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The Oklahoma Scholastic Chess Organization (OSCO) provides chess tournaments for K-12 students throughout Oklahoma. We are an all-volunteer 501 (c)(3) nonprofit. If you would like to volunteer, connect us with a potential tournament venue, or make a donation, contact us at okscholasticchess@gmail.com.
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THE 2024 OKLAHOMA SCHOLASTIC CHESS STATE CHAMPIONSHIPS
With a 3.5/4 score and a win over the highest-rated scholastic player in the state, Elizabeth Braddy became the 2024 OSCO State Champion. Her win put her at the top of the races for two national invitational tournaments: the Denker and the Haring (for high school and girls state champions, respectively). As in past years when she has qualified for more than one event, Braddy chose to represent Oklahoma at the Haring. Our other national invitational representatives are Oscar Wang (Denker), Aayush Praveen (Rockefeller - elementary), and Lafayette Chen (Barber - middle school).
The Oklahoma Scholastic Chess Championships were held on Saturday, April 13 at the University of Central Oklahoma in Edmond. Josie Braddy was chief tournament director and organizer. She was assisted by TDs Joe Veal, Frank Chen, Leo Xie, Fiby Li, and Joel Gargus, who ran the DGT broadcasts of the top boards in both the middle and high school championship sections.
Results are here and you can view some of the top games from the event here. A list of winners is below.
(⭐ = perfect score)
High School Championship
1st: Elizabeth Braddy (3.5/4)
Landon Moore, Oscar Wang, Sean Patton, and Josh Li tied for 2nd/ 3rd (3.0/4).
Teams: 1st Moore Chess Club; 2nd Stillwater Pioneers
Middle School Championship
Ivan Ding, Lafayette Chen, and Angelique Chen tied with 3.5/4 points each.
Teams: 1st Norman Scholastic Chess Club; 2nd Casady
Elementary Championship
⭐1st: Aayush Praveen (5.0/5)⭐
Arya Roy Choudhury, Kiara Pavithran, and Tristan Zhai tied for 2nd/3rd with 4.0 points each.
Teams: 1st Moore Chess Club; 2nd Stillwater Pioneers
High School U1200
George Leydorf and Soren Lawson tied for 1st/2nd with 4.5/5 points each.
Teams: 1st Academy of Classical Christian Studies; 2nd Moore Chess Club
Middle School U900
⭐1st: Andrew Araskog (5.0/5)⭐
Tied for 2nd/3rd with 4.0/5 were Lorenzo Folsom, Quentin Noble, Kyle Beirute, Aarka Debray, Brantley Cowett, Aarav Meharwade, and Vishaak Rajaram.
Teams: 1st Moore Chess Club; 2nd Academy of Classical Christian Studies
Elementary U600
⭐1st: Daniel Mohanna (5.0/5)⭐
Tied for 2nd/3rd with 4.0/5 were Alexandria Howell, Bishop Tito, Sriyan Lageshetty, Aleksei Tsetsura, Caleb Winters, Joshua Beyer, Beau Bryan, and Jackson Lamar.
Teams: 1st Moore Chess Club; 2nd Wilson Elementary
K-3 U400
⭐1st: Nithan Vaithilingam (5.0/5)⭐
Tied for 2nd/3rd with 4.0/5 were Riyanshi Birish Kamble and Henry Colvert.
Teams: 1st Wilson Elementary; 2nd Moore Chess Club
Check back soon for more photos.
A record-setting win and a stunning comeback
The Jenks K-12 Open, March 9 in Tulsa
by Joe Veal
Some scripts are better than Hollywood. Two surprises at the Jenks K-12 Open, held at Jenks Middle School in Tulsa on March 9, made for a memorable event.
Eight-year-old Arya Roy Choudhury (the 6th seed of 21 players), a second grader from Edmond, became the youngest-ever player to win a regular-season OSCO Premier (1200+) event in our history, scoring 3.5 out of 4. It is unclear what the future will hold for Arya, but these days are quite bright indeed.
Section 4 (900-1199) at the same event presented another surprise. The 25th seed out of 25, Zion Wright stunned onlookers by tying with the 2nd seed Nazar Kanatov with a perfect 4.0 out of 4. Wright was awarded 1st place because Kanatov did not show up for blitz tiebreaks. Zion's USCF rating going into this event was an established 451, and this begins a tale.
Eight years ago, when Wright was a player I coached at Wilson Elementary, Oklahoma scholastic tournaments were rated by Chess Express Ratings (CXR), not US Chess*. Wright's CXR rating was around 800. Since there were fewer opportunities in those days for Oklahoma youths to play in non-scholastic tournaments, Wright had very few US Chess-rated games and a barely established rating of 451. He was only permitted to play in Section 4 due to his online blitz rating.
The event drew 219 players who competed in five sections. Section winners are below, and you can find the full results here.
*Except the Premier section, which at that time was for players 1100+ and was rated by both CXR and US Chess. OSCO stopped using CXR in 2020 and began rating all games through US Chess .
