south jersey innovation center

Shyla Rana wins 2023 South Jersey K-8 championship, VMS wins the school team competition.

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The South Jersey Innovation Center (SJIC) was proud to host the annual South Jersey K-8 championship on April 16, 2023. Fifty-three players participated in the five-round tournament. The individual championship was extremely competitive and was decided in the last game.

The individual championship ended in a two-way tie between twelve-year-old Shyla Rana from Voorhees and Daniel Goldovsky, both with a perfect 5-0 score.

7 players scored 4 points; Rishik Bhattacharyya, Brian Miao, Dane Riegel, Ian Khan ,Peter Khain, Vihaan Khare and Ryon Senthil.

The team competition was won by Voorhees Middle School (Shyla Rana, Sam Cupersmith and Artemy Barkan) with 11.5. Demasi Middle School from Marlton came second with 8 points followed by William Allen Middle School from Moorestown with 8 points, Signal Hill from Voorhees with 7.5 points and Moorestown Friends School with 5 points.

The 2023 South Jersey Tactics competition was won by 7-year-old whiz kid, Liam Jesunas, who edged a field of strong and much older opponents. The tournament started with a first round 3 minutes time-trial puzzle rush to establish an initial tournament ranking. In the following rounds, the participants competed in a best-of-three head-to-head puzzle-duels. The final four featured dramatic contests between Liam Jesunas, Jeffrey Yang, Shyla Rana and Daniel Goldovsky. Liam and Jeffrey won their semi-finals matches and Liam prevailed in the final to take the 2023 title.