February 13, 2005 - 2005 Mass Scholastic State Championship and Grade Championship:
By: Stephen Dann
 Roza Eynullayeva, 17, of Springfield, won a playoff to determine the state high school singles champion in dramatic
fashion last Sunday (2/13) at the Radisson Hotel in Marlboro. In cool fashion, she defeated both Melvin Zhang of
Roslindale and Joshua Bakker of Orleans in 10-minute playoff games, to earn the right to represent Massachusetts in
the Denker Tournament of High School Champions, Aug. 7-12 in Phoenix, Ariz.
The Barry Spiegel Memorial State Scholastic Singles Finals had four age sections with 10 students each, and the
concurrent Gosselin Grade School Championships drew another 118 pupils along with parents and chess coaches galore.
Eynullayeva, a senior at McDuffie School, a small private academy in Springfield, is no stranger to top competition,
winning the Polgar Invitational of Girls High School Champions last year in Florida, and winning the New York State
High School title in 2002 and competing in the Denker tournament that year in New Jersey. For winning the Polgar
event, she won a four-year scholarship to the University of Texas at Dallas, but this has not limited her options, as
she has applied to 16 colleges, and at this writing has received a $10,000 presidential scholarship to Simmons College
in Boston, and is waiting to hear next month from a host of other schools, including Harvard.
While all three students finished tied for first at 3-1, the playoff also determined who took each of the three
place trophies. Zhang took second place and Bakker third. During the tournament, however, Bakker defeated Zhang and
lost to Eynullayeva, and Zhang beat Eynullayeva. The tournament, which began at 10 a.m., ended at 8 p.m. after the
playoff games, long after all the other awards had been presented.
Andrew Wang of Sharon won the junior high section on tiebreak over Jessica Wamala of Lowell and Jason Altschuler of
Cambridge, all with 3-1. Felix Yang of Norwell swept the elementary finals, 4-0, with Winber Xu of Newton taking
clear second. Bary Lisak of Newton swept the primary group, 4-0, with Michelle Chen of Concord with clear second.
In the 118-player grade school consolation event, grade winners were Tom Harvey of Milton (Gr. 12), Paul Deng of
Lowell (11), David Kosslyn of Cambridge (10), Chelsey Cotreau of Lowell (9), Benjamin Smith of Melrose (8), Daniel
Leach of Lexington (7), Pu Zhang of Newton (6), Valerie Law of Newton (5), Winston Huang of Newton (4), Max Senkovsky
of Medfield (3), Darrith Phan of Chelmsford (2), Alvin Berroa of Saugus (1) and Mateos Sahakian of Medford, who
swept the five-player kindergarten section.
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