The 2024 Guy Ontai State K-12 Chess Championship

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Photo:  Josh Lewis (standing), contemplates the position in his game against defending state high-school champion Mark Chen. On the second board Kyle Ching and Benjamin Kim fight for second place.

Over 160 students participated in the annual state championship tournament at Washington Middle School on April 20th.   The dust settled after five rounds, and these players and teams took home the trophies.

High School (K-12) Individual

  • 1st – Mark Chen (1927), 4.5 – 2024 Denker Tournament Representative
  • 2nd-4th – Kyle Ching (1845), Skylor Chan (1730), Tyler Hijirida (1394), 4 points.

High School Team

  • 1st – Punahou (14.5 points)
  • 2nd – ‘Iolani School (13.5 points)
  • 3rd – Homeschool (12 points)

Middle School (K-8) Individual

  • 1st – Kevin Ching (1485) 5 points – 2024 Barber Tournament Representative
  • 2nd – Aurelia White (1485 ) – 4.5 points
  • 3rd-7th – Ty Chen Dutoit, Koa Satterfield, Tom Antin, Diego Chang, Jared Urbano – 4 points

Middle School (K-8) Team

  • 1st – Homeschool (16 points)
  • 2nd – Punahou School (15 points)
  • 3rd – Princess Ruth Ke’elikolani Middle (11 points)
Skylor Chan contemplates which of his four knights to use in the 2-move checkmate. Meanwhile two-time state high-school champion Benjamin Kim watches with amusement. 2024 State K-12 Champion Mark Chen studies Ben’s last-round game.
The tense, final-round game between 2024 Middle School Champion Kyle Ching (left) and top-seeded Ty Chen Dutoit.

Elementary School (K-5) Individual

  • 1st – Apollo Van Brunt (791) – Kindergarten!! – 4.5 points – Rockefeller Representative
  • 2nd – Jasper Watanabe-Hiromasa (806) – 4.5 points
  • 3rd-8th: Ryden Yagi, Justin Lin, Rex Gilbert, Ta’i Satterfield, Nova Gallanto – 4 points

Elementary School (K-5) Team

  • 1st – Punahou (14.5 points)
  • 2nd – Homeschool (13.5 points)
  • 3rd – Hawaii Baptist Academy (12 points)

Primary K-2 Individual

  • 1st – Laguna Jabola-Ing (4.5 points)
  • 2nd-5th – Garen Zhang, Max Naramisu, Lucas Jansson, Axel Gaetano (4 points)

Primary (K-2) Team

  • 1st – Punahou (13 points)
  • 2nd – Kilauea School (11 points)
  • 3rd – Pearl City Elementary (6 points)

2024 Hawaii State Grade Level Champions

12th – Nathan Wong

11th – Mark Chen

10th – Franklin Nguyen and Daniel Lin

9th – Kyle Ching and Skylor Chan

8th – Ty Chen Dutoit and Jared Urbano

7th – Aurelia White

6th – Kevin Ching

5th – Jasper Watanabe-Hiromasa

4th – Rex Gilbert, Ta’i Satterfield, Nova Gallanto

3rd – Alphaeus Tse and Alexander Bow-Smith

2nd – Laguna Jabola-Ing

1st – Lucas Jansson

Kindergarten – Axel Gaetano

Hawaii’s new chess superstar, Apollo Van Brunt, is the Hawaii State Champion for Elementary School (Grades K-5).

The biggest story of the tournament, clearly, is kindergartner Apollo Van Brunt from Kona on the Big Island. Already an experienced tournament player, he chose to play up in the much tougher section for grades 3-5. In the end, he tied for first with 5th-grader Jasper Watanabe-Hiromasa with 4.5 points out of 5. But his Solkoff tiebreaks were slightly better, so he is officially the Hawaii K-5 Champion who will represent our state at the Rockefeller Tournament of Elementary School Champions this summer.

Apollo will get good competition from Kindergarten champion Axel Gaetano in future years. Axel lives on Kauai, near Kilauea School, and recently fell in love with the game. This was his very first tournament. He defeated both of Punahou’s highest-rated players, and also defeated Kilauea School’s highest-rated player.

The day after the state tournament, 17-year-old Grandmaster Dommaraju Gukesh from India became the youngest person in history to qualify for the world championship. How is this happening, that such young players are finishing with unbelievable results? Some would say it is because they are raised and coached by superhuman chess computers, which can defeat all the best humans. Another interesting theory comes from India. Some people who believe in reincarnation say that acquired life skills transfer with a person’s soul from one life to the next, and chess is among the skills that accumulate.

Whatever the reason, Hawaii has been blessed with a long history of extreme chess talents. They welcome Apollo, Axel and other rising stars to their club. We all look forward to some great games with them in the future.

Damian Nash, HCF President

Chief Tournament Director

One response to “The 2024 Guy Ontai State K-12 Chess Championship”

  1. Bert Nakagawa Avatar
    Bert Nakagawa

    Great tournament report. Over 160 participants bodes well for the future of chess in Hawaii.