Checkmate! The chess team is once again on top as it won first place for the fourth straight year at the CalChess State Scholastic Championships held May 17-18.

The competition, held at the San Jose Convention Center, had about 1000 participants, eight of whom were from Saratoga High.

Junior Jeff Young tied for first in the tournament. As the co-state champion, he will compete against one other player to determine who will go to the tournament of state high school champions in Dallas this August. Young prepared for the CalChess tournament by playing chess every day.

“I play chess every day online against other people, and I watch professional people in the world play games online,” said Young. “I play for maybe an hour or two hours a day.”

Seniors Marvin Shu and David Chock, junior Aaron Garg and sophomore Charles Sun all placed within the top 20 individual categories. Shu placed 12th, Sun placed 14th, Garg placed 16th and Chock placed 19th. They each scored four points in their six games. The other state champion team members are juniors Avinash Kumar and Alex Lun and freshman Amol Aggarwal.

Kumar received 34th in the high school section. Although he did not place in the top 20, he feels the experience was worth it.

“[The highlight of the whole event] was when I checkmated last year’s champion,” said Kumar. “Also, the team winning first place was great.”
Although he did not place, Aggarwal also enjoyed the experience of competing. “[Being able to compete] was really fun,” he said. “I’m definitely going to do it again.”