The CCL Chess team delivered an outstanding performance at the 25th Queen City Classic in Cincinnati, earning top honors against a highly competitive field of more than 550 players from across the Midwest.

Shiv Karthik Srinivasan captured first place in the K–12 Open with a flawless perfect score, an exceptional achievement at this level of competition. This marks the first perfect-score victory by a CCL student at the event since 2020, when then–US Chess Expert and CCL #26 Graduate Aryan Balyan claimed the title. Shiv also played a pivotal role in securing the K–12 Open Team Champion for CCL.

Following this performance, Shiv’s US Chess rating surpassed the 2000 mark, earning him recognition as a CCL #40 Graduate and establishing a significant new milestone in his chess journey.

A special shoutout to Shashank Palla, who tied for second place in the K–12 Open, gaining over 100 rating points to reach a new personal peak of 1659.

In the K–3 Open, second-grader Ian Li delivered an impressive showing, finishing in second place and earning his first trophy in this classical tournament. Strong contributions from Ian Li and Amyra Parul Karthikeyan helped the CCL team secure a tie for third place in the K–3 Open team standings.

K–12 Open Team Roster
Aadhi Adaikappan
Het Patel
Aanya Parul Karthikeyan
Shiv Karthik Srinivasan
Saahith Reddy Adreddy
Arjun Sai Kommineni
Shashank Palla
Georgios Stavropoulos

K–3 Open Team Roster
Amyra Parul Karthikeyan
Ian Li