The 2024 National K-12 Grades Championship at National Harbor, Maryland, brought together over 2,700 top players from across the nation.
This prestigious event showcased some of the best youth chess talent in the country, and Dalton School’s chess team made an outstanding mark with exceptional results across all grade levels. With three co-champions, a first-place team in the 6th grade, and remarkable individual performances throughout, highlights the school’s continued status as a chess powerhouse.
Dalton’s success was fueled by the leadership of their incredible coaching staff, led by Women’s International Master (WIM)/National Master Beatriz Marinello. Under her guidance, the team benefitted from the expertise of top-tier coaches, including Grandmaster Gregory Kaidanov, Grandmaster Djurabek Khamrakulov, Grandmaster Mackenzie Molner, National Master Jerald Times, Chess Teacher Lenny Kadishev, and Chess Teacher Eric Balck. Their strategic insights were instrumental in helping the team achieve such remarkable results.
The impressive results included three co-champions in their respective grades: Logan Freiman ‘32, Elliott Goodrich ‘31, and William Safranek ‘26. The 6th grade team made an incredible achievement by securing first place, showcasing their top-tier skills. Dalton also had several other standout performances, five teams that placed top 3 in the nation, including Kevin Stern’s tied for 5th place title in the 8th grade and Max Mottola’s tied for 8th place finish in the 12th grade.
Team Placements:
Kindergarten: 3rd
1st Grade: 2nd
2nd Grade: 3rd
3rd Grade: 5th
4th Grade: 7th
5th Grade: 3rd
6th Grade: 1st
7th Grade: 9th
8th Grade: 6th
12th Grade: 9th (with 2 players)
Participants:
Kindergarten: Rishi Au, Harman Gupta, Paloma Sola
1st Grade: Owen Cooper, Zachary Feirman, Veer Kumar, Theo Lavipour, Alexander Myers, Micah Ouyang, William Pang, Pablo Rios
2nd Grade: Aahren Bhandari, Brennan Campbell, Oceane Chemla, Sameer Doshi, Theodore “Teddy” Mayer-Cesiano, Taran Mehta, Kelly Park, Michelle Park, Oliver Wang
3rd Grade: Hudson Belelieu, Albert Boston, Gabriel “Gabe” Chang, Wren Chisholm, Finn Donovan, Mateo Fernandez-Aller, Benjamin “Ben” Feuerstein, Maxwell Gachiri, Rayna Gupta, Diane Myers, Declan Campbell
4th Grade: Cecilia Cooper, Aadi Doshi, Alexander Feirman, Andwele Haywood, Gabriel “Gabe” Lavipour, Chase Newman, Logan Pang, Kenzo Phillips, Arthur Tu, Carolina Vasilatos, Liam Yao
5th Grade: Logan Freiman, Theodore “Teddy” Giuliano, Roman Rubinstein Mash, Eli Stern, Theo Yook
6th Grade: Elliott Goodrich, Owen Pang, Jeremy Tao, Viaan Barmecha, Jack Cooper, Julian Feldman, Saarim Khan, Eden Klein
7th Grade: Ilaan Ahmed, Hannah Chan, Sebastian “Sebi” Hemlock, Joshua Kuruvilla, Anthony Mavroudis, Samant “Sammy” Sen, Sophie Yang
8th Grade: Kevin Stern, Jacob Feuerstein, Jameson “Jamie” Wong
11th Grade: William Safranek
12th Grade: Maxwell Massiah, Max Mottola
Congratulations to all the participants, coaches, and families for their hard work and dedication to the game. We look forward to even more success in the future!
Submitted by Chess Program Director Beatriz Marinello