2025 Veterans Day Scholastic Sectional Tournament Report

Written By Anthony Miranda

The Hawaii Chess Federation hosted its 2025 Veterans Day Scholastic Sectional tournament on Tuesday, November 11th, at Washington Middle School. The tournament consisted of five rounds of chess played at a time control of G/45+5 (45 minutes per player with a 5-second increment) and included over 120 student participants and a number of adult players as well.

After a long and exciting day of chess, there were multiple stand-out performances: Gerelt Tserennyam from Laie Elementary School won the K-2 division with a perfect score of 5.0; Max Narimasu from Punahou School won the K-5 division with a perfect scores of 5.0; Kuliaikapono Shirota-Kapalu from Hongwanji Mission School won the K-8 division with a perfect score of 5.0; and Ty Dutoit from Punahou School won the K-12 division with a score of 4.5. In the team competition, first place winners included ‘Iolani School (K-2 and K-8), Punahou School (K-5), and the Homeschool team (K-12).

We also had eight adults competing in two “quads,” where players are divided into groups of four based on their ratings and compete against each other in a round robin format. Our first quad had a three-way tie for first place between Chris Bueno, Neil Shah, and John Mussack; the winner of our second quad was Benjamin Banh, with a perfect score of 3.0.

Congratulations to our winners and to all participants for their hard work and dedication to chess! Our next tournament will take place on Saturday, December 13th, at Washington Middle School - we look forward to seeing you there!

 

Primary School (k-2) Prize Winners

Team Awards:

  1. ‘Iolani School (11.0)

  2. Punahou School (10.5)

  3. Kamehameha Schools (5.5)

Individual Awards:

  1. Gerelt Tserennyam (5.0)

  2. Minjae Choi (4.5)

  3. Lawton Lam (4.0)

Elementary School (k-5) Prize Winners

Team Awards:

  1. Punahou School (13.0)

  2. Kaimuki Christian School (8.0)

  3. Kamehameha Schools (7.5)

Individual Awards:

  1. Max Narimasu (5.0)

  2. Lucas Jansson (4.0)

  3. Wenxuan Zhu (4.0)

Middle School (k-8) Prize Winners

Team Awards:

  1. ‘Iolani School (10.5)

  2. Hawaii Baptist Academy (10.0)

  3. Punahou School (10.0)

Individual Awards:

  1. Kuliaikapono Shirota-Kapalu (5.0)

  2. Marcus Dinh (4.0)

  3. Joshua Park (4.0)

High School (k-12) Prize Winners

Team Awards:

  1. Homeschool (8.5)

  2. Punahou School (7.5)

  3. Kalani High School (5.5)

Individual Awards:

  1. Ty Dutoit (4.5)

  2. Aurelia White (4.0)

  3. J.P. Bennett (4.0)

Adult Prize Winners

Quad # 2

  1. Benjamin Banh (3.0)

Quad # 1

  1. Chris Bueno (2.0)

    Neil Shah (2.0)

    John Mussack (2.0)

Anthony Miranda
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November 8th Adult Blitz Tournament at Champs Hawaii