Dublin Junior Chess Teams Continue Their Winning Ways

Dublin chess continues to emerge as a powerhouse in the highly-competitive Northern California region.

The latest proof: Fallon Middle School repeated as co-champions in one of the largest local scholastic team tournaments, the U.S. Amateur Team West Scholastic Tournament held on Feb. 17 in Santa Clara.

Out of 41 four-player teams competing, one Fallon team - comprised of Justin Leung, Anshul Kashyap, Aryan Karnwal, and Tanisha Joshi - tied for first with Lowell High School of San Francisco and a club team from Fremont, Norcal House of Chess. Fallon had won the tournament in 2017 in only its second try.

An all 7th-grade Fallon team - Cassius Lai, Andrew Hamel, Marc Boudames and Nathan Manesh - tied for 4th place, while still another Fallon team - Katherine Pask, Rohil Khare, Samyak Jain, and Joshua Aguilar - placed 7th. Individually, 6th-grader Pask, who is one of the top 25 girls for her age in the country, scored a perfect 5-0 record and placed first in the top flight, while Winston Leung, a 3rd-grader at Green Elementary, scored 4.5 out of 5 to place first in the second division.

Meanwhile, the Dublin Chess Club, comprised of local elementary school students and coached by local organizer Helena Han, won top under-600-rated team.

In its third year of existence, the Fallon club that I helped start and organize has more than 80 members. Most scholastic chess players these days start playing tournaments early in primary school. Not so at Fallon: most of our players aren’t even the best player in their household before joining! Despite the relatively late start, most of our players improve rapidly, due to good coaches and an environment that encourages their competitive juices while keeping it fun.

Besides helping develop critical and mathematical thinking skills, chess also helps players learn how to focus, control their emotions and handle pressure, learn how to be graceful winners and develop the resilience to bounce back from losses.

Today, Fallon boasts some of the top players in the Bay Area for their age, as well as the nationally-ranked Pask. Another Fallon student, Evan Ai, and another former Fallon student, Abhinav Koka, are both ranked in the top 100 in the country for their age. And another home-schooled Dublin chess player, Christopher Yoo, was the youngest chess master in the U.S. ever at age 9, and is currently ranked #2 in the country for 11-year-olds.

Other tournament honors Fallon has won this academic year include:

• Top 8th grade team at the Grade Level State Championships in December;
• First and second-place Middle Schools teams at the Northern California Scholastic Team Championship in November, including a near-upset of 2016 National HS Champions, Monta Vista HS of Cupertino;
• 4th place team at the North American All-Girls Championship in November;
• 2nd place team at the Middle School Championships held by Berkeley Chess School;

The Northern California Scholastic State Chess Championship will be held April 7-8 in Santa Clara. Fallon looks to scoop up more individual and team trophies in both the expert and novice divisions.

If your child is interested in trying out tournament chess, please learn more about the State Tournament here. Or if your child is just getting started and/or does not attend Fallon, there are after-school programs at various local elementary schools, and good local classes and competitive clubs at Kingsland Chess, Berkeley Chess School, Shoreview Chess, and Dublin Chess Club. Or e-mail FallonChess@Gmail.com if you have any questions.

Eric Lai is co-founder of the Fallon Middle School chess team and a journalist and tech marketer.