WINNERS BY SECTION
Premier
Arya Roy Choudhury (3.5/4)
U1100
Zion Wright & Nazar Kanatov (tie, 4.0/4)
U900
Liam Bond (5.0/5)
4-6 U600
Andrew Shirley & Nico Perez (tie, 4.5/5)
K-3 U600
Erqing Wang (4.5/5)
OSCO player wins U1600 at Texas Winter Championship
Our congratulations to Oklahoma player Anurag Roy Choudhury, who took first place in the U1600 division at the 2024 Texas Winter Championship. Way to go, Anurag!
The event was held Saturday, January 20 at the Texas Chess Center's location in Frisco. David Gaston was chief tournament director.
Puzzled!
with Joel Gargus
This position was reached on the top board at the Deer Creek K-12 Open. What's kind of cool to me is that this exact position is also studied in Dvoretsky's Endgame Manual, which is widely regarded as the most comprehensive endgame text ever written.
It's White to move. Can you find the winning idea? Fortunately for you, there is no time pressure as there was for White in the game. There is more than one defensive try for Black, so be sure to plan for that!
Joel Gargus is the director of the Oklahoma City Chess Club and a regular TD at OSCO events.
The Deer Creek K-12 Open
Saturday, January 6 in Edmond
The Deer Creek K-12 Open was held Saturday, January 6 at Deer Creek 4th & 5th Center in Edmond. 191 players competed in five sections. Stillwater 10th grader William Lin took first in Premier, landing himself at the top of the list of contenders for this year's Denker Tournament of High School Champions. As of this month, the leaders for the other invitational tournaments are Lafayette Chen (Barber), Arya Roy Choudhury (Rockefeller), and Elizabeth Braddy (Haring). Two tournaments remain in this year's scholastic series; our representatives will be named following this year's state championship.
Other section winners were Kirthika Duggisetty (K-12 U1200), Tanner Woodson (K-12 U900, after a blitz tiebreak round with Rafael Perez), Benjamin Livingston (4th-6th U600, after a blitz tiebreak round with Vaibhav Thaduri), and Wyatt Morris (K-3rd U600).
Crosstables are here. Some photos are below; more will be posted soon. Our next tournament is March 9 in Jenks. We hope to see everyone there!
Oklahoma kids at the National Grade Championships
After their successes at the Oklahoma grade championships tournament in November, three players went on to compete at the 2023 National K-12 Grade Championships, held December 15–17 in Orlando .
Oklahoma's second-place grade winner, Anurag Roy Choudhury, finished with four points out of seven in the eighth grade division. Also scoring four out of seven was Kiara Pavithran, Oklahoma's fourth grade champion for 2023. Arya Roy Choudhury, state champion for second grade, scored five points out of seven.
More than two thousand young players participated in this year's event, which was organized by Boyd Reed for US Chess. Results are here.
PHOTO: Arya Roy Choudhury, Kiara Pavithran, and Anurag Roy Choudhury at the 2023 National K-12 Grade Championships in Orlando, Florida.
The Cascia Hall K-12 Open
Saturday, December 8 in Tulsa
We were just shy of 200 players at this one—197 players competed in five sections at the Cascia Hall K-12 Open, held December 8 in Tulsa. Josie Braddy was chief TD and lead organizer. Other TDs were Joe Veal, Joel Gargus, Rebecca Rutledge, Huan Chen, Leo Xie, Praveen Lakshmiganapathy, Zachary Walling, and Jake Williams.
K-3 U600 individual winners were Jonah Holt and Tristan Zhai (tied for first with perfect 5.0 scores). Four players tied with 4.0 points: Antony Mohanna, Jonathan Qin, Benjamin Kasperek, and Craig Huntersmith. Winning teams were Norman Scholastic Chess Club and University School.
Donovan Wainwright swept the 4th-6th U600 division with a perfect 5.0. Just half point behind was second-place winner Quintin Sudmeier (4.5). Five players ended up in a tie for third (4.0 points each): Lorenzo Folsom, Sabina Ford, Cora Winters, Cooper Tackett, and Aiden Tran. Winning teams were Norman Scholastic Chess Club and School of Saint Mary.
In the K-12 U900, Kade Bryant took first with a perfect 5.0. In second was Robert Eldridge with 4.5. Ten players tied for third with 4.0 points each: Nathaniel Dellapenta, Adhiraj Sukhdial, Dexter Gray, Cooper Nuckolls, Sawyer Smith, Dominic Ford, William Kelley, Scott Phillips, Riley McQuitty, and Caleb Rinehart. Winning teams were Moore Chess Club and Stillwater Pioneers.
Eshawn Samadder and Hayden Shriner tied for first with 3.0 out of 4 points in the K-12 U1200. In Tied for second with 2.5 out of 4 points each were Jonathan Fan and Kanishk Malli. Winning teams were Classical Academy and Moore Chess Club.
Max Barnes won Premier with a perfect 4.0 out of 4. In second was Arkansas player Havish Kunchanapalli (3.5). Oscar Wang, Joshua Li, Joe Zacharias, and Kelvin Xie tied for third with 3.0 points out of 4. Winning teams were Central Oklahoma Chess Club and Moore Chess Club.
A few photos are below. Check back soon for a link to more photos. Crosstables are here.