RICHMOND CHESS NEWS
Festival offers sights, smells, sounds of India
From the Richmond Times Dispatch
Published: October 12, 2009
It was easy to suffer sensory overload yesterday during the final day of the annual Festival of India.
On the main stage at the front of the room inside the Greater
Richmond Convention Center, there were the eyecatching movements of
modern and classical Indian dance to rhythmic music.
Off to one side, shoppers considered gold jewelry, silk saris and colorful tunics on sale by vendors.
All around, the aroma from Indian foods mixed in the air throughout the convention center.
Early in the second and final day of the 28th annual Festival of
India, chairman Sanjay Thirunagari called this year's installment a
success as thousands of people attended the event in downtown Richmond.
Thirunagari said that during peak times Saturday, festivalgoers were
lined up elbow to elbow near the food vendors. The strong attendance
came during a weekend that also featured the Richmond Folk Festival and
the Richmond Italian Street Festival.
"We are pleased with the turnout, despite the other events in town,"
said Rambabu Chirumamilla, president of the Hindu Center of Virginia.
"We hope to introduce India and the Indian culture to North America. We
want people to know that we feel the same desires and aspirations --
that we're all the same."
For the first time at the event, which started in 1981, there was a
children's corner that featured face painting and the reading of Indian
fables.
One local school group, the Moody Middle School advanced chess team,
challenged festival visitors to a game of chess to raise money to
attend national tournaments throughout the school year, said Britta
Wolfe, team coach.
Wolfe said the team was there to promote chess and to look for
people to challenge the younger players and help them improve as they
prepare for National K-12 Scholastic Championship in Dallas from Dec.
11 to 13.
The team features three sixth-graders who finished in the top 25
nationally at the Supernationals IV Championship chess competition a
year ago -- Tip Wolfe placed seventh, Vikas Rajasekaran placed 22nd and
Vignesh Rajasekaran placed 24th based on tiebreakers.
Throughout the convention center yesterday, the star of the event
was the Indian culture. At one booth sponsored by Badri Pulavarthi,
volunteers prepared dosas, a pancake from southern India that is one of
the festival's best-selling treats.
One variation of the rice flour treat is cooked with curry spice and a potato-onion mixture inside.
"We want to show our culture and food to the world," Pulavarthi said
as the line of people wanting to taste a dosa continued growing.
Proceeds from the sale of food and beverages go to the Hindu Center of Virginia and other nonprofit groups.
Three Chopt Elementary chess team is fourth in U.S.
From the Richmond Times Dispatch
Published: April 28, 2009
Playing
chess for three days was invigorating, the hotel was impressive, and
the food (an important component of anything involving growing boys)
was magnificent.
But the best part of a national chess championship in Nashville,
Tenn., this month was being able to scurry out and tell parents you've
won your game.
And win they did, enough games that the Three Chopt Elementary
School chess team is fourth in the nation, with a huge trophy in the
school library to show for it.
During spring break, five players from Three Chopt's 34-member team
attended the Supernationals IV Championship chess competition -- one of
the toughest in the country.
"It was exciting," said fourth-grader Harish Tekriwal. "I felt
ready." His teammates -- Tip Wolfe, Abhishek Penumala, Matthew Chilton
and Steve Chen -- agreed.
More than 5,000 students -- 1,515 teams -- from 47 states competed in the three-day event in Nashville.
Tip, a fifth-grader with a rating of 1690, was named seventh-best
chess player in the K-5 division. Tip won six out of seven games in the
competition, losing only to Mika Brattain of Lexington, Mass., who
became national champion.
He learned to play when he was 3, he said.
After the competition, Tip was tied for third place overall, but he finished seventh after a tie-breaking round.
"It was kind of cool," he said. "It was cooler to be third, but I'm happy to be seventh."
Tip's mother, Britta Wolfe, has coached the team for four years --
even before Tip came to Three Chopt's Zone Center program. She'll coach
an advanced team next year at Moody Middle School, where Tip and
Abhishek will be in the International Baccalaureate program.
Harish's mother, Vasudha, will take over as coach at Three Chopt, which also won second in the state this year.
"This is a great sport," she said. "It enhances the academics and gives you focus."
The chess players agreed.
"It really helps me mentally," said Abhishek, who spends many hours
each weekend playing chess. "It sharpens your brain. It helps you
memorize, so when you have a test, you know how to be ready."
At nationals, the team got to see chess legends such as Garry Kasparov and Susan Polgar.
Was it intimidating?
Not really, said the guys. Three of them -- Abhishek, Harish and Tip
-- had been to nationals before, so they were prepared for pressure.
"They were phenomenal," said Britta Wolfe. "They blew everyone out of the water."
Three Chopt Elementary chess team competes at national championship
From the Richmond Times Dispatch
Published: April 17, 2009
Five
players from the Three Chopt Elementary School Chess Team competed at
the Supernationals Chess Championship in Nashville, Tenn., on April 3-5.
The Henrico County team competed in a field of 317 players during
the three-day, seven-round event. Out of the 55 teams competing for the
K-5 Championship, the Three Chopt team finished in fourth place.
Matthew Chilton and Steve Chen finished the tournament with a score
of 3.0 points, Harish Tekriwal finished with 3.5 points and Abhishek
Penumala finished with 4.5 points.
Fifth-grader Tip Wolfe won six games; his only loss was to the
eventual champion. Tip tied for third place and won an individual
trophy for seventh place on a tie-break
Virginia Award Winners from the 2009 Supernationals
K-1 Championship
2nd Place - Ryan Zhou (6.5 out of 7.0) 35th Place - Rodney James Bascom (5.0 out of 7.0)
K-5 Championship
7th Place - Tip Wolfe (6.0 out of 7.0) 22nd Place - Vikas Rajasekaran (5.0 out of 7.0)
24th Place - Vignesh Rajasekaran (5.0 out of 7.0)
46th Place - Daniel Xu (5.0 out of 7.0) 48th Place - Perry Feng (5.0 out of 7.0)
K-6 Championship
6th Place - Jeevan Karamsetty (6.0 out of 7.0) 7th Place - Brian Li (6.0 out of 7.0) 29th Place - Matthew Shih (5.0 out of 7.0)
34th Place - Hans Li (5.0 out of 7.0)
K-12 Championship
5th Place - Edward Lu (6.0 out of 7.0)
15th Place - Eric Most (5.5 out of 7.0) 16th Place - Adithya Balasubramanian (5.5 out of 7.0) 23rd Place - Yang Dai (5.0 out of 7.0) 31st Place - Andrew Freix (5.0 out of 7.0)
55th Place - Quentin Moore (5.0 out of 7.0)
K-3 Championship Team
6th Place - Greenbriar West (15.5)
K-5 Championship Team
2nd Place - Louise Archer (18.5)
4th Place - Three Chopt (17.0)
11th Place - Greenbriar West (13.5)
25th Place - Nuckols Farm (10.0)
K-6 Championship Team
2nd Place - Greenbriar West (19.0)
K-8 Championship Team
6th Place - Longfellow Middle School (15.0) 19th Place - King's Way Christian (10.5)
K-12 Championship Team
2nd Place - Thomas Jefferson (20.5)