Some of you may know about my mentioning that Loudoun County has been a dearth of rated scholastic competitors. It appears that things are changing. Two VA State Scholastics ago, there were only 10 from the county. This past March there were 15 in Charlottesville. Yesterday, at the C.D. Hylton High School, where Brian Dickerson of Spotsy Chess was holding his season opener we had a great showing from Loudoun County.

Primary

Folks I am very happy to reveal that we have three new and capable chess players in Loudoun County. Oh, and they happen to be quite young too because they played in the Primary section. I didn't get to meet them personally but I did catch a glimpse of two of them as I called out their names in roll call at the beginning of the tournament. The three are Bryant, Nathan and Gideon Lohr from Leesburg. If you're reading this Lohr family, please give me me a wave next time! Welcome to Loudoun County! The three of them (plus one more older sibling in a different section) made up Lohr Academy as a team and took clear first place ahead of local primary school historical powerhouses!

Kenneth Culvert Elementary made up of the Marvil children came in 6th team with one of them playing in their very first tournament.

OK.

On to the individual placings.

• Bryant Lohr took clear 1st place by winning all 5 of his games.
• Nathan Lohr took 4th on tiebreaks with 4/5
• Akshita Gorti took 6th with 3.5/5
• Gideon Lohr took 8th with 3.5/5
• Wyatt Marvill took 15th
• Rahul GundamRaj took 24th
• Sabrina Marvil debuted in this section

Way to go kids! You do your parents, schools and all of us proud.

Elementary
I've had the please of meeting and knowing almost all of these kids. Some I just met at the Carver Center either for the unrated tournament I last ran there or at the simul at the Carver Center Open Day.

In the school team standings, Steuart Weller Elementary School can be proud of their three players Nishanth and Sowmya Sajja (siblings) and their cousin Sai Bhaves Kodali. As a team of only three players, they came in a strong second only behind a much larger team with six players. One wonders what the result could be if they could grow their team... Is that another Steuart Weller student out there anywhere?

Individually, here are the results:

• Nishanth Sajja 2nd place 3.5/4
• Alex Chang 3rd place 3/4
• Sai Bhaves Kodali 6th place 3/4
• Sowmya Sajja 13th place
• Shivam Kollur debuted in his first USCF tournament in this section

Middle

Here in this section there was a pleasant surprise. Belmont Ridge Middle School didn't know that they had a team with 3 kids on it until after the first round! Led by Clark Smiley, a veteran of these scholastic tournaments, Belmont Ridge MS other members Athreya Gundamraj and Christopher Seager all worked together to score enough points to take second team place at this tournament. One point less and things would have been quite different. Both Athreya and Christopher were at their first USCF tournaments. Way to go Belmont Ridge!

Those of you that are familiar with Clark Smiley would not be surprised at the fact that he won clear first in the Middle School section. Here are the results for the section for Loudoun kids.

• Clark Smiley 1st 5/5
• Justin Lohr 2nd 4/5 - another member of the Lohr Academy?
• Athreya Gundamraj
• Chris Seager

High School
OK. In the high school section, Stone Bridge High School was represented by Matthew Montera and Jared Daubenspeck. I was also very happy to meet with SBHS parents Sandy and Roth. Even Dino turned up to help and encourage the SBHS kids in this tournament. Now that is one dedicated teacher/coach. Jared is new to USCF tournaments and did very well. Stick with it Jared and play and learn with your schoolmates. It'll be more fun than you can imagine. Despite only have two players, SBHS always seems to surprise by winning the 3rd team placing this time. Great experience for everyone all around.

Joseph had a chance to take the whole enchilada in the last round on the top board as he and his opponent were the only ones with perfect scores. Unfortunately, this just wasn't the day it was going to happen. Next time.....

• Joseph Tan 3rd 3/4
• Matthew Montera 6th 3/4
• Jared Daubenspeck debut