Good morning, world! I happened to be at the state Scholastic Championships in Saratoga Springs over the weekend of March 3rd & 4th just past, and even though I wasn't there as a reporter in any real sense, it occurred to me just now that I could spread some news of interest to the Eastern New York area. It was a tough tournament all around. It seemed as if every section had at least a couple of unexpectedly strong players, given the ages involved. In the Primary Section, for example, the top seed was rated in the 1600s [I incorrectly said this was in the Elementary Reserve in the first version of this post], and in the Elementary Championship section, there were two 1800-rated boys! That's not beyond sixth grade, mind you!
The High School Championship was loaded up with no less than seven masters, a couple of whom were unfamiliar to me. But it's interesting to note that, of those seven, the top two seeds, James Black Jr. and Justus Williams, could have played in the Junior High section--eighth grade and seeded top in the entire tournament! My goodness. Also among the masters present were our well-known local favorite Deepak Aaron and the reigning overall state champion, Michael Chiang. The top three boards from each of the High School and Junior High Championships were given a separate small, quiet room, far from the scrum found everywhere else.
It was a large tournament, with 450 or so pre-registrants and a considerable number of youths who registered at the site. As a matter of fact, because of the number of the latter sort, the first round was delayed by nearly an hour. I don't know the final attendance figures, but suffice it to say that the entire building seemed to have been taken over by young chessplayers and their associates. (There were at least a few of those associates that I never even saw until the awards ceremony--Grandmasters Giorgi Kacheishvili and Joel Benjamin appeared to watch their charges receive trophies!)
Well, not to make a big dissertation of this, because I have to get to work, but the news flash is this: Deepak Aaron is this year's New York State Scholastic (High School) Champion! I watched him dispatch Williams, the defending titleholder, in the final round with a nice game. Mr. Aaron scored six wins from six games! I believe James Black finished second a point back, having himself faced the tournament winner in round four. [Update 3/6/12: Now that I've seen the official crosstable, I find that Mr. Black's actual score was 4 1/2 points.] This means that our friend Mr. Aaron has won the state scholastic title at the high-school level in three years out of four! He'll no longer be eligible to compete for it, since this is his senior year. But what a great run! And this year especially, to notch a perfect score from such a strong field! Deepak will probably get tired of being congratulated by us, but do it anyway the next time you see him. It's well earned!
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