The Hawaii Chess Federation hosted its 2025 Presidents’ Day Scholastic Sectional tournament on Monday, February 17th, at Washington Middle School. The tournament, which consisted of five rounds of chess played at a time control of G45 (45 minutes per player) with a 5-second increment, boasted over 160 student participants and a handful of adult players as well. This was our largest event to-date and a very positive sign for the future of scholastic chess in Hawaii!

After a long and exciting day of chess, there were multiple stand-out performances: Wenxuan Zhu from Maryknoll School won the K-2 division with a perfect score of 5.0; Nova Galanto from Mililani Elementary School and Jacob Wong from Kaimuki Christian School both tied for first place in the K-5 division with perfect scores of 5.0, with Nova taking home the first place trophy on tie breaks; and Eito Nishida, a 4th grader from Kamalii Elementary School on Maui, won the K-8 division with a perfect score of 5.0. In the K-12 division, We had a tie for first place between Tyler Hijirida from ‘Iolani School and Noah Condit from Punahou School, both of whom scored 4.0, with Tyler taking home the first place trophy on tie breaks. In the team competition, first place winners included Hanahau’oli School (K-2), Hawaii Baptist Academy (K-5), and Punahou School (K-8 and K-12).

Congratulations to our winners and to all participants for their hard work and dedication to chess! Our next tournament will be the State Scholastic Championship – we are still looking to finalize the venue and date, so stay tuned for more details!

• USCF Tournament Results

Primary School (k-2) Prize Winners

Individual Awards:

1. Wenxuan Zhu (5.0)
2. Dylan Qi (4.0)
3. Lucas Jansson (4.0)

Team Awards:

1. Hanahau’oli School (10.0)
2. Punahou School (9.5)
3. Mid-Pacific Institute (9.5)

Elementary School (k-5) Prize Winners

Individual Awards:

1. Nova Galanto (5.0)
2. Jacob Wong (5.0)
3. Jacob Choi (4.0)

Team Awards:

1. Hawaii Baptist Academy (11.5)
2. Kaimuki Christian School (11.5)
3. Punahou School (10.0)

Middle School (k-8) Prize Winners

Individual Awards:

1. Eito Nishida (5.0)
2. KuliaIkapono Shirota-Kapalu (4.0)
3. Rohan Sudager (4.0)

Team Awards:

1. Punahou School (10.0)
2. ‘Iolani School (9.5)
3. Homeschool (9.5)

High School (k-12) Prize Winners

Individual Awards:

1. Tyler Hijirida (4.0)
2. Noah Condit (4.0)
3. Mark Chen (3.5)

Team Awards:

1. Punahou School (11.0)
2. ‘Iolani School (10.0)
3. President William McKinley High School (9.5)

Team Standings