By Chris Y Kim
Nitesh Cherukuri has won the 2024 Maryland Sweet 16 Championship with a Round 4 victory over Alexander Zlotorev and a perfect 4 win weekend (March 2-3) at the University of Maryland - Baltimore County (UMBC). He is a resident of Howard County and attends McDonogh School as a 7th-grade student. The tournament consisted of 16 strong scholastic players (grades 3-12) rated from 1623 - 2159.
It has been 10 years since the winner of the Sweet 16 had a perfect score! Cherukuri with the victory also wins a 4-year tuition scholarship to UMBC. He had the only 3.0 score heading into the final round and needed at least a draw (to ensure a spot in a rapid playoff), but he ensured the Championship with the fourth round win.
Here are the final standings in tiebreak order (out of 4 games):
4.0: Nitesh Cherukuri
3.0: Andy Yue, Anish Mariappan
2.5: Alexander Zlodorev, Siddharth Kurup
2.0: Eliot Wu, Architsai Ramnath, Gabriel Joshi, Sandeep Thimmasamudram, Sherlock Grigsby II
1.5: Krish Ghosh, Svetoslav Fedorov, Angelina Verma, Ari Bershak
1.0: Caden Liu
0.0: Kevin Fang