Stuyvesant Chess Club Wins 2025 National K-12 Grade Championships

After three days of competition against more than 1,350 players nationwide, the Stuyvesant Chess Club earned top team and individual placements at the 2025 National K-12 Grade Championships, held from December 12 to 14 in Spokane, Washington. Stuyvesant’s 12th-grade team captured first place and won the national championship, while the 10th- and 11th-grade teams placed second and the ninth-grade team finished third. Individually, senior and co-captain Jed Sloan won the Grade 12 national championship, and freshman Aditeya Das earned the Grade 9 national title. As a school, Stuyvesant also ranked first overall, finishing two points ahead of the second-place team.

The annual national championship featured 13 grade divisions, with students playing seven three-hour rounds against opponents with similar win-loss records in the tournament thus far. Throughout the weekend-long competition, players were tested on their endurance, preparation, and focus.

Leading up to the tournament, several members of the chess team began their intense preparation process while also balancing schoolwork. Freshman Vahan Sargsyan recalled the number of hours he sacrificed to prepare for the championship. ​​“I spent about two [to] three hours a day practicing chess for about a month, sacrificing sleep and grades only for a three-day chess tournament,” Sargsyan said in an email interview. He further mentioned that his preparation was online, in which he studied openings, middlegames, and endgames through puzzles or analysis of other games. “Sacrificing sleep and grades [was] worth it but only because individually and as a team we performed very well. It is worth mentioning that it is only worth it in hindsight.”

Other team members also described the difficulty of managing academics alongside tournament preparation. “Balancing chess with schoolwork was the hardest thing, especially during senior year,” Sloan said.

In addition, some upperclassmen also felt less pressure going into the tournament because experience helped them manage the stress. “Chess has become more of a fun [hobby], rather than a stressful thing. Especially the senior team—none of us were really that stressed,” Sloan said. “Since we’re more experienced, we understand that stress doesn’t really help us.” Although Sloan had previously mentioned the difficulty of multitasking chess and academics, four years of being on the team has reduced his nerves.

Team meetings are hosted every Monday and Wednesday, where players focus on practice games and opening preparation to simulate tournament conditions. Junior Tyler Horiuchi described how the team frequently practiced against one another to stay prepared. “We did some opening prep and played each other a lot to practice,” Horiuchi said. 

This preparation played a key role in the opening rounds of the championship, giving the team a strong foundation going into the tournament. “We did a lot of practice games and reviewed our opening lines especially. You have to memorize a couple moves in the opening, so it’s very important to practice and review that. It [was] good to just test each other on them to help us remember them,” Sloan said. “They definitely helped a lot, [and] I felt in shape going to the tournament.” 

Despite extensive preparation, players still faced challenging rounds against highly rated opponents. With many other strong players that had high United States Chess Federation (USCF) ratings in the tournament, it was a struggle to finish rounds victorious. “A challenge during the tournament were rounds five and six, where I was playing two 2100’s. During these rounds, I was significantly better for the majority of the game, but at the end my time got low and I ended up drawing both under time pressure,” Sargsyan said. Sargsyan currently has a USCF chess rating of 1950, and having a tie of two rounds resulted in a full-point loss on his record. For context, elite chess players are typically rated above 2500 and intermediate players are rated between 1400 to 1700, while the beginner players range from 100 to 1200. The average for this championship was about 1600.

Players also had to manage the emotional demands of the tournament. Freshman Aditeya Das explained that maintaining focus after excitement over consecutive wins was difficult. “I was trying to keep calm, play every game, and maximize my results and focus,” Das said.

 Although they faced these challenges, team members expressed their happiness over the results. “We were very excited when we won third place because we didn’t expect it,” Sargsyan said. “Because there aren’t many freshmen who play chess, we expected a much lower cumulative score, but because Aditeya and I performed very well, we managed to take third place, placing behind CGPS [Columbia Grammar & Preparatory School] and Millburne High School.” In the individual rankings, Sargsyan finished sixth out of 62 competitors, earning a score of five out of seven points due to his four wins and two draws. In the championship, a win of a round adds one point to your record, a draw adds half a point, and a loss adds zero points. 

Das shared his triumph in a closely contested game against another top finisher in his division. “My favorite moment during the championship was when I played the guy who got tied first with me, but I [won] on tie breaks, because in that game I played really kind of bad[ly] so I got a horse position earlier, but I somehow managed to clutch a draw,” Das said. Overall, he had a USCF rating of 2382 and won a score of six out of seven points due to his five wins and two draws.

This victory marked the team’s first national title since 2021, adding to the significance and satisfaction of the win. The seniors were especially happy, as the victory brought a sense of concluding accomplishment to their Stuyvesant chess careers. “We felt really happy, [since] for a couple of years, we tied, but lost in tie breaks,” Sloan said. “It was really satisfying, especially for my senior year.”

Chess advisor Eric Barry expressed similar viewpoints to the seniors’ victory. “We’ve had a whole lot of second places, which, of course, I’m very proud of, but it was nice that the 12th graders was finally brought the clearer, unadulterated, pure win.” Nevertheless, Barry mentioned that he was proud of the entire team since everyone had done the best they could.

Sloan also highlighted a decisive moment from one of his games during the tournament. “I actually won a very fast game, [where] whoever won the game was guaranteed to have a share of first place,” Sloan said. “The first ten minutes were pretty rocky, but [my opponent] had made a really bad move that turned the whole game around, so I was really happy when that happened.”

The team also acknowledged the support and help from staff members, such as the Parent Association and Principal Seung Yu, for their accomplished victory. “I am grateful [to] our Chess team coach, Mr. Barry, for all of his support at meetings and tournaments, including flying all the way to Spokane, Washington and spending his weekend there with our team,” Sloan said.

After reflecting on Stuyvesant’s impressive performance in this tournament, the team members proposed ideas for further improvement of the Chess Club. Das mentioned that the team should have made up a plan for the tournament in advance. “I feel like the team should have basically talked to everybody and maybe created a strategy for a week before the tournament,” Das said. He further explained that a resource such as a study guide could help avoid some mistakes during the tournament.

Barry also expressed the need for training for the novice chess players. “There’s been talk about having an in-school tournament, and doing some kind of formal coaching from the top players to the beginning players. And so far that’s all been kind of on an informal basis. And you know, I’ve encouraged them to take the lead, but I don’t want to just do everything for them.”

Overall, the 2025 National K-12 Grade Championship was a strong showing for Stuyvesant’s Chess Team, with players looking ahead to upcoming competitions, notably the National High School Championships in May. “Chess is just really fun,” Horiuchi said. “I’m really excited for Nationals in May.”