May 18th Last PALS Tournament of the year!

Tournament Results:

K-2 Winners:

1st: Jiyaan Sathishkumar

2nd: Milan Dremin

3rd: Marcus Carroll 

4th: Christian Hardy

5th: Joshua North

6th: Kira Welsh

7th: Nathan Smolyar

8th: Elle Sherman

9th: Maddox Pedigo

10th: Lev Safronov

K-5 winners:

1st: Ben Gottry

2nd: Felix Graham

3rd: Jonah Tan

4th: Hung Tran

5th: Aharshi Roy

6th: Riley Canda

7th: Charlie Nefsky

8th: Mia Jimenez

9th: Anush Roy

10th: Erik Bayasgalan

6-12 winners:

1st: Malakhi Lepkin

2nd: Lucas Gottry 

3rd: Nathaniel Viehl

4th: Zoe McKinney

5th: Evan Fish

6th: Asher McFedries

7th: Aiden Pringle

8th: Adam Brotzman

9th: Cerenity Springle

10th: Hope Brotzman

K-12 Rated:

1st: Malachi Brown 

2nd: Brandon Moore

3rd: Vishnupriy Balaji

4th: Kai Grayson

5th: Viaan Khandelwal

6th: Quinn Leduc

7th: Gautam Aathi

8th: Isadore Grotewiel

9th: Braelen Rome

10th: Judah Brown

Chess queens:

K-2 winner:  Kira Welsh 

K-5 winner: Mia Jimenez

6-12 winner: Zoe McKinney

K-12 Rated winner: Pria Balaji

David vs. Goliath

K-2 winner: Kira Welsh 

K-5 winner: Jonah Tan

6-12 winner: Malakhi Lepkin

K-12 rated winner: Viaan Khandelwal 

Sportsmanship:

K-2 winner: Jenson Allison

K-5 winner: Camden Marshall 

6-12 winner: Hope Brotzman

Team Trophies:

1st place: Challenge School 

2nd place: Ralston Elementary  

3rd place: Galileo Middle School (from Colorado Springs)

Open Section Winners:

1st Place: Henry Kovacs

2nd Place U1400: Avyukth Shrinkanth

2nd Place U1400: Oliver Hasselkus

Congratulations to all of the players!
We had so much fun and can’t wait to see you all at our fall tournament!

2024 Colorado State Scholastic Chess Championships

The 2024 Colorado State Scholastic Chess Championships were held on February 3rd and 4th and PALS students REALLY performed. Pals students swept the entire state championships and in some cases took 1st and 2nd place. Here are the notable finishes:

K-1
2024 Colorado State Scholastic Champion – Anish Panda
2nd place – Charlie Kovacs

K-3
2024 Colorado State Scholastic Champion – Avyukth Shrikkanth
2nd place – Anirudh Saibalan

K-5
2024 Colorado State Scholastic Champion – Arie Feigin

K-8
2024 Colorado State Scholastic Champion – Rocco Degeest
2nd place – Henry Kovacs

K-12
2024 Colorado State Scholastic Champion – Sullivan McConnell

All of the students listed above are either studying at a PALS chess club or taking private lessons from a PALS chess coach or both! This was the best finish at the scholastic state championships in PALS history. Congratulations to all five state champions and the three 2nd place finishers!

All pictures were generously provided by John Brezina.