small but mighty in winning the K-8 team competition, edging out the experienced Nicollet team by 2 points. Dakota Middle from Rochester took third place.
The K-5 section proved that the future of scholastic chess is bright in Minnesota, as the tournament featured an incredible eight youngsters rated over 1100. Second-grader Ryan Zhou captured the title with wins over the top two rated players and has claimed Minnesota’s spot at the Rockefeller tournament this summer. Meanwhile, the formidable Scenic Heights team cruised to a victory in the team competition.
In the K-3 section, Vihaan Prakhya delivered the only perfect score for the weekend, defeating all five of his rivals to take first place. He scored enough points by himself to win the team title for Gleason Lake Elementary!
The MSCA has reserved the excellent St. Thomas location for another year. See you all again on March 8-9, 2025!
