2011 K-12
Perfect scores abound in Texas, led by 12-year-old
Christopher Wu, with 17-year-old Matthew Dahl taking top honors in the National K-12 Championships.
By JAMAAL ABDUL-ALIM
f all the youths who’ve com- peted in the National K-12 Championships over the years, few have matched the accomplishments of 12- year-old Christopher Wu.
Ever since he first came on the chess
scene as a young tyke in 2004, Christo- pher has won first place at the K-12 Championships on four different occa- sions—and three times he did so with perfect scores. The first perfect score took place when
Christopher competed in his National K- 12 Championship as a kindergartner in 2004. He accomplished the feat again in 2005 as a first-grader. Over the past few years, he never
finished the grade-level competition in less than second place, and he won first place for a third time in 2009 with 61
⁄2 points—just a half point shy of a
perfect score. Now a seventh grader at Walter R. Satz
School in Holmdel, New Jersey, this past fall, Christopher regained his status as undefeated champion in his section of the National K-12 Championships, held
36 Chess Life — February 2012
November 18-20 at the opulent Hilton Anatole in Dallas, Texas, by securing his third perfect score of 7 points at the national scholastic tournament. Even though he was the highest-rated
player in his section, which he entered with an official rating of 2256, Christopher says achieving a perfect score during this last go- round was more difficult than a simple calculation of the odds might suggest. “A lot of people think that it is very
easy for the top seat to win first place,” Christopher told Chess Life. “However, it is actually harder if you are the first seat. You're expected to win first place and beat everyone else ... and if I don't it will be a disappointment.” At the time of the tournament, Christo-
pher was a full 120 rating points higher than the second-highest-rated player, Andrew Liu, whom he defeated in an exciting round six game that is anno- tated on page 38. Only one other youth in the seventh grade section had cleared the 2000 rating threshold. Christopher wasn’t the only youth who
finished the 2011 K-12 Nationals as a sole victor with a perfect score.
The others who achieved perfect scores
were fifth-grader Christopher Chen, of Texas; third-grader Marcus Ming Miyasaka, of New York; and first-grader Aryaman Bansal, of Texas. The top honor went to 17-year-old Matthew Dahl, a senior at Saint Thomas Academy in Mendota Heights, Minnesota. Though one point shy of a perfect score,
Dahl emerged as the sole victor in the 12th grade section, thereby securing a four-year scholarship to the University of Texas at Dallas (UTD). “It’s a great opportunity for chess play-
ers to get a full-ride to college and really continue their chess careers beyond the high school level,” said Chief Tourna- ment Director Jonathan David Shacter. “The USCF really appreciates having UTD provide that for the students.” Dahl, a student of Life Master Victor
Adler, told Chess Life he plans to accept the scholarship and study business at UTD. The K-12 Championship, he said, was
really tough. “A lot of games I got really lucky in,”
Dahl said, recounting one game in which he and his opponent agreed to a draw
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