Catalina Foothills wins national title

Foothills chess team 1st in U.S.
Weekend victory marks school’s 2nd national title
MARY BUSTAMANTE
Tucson Citizen

Catalina Foothills High School’s chess team won the national championship of the U.S. Chess Federation for the second straight year last weekend in Atlanta.

The team also won first in 2005.

More than 1,200 students from across the country competed in the weekend tournament, which had seven rounds. Each competitor played seven games and each game could last up to four hours, said coach Robby Adamson, a local lawyer and chess master.

Arizona’s only other top-10 finisher was Gilbert High School, which was seventh overall.

While 10 Catalina Foothills students went to Georgia, only seven competed in the championship section, Adamson said, and only the top four scores for each team were used to decide the national winner.

Seniors Vaishnav Aradhyula and Landon Brownell each scored 5.5 points out of 7. Freshman Kevin Zhang had 4.5 and both senior Victor Yee and sophomore Eli Alster had 4 points.

The two other Catalina Foothills students competing in the championship section were junior Jenelle Wallace and senior Matthew David.

In the junior varsity section, the Catalina Foothills team placed 23rd overall, with junior Leland Sanson – who had 6 out of 7 points – finishing eighth place individually. Others from the school in that section were senior Stephen Brown and freshman Sangeetha Pugazhendhi.

Adamson said the varsity team also took first in the nation for the fourth straight year in the “Blitz” tournament, a side event before the actual tournament. In that contest, individual players get only five minutes to complete all moves.

Aradhyula, Brownell, Zhang, Yee and Alster all are nationally ranked, Adamson said.

The Catalina Foothills team placed first in the state chess championship sponsored by the Arizona Interscholastic Association in November.

Source: www.tucsoncitizen.com