Shining Knights Chess is smart fun for schools & kids

Welcome to the website of the Shining Knights Chess Company! We partner with Elementary schools, Middle schools, and community centers to teach chess to children. We teach students of all different levels, from total beginners to national champions. We also run scholastic tournaments, where students can compete both individually and as members of their school’s team. For the more advanced scholastic chessplayers, we organize monthly adult chess tournaments to allow for stronger competition. We currently teach classes and run tournaments and camps in Pennsylvania.

To register for one of our chess events, click on the appropriate link above. If you have any questions about our chess events, feel free to contact us or look at our FAQs.

2019 CHESS PIECES OF APRIL

114 children competed in the 2019 Shining Knights Chess Pieces of April on a glorious Spring day. It was great to see familiar faces as well as dozens of new tournament players. There were players from quite a diverse number of chess teams, representing their schools with their bright, analytical minds. Thank you all for your great participation in a fantastic tournament brimming with smiles and good sportsmanship.

Here are the top players per section:

K-6 U200 Individual:                             Top Teams: Gladwyne Elementary followed by

1 AMIR AHSAN                                                              Our Lady of Mt Caramel

2 FREDERIC PHELIZON

3 Nicholas Lalwani

4 HENRY FREEBODY

5 Niko Snee-Garza

6 Reid Blarney

and special props to 3 pointers Jaidon Horvath, Victor Pan, Oliver Kosmalski and PRATIRP MALVANKAR

K-6 U500 Individual:                        Top Teams: Skyview followed by Lower Gwyned

1 Luke Navarrete

2 Ryan Sensen Brenn

3 Advaith Elluru

4 Owen Rutt

5 RYAN DING

6 Brian Hsieh

and kudos to Faye Fei Mo and EDWIN VUONG

K-12 U800 Individual:                        Top Teams: Colonial and then Skyview in 2nd

1 Anderson Chan

2 Jake Anton

3 Kasyap Tumuluri

4 Alex W Babka

5 Rhea Sofia Howard

6 Austin Li

nice job Josiah Tjoe and Kathan Desai

K-12 Championship Individual:                       Top Team: Pickering Valley
1 Vasishta Tumuluri

2 Max Kikkawa

3 Brian Li

4 John M Cureton

with special props to medalist Yajat Gupta

In case you missed it...

Nakamura and Yu are 2019 U.S. Champs

By John Hartmann|April 1, 2019|News, Top American Players, Women

It took two weeks, eleven rounds, and a heavy dose of final day drama, but US Chess now has its 2019 Champions: Hikaru Nakamura and Jennifer Yu.

Yu was effectively crowned after the tenth round, when no one else could catch the 17-year old from Virginia. Hikaru Nakamura had to wait until the very last game was decided in the Open Championship to claim his title. His victory over Jeffery Xiong coupled with draws by co-leaders Fabiano Caruana (against Sam Shankland) and Leinier Dominguez (against Timur Gareyev), gave Nakamura his fifth U.S. Championship.

PA STATE WARM-UP 2019

The 2019 Shining Knights' 12th Annual State Warm-Up Chess Tournament truly incorporated 100+ students of the game and their parents from so many different backgrounds. There was a collection of familiar faces along with an introduction of so many new ones. It was a pleasure to feel the energy in the room generated by the analytical minds of the youth. Congratulations to all who participated!

Here are the top players per section:

K-6 U200 Individual:                     Top Teams: Germantown Academy & 2nd Cynwyd Elem

1 ANOUSHKA YADAV

2 JACK BARTON

3 JOSHUA TJOE

4 ALBERT WANG

5 WARREN SHI

6 CARLY RUTT

with special props to Edwin Vuong with 3 points.

K-6 U500 Individual:                           Top Teams: Skyview followed by Ithan

1 ANDREW YU

2 BENAS ANTANAVICIUS

3 AVANEE RAMAMURTHY

4 OWEN BLAMEY

5 ALEXANDER HA RUSS

6 TANAY PARRIPATI

and a shout out to 3 pointers OWEN RUTT, ANDREW GUTHRIE and SANJITHA KRISHNAN

K-12 U800 Individual:                             Top Teams: Pickering and then Spring Ford

1 CONNOR VITZ

2 ETHAN WANG

3 SHREY HULAGE

4 SIDDH PRABHUDESAI

5 DEV MENO MADHAVAN

and good job to TRAVIS JOHNSON with 3 points

K-12 Championship Individual:                                     Top Team: Lionville

1 SIDDHANT SURESH

2 ANIRUDH RED AKULA

3 YAJAT GUPTA

4 BENJAMIN YANG

with kudos to ABHIRAM VADIGURI and SOMIL TARE who earned 3 points

With less than a few weeks from spring let the unpredictable but cold weather inspire ever developing chess minds. Animated GIF

Hope to see you all at the March 30th Chess Pieces of April Tournament!

2018 DECEMBER CRUSH

94 children enrolled to chill out at the 2018 Shining Knights December Crush putting their minds to work on the chess board. We saw a great mix of veteran and newbie tournament players. There was an overwhelming number of brain teasing predicaments, critical endgames, and mid-game conundrums. With all the stress that could have been, the smiles lit up the playing room making it all worth the wondering in the waiting room.

Here are the top players per section:

K-6 U200 Individual: Top Teams: Merion Elementary followed by Newtown

1 Nate Promer

2 Ryan Sensen Brenn

3 Jack Cai

4 Finbar Ryan

5 Matthew Majewski

6 JJ Gordon

with special props to Andrew Fann, Mark Cai, Casey Cloud with 3 points.

K-6 U500 Individual: Top Teams: Shipley followed by Merion Elementary

1 THEODORE JA KRIEG

2 WILLIAM ARONSTAM

3 BENAS ANTANAVICIUS

4 TERRANCE XIA

5 JACOB ROB WALTERS

6 HOLT RECORD

K-12 U800 Individual: Top Teams: Welsh Valley and then Radnor Elementary in 2nd

1 VARSHA SU IYENGAR

2 NIGEL PIERMAN

3 CLARK KERKSTRA

4 GRETCHEN LUTZ

5 AUSTIN LI

6 JAY DABRAL

K-12 Championship Individual: Top Team: Abington Jr High

1 JONATHAN BONNELL

2 MAX KIKKAWA

3 HASSAN "HA BOYOUK

4 PETER WI GOLDBERG

with special props to medalist Benjamin Yang

Shining Knights Chess is smart fun for schools & kids

Nakamura and Yu are 2019 U.S. Champs

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