The Oak Hall Chess Club swept through the Florida Chess Association’s State Scholastic Championships last weekend. It was the tournament’s largest turnout in over a decade, with close to 500 players participating in the event. Oak Hall is the first school in the tournament’s history to win every section of the Elementary school division.
The K-1 team won the state championship with 16 out of a possible 20 points. The team was led by Mihai Holcomb, who won all five games, winning the individual state championship. Three other OHS students placed in the top ten: Leighann Hood (3rd place). Mark Wang (4th place) and JrK student Suraj Jani (9th place). Nora Thomas, Isaac Zhang, Milan Aragwal, Ayuana Phillips, and Sawyer Davenport completed the team.
The K-3 team won the state championship with three players tied as individual co-champions! Aakash Jani, Damian Alexander, and Addison Baumstark all won 4 games with only one loss to tie for first place. The team consisted of Celine Chen (10th place), James Mcdonald, Miguel Rodriguez, Gabriel Moguillansky, Ryder Davenport, and Wyatt Justice.
The K-5 team played in a competitive field and won the championship by 4 ½ points. Sophie Li was the team leader with 3 ½ points and finished 6th place overall. Rounding out the team were Ishir Kumar, Henry Thomas, Curtis Hood, Meera Jani, and Kas Baumstark.
The K-3U600 Eagle team captured first place in the most competitive section of the event. Only 1 ½ points separated the top five teams. Oak Hall squeaked out first place on tie-breakers against Lake Highland Preparatory School. The team consisted of Julian Moguillansky, Daniel Moguillansky, Myka Solberg, Rhett West, Emma Flores, Carter Hoh, Stella King, Andrew Pinkoson, Harry Mcellan, and Olivia Mclellan.
The K-5U700 team cruised to a 5-point victory led by Nicolas James Vu. Nico raised his USCF rating an amazing 223 points to 865 by winning all five games and capturing the individual first-place title! Asher Austin and Jack Eisenmenger both scored 4-1 records. Ben Mclellan and Aayan Patel each earned 3 points for the team.
Sonam Jani played in the Open K-8 middle school section, winning three points and raising her rating by 30 points to 1225, and Austin Provencher joined his siblings in the tournament and played in the k12u1100 section.
The next big tournaments in April are the Jacksonville Spring Scholastic Championships and the All-Girls National Championship in Chicago.