The Hello 2026 tournament was great! 141 players joined the tournament to work on their 2026 resolutions, a great turnout! 14 players played in their first USCF rated tournament, and we provided 48 free entries.
A big shoutout to John Hart, who donated $100 and volunteered to do game analysis. Thanks to his generous donation, we were able to increase the prize fund of the open sections by 50%. I’m sure the players of the open section enjoyed the extra incentive to play well.
Congrats to our following winners:
Under 400:
- Even-score medalists: Roger Thompson, Drake Wells, Prisha Daharwal, Kenan Qusay Bkour, Soren Soleimani, Brooklyn Hall, Rhishabh Pandey, Thanvitha Tumati, Adhiraj Jadhav, Kaiden Fanthony, Isabella Quach, Luke Holliday, Akshaj Bahuguna, David Moody
- Plus-score medalists: Sebastian Burbank, Reva Rajesh, Aarav Kale, Madhesh Saravanan, Ali Zureigat, Vardaan V Sharma, Zane Moore, Alexander Dang, Mark James, William Phelps
- 5th place: Aiden Devlaeminck
- 4th place: Colton Holliday
- 3rd place: Aneesh Bapat (perfect score)
- 2nd place: Arian Burnett (perfect score)
- 1st place: Krounchdhar Konda (perfect score)
Under 700:
- Even-score medalists: Oliad Farris, Nathan Hall, Zachary Herring, Riya Zalavadiya, Dev Patnam, Saaz Shah, Micah Earl, Aarna Hegde, Dylan Dowon Park, Isaiah Burbank, Daniel Burbank, Roper Ingram, Moumitha Aarushi Tharun, Evangeline Yeh
- Plus-score medalists: Elise Petra Gordon, Surya Manidhar Burra, Isabel Smith, Nora Saha, Avyukt Singhal, Nishitha Tumati, Melissa Zhong
- 5th place: Reya Tare
- 4th place: Vincent Zhong
- 3rd place: Atharv Murthy
- 2nd place: Daxton Johnson (perfect score)
- 1st place: Vihaan Dokania (perfect score)
Under 1000:
- Even-score medalists: Ryan James, Harshith Sai Dasari, Aadrito Sarkar, Stephen Orendorff, Akshara Annamareddy, Gabriel Fidel
- Plus-score medalists: Siddhartha Berkey, Paul Moody, Yousef Bkour, Jaskaran Singh, Emilia Smith, Sharanya Pingale
- 5th place: Advik Mazari
- 4th place: Corina Maokhampio
- 3rd place: Om Zalavadiya
- 2nd place: Heath Larsen
- 1st place: Evan Chien (perfect score)
Open II:
- Even-score medalists: Riana Paul, Yuvan Vutukuri
- Plus-score medalists: Bastian Ence, Prakrithi Balasubramanian
- 5th place: Marissa Earl
- 4th place: Prakrithi Balasubramanian
- 3rd place: Nimay Ranjit
- 2nd place: Krish Patel
- 1st place: Josiah Cheung
Open I:
- Even-score medalists: Mokshith Kumar Mallapu, Eevie Tare
- Plus-score medalists: Tyler Cheng, Shea Noll, Mehrdad Pedram
- 5th place: Weg Shukla
- 4th place: Prahlada Saripalli
- 3rd place: Lucas Maokhampio
- 2nd place: Bohan Li
- 1st place: Axl Arun
The USCF rating report can be found here.
Below are some photos from this tournament. More photos can be found here.
