Gordon Ruan plays a match in the K-12 Championship section while Greg Atherton and Danny Ge look on. Photo by Lian Ruan (click to enlarge)

K-12 Unrated individual champion Greg Atherton (left) and runner-up Danny Ge receive their trophies at the SuperNationals awards ceremony. Photo by Lian Ruan (click to enlarge)

NASHVILLE, Tenn. — The Uni squad of senior Greg Atherton, junior Danny Ge, senior Richard Wang, and sophomore John Vaughen won the K-12 Unrated national title Sunday at the United States Chess Federation's SuperNationals IV Scholastic Chess Championships.

Three other Uni players — seniors Gordon Ruan and Alan Liang and subfreshman Max Sigalov — finished in the top 20 of their respective divisions.

The seven-round, three-day tournament took place Friday through Sunday in Nashville.

Miami (Fla.) Senior High finished second to Uni in K-12 Unrated, and Skokie (Ill.) Niles North was third.

Individually, Atherton placed first, Ge second, Wang fifth, and Vaughen 24th.

"I went to Nashville not really knowing what to expect," said Ge. "After the first day, Richard, Greg, and I were undefeated and the team was in third place. After the third round, we jumped to first. From then on, I think we all knew that a national championship was definitely reachable."

More than 5,000 K-12 students from 45 states participated in the SuperNationals, which featured 24 different sections, allowing students with a variety of skill and experience levels to compete.

The section in which Uni won a national championship was for players up to 12th grade who do not have a U.S. Chess Federation rating. A total of 133 students competed in that section. The Uni squad was first out of 27 teams.

"The K-12 Unrated section was smaller than the other sections," said Ge, "but that doesn't mean the players are necessarily weaker. Since they didn't have ratings, you couldn't tell exactly how good they were. There were a lot of good players, and I think a lot of them could have done well in the higher-rated sections."

Five other Uni students also competed at SuperNationals this weekend:

• In the K-12 Championship section, senior Gordon Ruan placed 19th out of 367 players.
• In the K-8 Championship section, subfreshman George Ruan placed 149th out of 242.
• In the K-12 Under 1600 section, subfreshman Max Sigalov placed 15th out of 319.
• In the K-12 Under 1200 section, senior Alan Liang placed 11th out of 350; sophomore Michael Meyer was 285th.

Uni's success at SuperNationals caps off a year that saw the chess team win the IHSA state championship for the first time since class divisions between small and big schools were eliminated in 1995. That was also Uni's seventh IHSA chess title overall, the most of any school.

Six students who played in the IHSA tourney also competed at SuperNationals: Gordon Ruan, Atherton, Liang, Ge, Wang, and Meyer.

"I'm really happy for the team," said Ge, who finished 25th on Board 7 at the IHSA meet. "We've worked hard all season long to improve, and I'm just glad we finally got something in return with the state and national trophies. As for me, I see this as a make-up for my disappointing performance at state."

More Photos from U.S. Chess SuperNationals

Nine players from the Uni chess team went to play in the U.S. Chess Federation's SuperNationals Scholastic Chess Championships in Nashville, Tenn., last weekend. From left are subfreshman George Ruan (seated), sophomore Michael Meyer, seniors Gordon Ruan, Greg Atherton, Alan Liang, junior Danny Ge, senior Richard Wang, and sophomore John Vaughen. Subfreshman Max Sigalov is not pictured. Photo by Lian Ruan (click to enlarge)

Subfreshman Max Sigalov picks up his 15th place trophy in the K-12 Under 1600 Section. Photo courtesy U.S. Chess Federation (click to enlarge)

One of the main features of the tournament besides its tough competition was the presence of former world champion Garry Kasparov (left). Here, Kasparov watches a game play out in the K-8 Championship section. Photo courtesy U.S. Chess Federation (click to enlarge)