Finn Garrison is an ASU Cronkite School of Journalism student.

The No. 2 BASIS Chandler was undefeated in all five rounds earn its second state chess championship since 2016.

The format of the tournament was 26 teams, five rounds with a time control of 60 minutes with a five-second delay. Each team had five players and each player would play their opponent individually. The highest-ratedplayer on one team would play the highest-rated player on the other team. If a team won the round, they received one point; a team would receive 0.5 points for a draw and no points for a loss. 

BASIS Chandler entered the weekend with a rating of 843, trailing only No. 1 Brophy Prep which had a rating of 915.

BASIS Chandler’s Sandeep Sethuraman was the second-highest-ranked player in the championship with a rating of 1219.

After winning three straight rounds against Lee Williams, University and Gilbert Classical, BASIS Chandler was set to play Brophy Prep in the fourth round. Brophy’s best player, Mason Miller, entered the championship with the highest rating at 1303.

When discussing the importance of Miller, Brophy chess coach Alex Curry said, “Well, he's also our only senior. So, he's very much a leader. He's been in these tournaments for the last three years. He's the person that the others go to when they have questions.”

In a battle between the highest-rated players in the tournament, Miller and Sethuraman, Miller played with the white pieces while Sethuraman played with the black pieces.

After Miller played 1.e4, Sethuraman followed with 1.e6 and continued following the Caro-Kann Defense, which resulted in the advanced variation after Miller played 3.e5.

For the next 23 moves, both players were countering one another and getting different pieces involved, shuffling knights and bishops around the board. Move 27 was the turning point in the game, which gave Sethuraman the advantage that he kept throughout the match. The move was 27.nxe6. Miller captured black’s pawn with his knight which in turn gave Sethuraman the opportunity to check Miller’s king into the h8 corner three moves later. Sethuraman was able to get a win over Miller when he got both his rooks and queen to trap Miller’s king. Sethuraman won on move 36.

After Sethuraman’s win over Miller, three wins and one draw followed for BASIS Chandler, which helped secure the team win over the top-seeded Brophy.

“We knew who would be playing on Brophy. And we weren't really afraid of them. We thought we could win. And so, we just prepared our openings, and we played our own game,” said Sethuraman about how they prepared for Brophy.

Heading into the final round, the matchup was BASIS Chandler and No. 3 Hamilton. Both were contending for first place in the tournament. BASIS Chandler had four points and Hamilton had three and a half points.

Sethuraman was set to face Hamilton’s best player in Kenneth Su. Sethuraman played with the white pieces while Su played with the black pieces.

To start the game, Sethuraman controlled the middle of the board with his pawns when he played 1.d4 and 2.c4. Su stuck to the King’s Indian Defense opening, which led to the Normal Variation and then became the Fianchetto, Yugoslav Variation with moves 5.g3, c5 and 6. Bg2,d6.

                              

 Screenshot using Chess.com. (Finn Garrison/AZPreps365)

The critical moment within the game was when Su played 26.Ne6. This provided Sethuraman with a 12-point advantage over Su.

 Screenshot using Chess.com. (Finn Garrison/AZPreps365)

Sethuraman was able to keep the advantage throughout the rest of the match and won the game on move 38 to remain undefeated.

BASIS Chandler chess coach Radhika Guruju said, “I think good preparation and just staying focused. So, we came in yesterday, we were hunkered down in one spot. In between rounds, they were practicing, just staying focused and not doing other things at the chess tournament. And I think that helps a lot, you know, have your eye on the ball like this, in this case, the trophy.” 

BASIS Chandler went on to win the round with three wins to Hamilton’s two.

The top five teams in the championship were: BASIS Chandler, Arizona College Prep, University, Northland Prep Academy and Hamilton.

The AIA State Chess Individual Championship will be held on Nov. 20-21.