Ivan Ke, Josh Lerman: “Elementary” Domination Of Elementary Section At State Championships!

Elementary Section (Kindergarten-Sixth)

One hundred participants competed in the elementary section (Kindergarten through sixth grade) of the NJ State Scholastic championships.  When it was said and done Ivan Ke, and Joshua Lerman vanquished all opponents and went undefeated going into the final round.  While it was perhaps disheartening that they had to face each other to determine who would take first place, it was also all but guaranteed that an ICA student would be coming out on top.  This time around it was Ivan who was victorious though Josh can’t feel too bad about winning all his other games and only losing to one of his fellow ICA’ers.

A few other ICA students competed well in the elementary section with Duy Nguyen, and Vedant Rautela, scoring four points to claim tie-break fourth place.  Nikita Popov, and Alex Hao scored three-and-a-half points to tie for twelfth place.  Finally, Alan Sourek nabbed three points, while Malina Pavlova scored two.

Primary Section (Kindergarten-Third)

 Our best results in the primary section rested on the shoulders of Mathew Lerman, and Justin Lee who both scored four points and tied for fourth place.  Jessica Lee scored three points and tied for 17^th place.  Daniel Stern, and Yuito Tashiro scored two points, while Sophie Rasol, and Jason Hao managed a somewhat meager one-and-a-half points. 

Eighty students competed in the primary section.

Junior High School Section (6^th-8^th)

Nicholas Cardenas represented the ICA well with a score of three-and-a-half points and a tie for sixth place.  Nicholas only lost to the eventual first place winner and drew against a lower rated player.  Nastasia Klevak finished with two points in the same section. 

Sixty-six players competed in the Junior High section.

Congratulations to all our winners.