Happy Halloween To The Chess Community!

On This Hallowed Night…

May your Knights be grandious, your Queens bewitching, your Kings ghostly and your Rooks creepy !

Have a Safe and Spooooky Halloween !

Top 20 Girls October 2007

IN THE TOP 5

• Humpy Koneru is a chess Grandmaster from India. Her October 2007 FIDE Elo rating is 2606, placing her at #2 in the world for women (behind Judit Polgar), breaking the record of 2577 set by Susan Polgar for the second-highest ranked female player in Chess history and becoming the the 2nd female player ever, after Judit Polgar, to cross the 2600 points. She holds the record for the youngest woman ever to become a Grandmaster (not merely a Woman Grandmaster), which she achieved in 15 years, 1 month, 27 days, beating Judit Polgar’s previous record by 3 months.
• Hou Yifan is a Chinese Woman Grandmaster. She is currently China’s youngest ever Women’s National Champion. Her early tournament successes came in the form of first place in the girls’ under 10 section of the World Youth Championships in 2003 and third place (tied for first) in the boys’ under 10 section in 2004.
  Rated 2502 in the October 2007 FIDE rating list, Hou is ranked the eighth highest rated female player in the world.
• Harika Dronavalli is an International Master from India, for a while she was the youngest Woman Grandmaster in Asia. In a recent interview Harika said: “It does bother me when I win something big and no one seems to be interested, but I feel that there are other sports which are worse off in terms of attention”.
• Anna Muzychuk is a prominent Ukrainian chess player. She is a Woman Grandmaster (WGM) with FIDE rating 2469 (October 2007). In 2004 she became a citizen of Slovenia, and is the strongest Slovenian female chess player. In the category of girls up to 20 years old she is ranked 4th in the world and she’s the 16th strongest female player (October 2007). Muzychuk played first board for the Slovenian team in 36th Chess Olympiad. Beside others, she has defeated the Women’s World Chess Champion grandmaster Antoaneta Stefanova.
• Kateryna Lahno is a Ukrainian chess player. She earned the FIDE title of Woman Grandmaster (WGM) at the age of 12 years and 4 months, breaking Judit Polgar’s record to become the youngest ever to earn this title. She is now a full Grandmaster (GM). Although Lahno, unlike Polgar, competes for women’s titles, both have stated that their true goal is to be simply World Champion.

Congratulations to all these talented players who are breaking grounds for girls in chess!

IN THE TOP 20

Rank	Name	Title	Country	Rating	Games	B-Year
1	Koneru, Humpy	g	IND	2606	27	1987
2	Hou, Yifan	wg	CHN	2502	19	1994
3	Harika, Dronavalli	m	IND	2480	28	1991
4	Muzychuk, Anna	wg	SLO	2469	19	1990
5	Lahno, Kateryna	g	UKR	2459	9	1989
6	Ruan, Lufei		CHN	2453	19	1987
7	Shen, Yang	wg	CHN	2450	21	1989
8	Dzagnidze, Nana	m	GEO	2416	27	1987
9	Charochkina, Daria	wm	RUS	2403	9	1990
10	Tairova, Elena	m	RUS	2391	19	1991
11	Mongontuul, Bathuyag	wg	MGL	2389	9	1987
12	Zawadzka, Jolanta	wg	POL	2371	20	1987
13	Melia, Salome	wg	GEO	2364	27	1987
14	Gunina, Valentina	wf	RUS	2359	35	1989
15	Foisor, Sabina-Francesca	wg	ROU	2359	32	1989
16	Muzychuk, Mariya	wm	UKR	2357	19	1992
17	Ju, Wenjun		CHN	2354	18	1991
18	Nebolsina, Vera	wm	RUS	2349	18	1989
19	Kovanova, Baira	wg	RUS	2346	19	1987
20	Vasilkova, Svetlana	wm	RUS	2343	28	1988

U.S. Chess Trust To Donate New Chess Sets To The Young Knights Chess Club

STARTING A CHESS CLUB – A CHALLENGING AND EXCITING ENDEAVOR

The U.S. Chess Trust will be donating some chess sets to this program, and an e-mail has been sent to the U.S. Chess Federation requesting further information about the Club Tournament Director’s Certification.

I would like to thank Mr. Larkin for sending us the following information, we hope it will inspire others to start a chess club !

YOUNG KNIGHTS CHESS CLUB – EDWARD J. LARKIN

I plan on teaching and promoting chess to both students new to chess and the more advanced.

By teaching a curriculum which includes board set up, how pieces move and value of each piece, concepts such as check, checkmate, castle, en passant and pawn promotion to beginners.

For students who have grasped the basics, plans are to teach in conjunction with criteria established by myself and a high school student teacher – the tools needed to prepare for tournament level chess strategy, etiquette, and rules.

Students will need to demonstrate mating strategies, tactics, board vision and control as well as testing in order to advance to various levels of certifications and recognition.

I have aligned myself with other instructors and players in Wisconsin to produce and understand knowledge to run a program consistent and worthy of U.S. Chess Federation backing. I am most interested in resources that will enable me to become an efficient USCF tournament director.

As a follow-up to a recent blog here are some pictures of a Young Knights Chess Club meeting given by the Young Leaders Academy, the school connected to the Northside YMCA in Milwaukee.

Edward J. Larkin

GM Hikaru Nakamura Won Barcelona’s Chess Tournament

BARCELONA’S CHESS TOURNAMENT

This event was held in the Casino of Barcelona (Spain) from October 18-16, 2007.

Our American Grandmaster finished with a full point ahead of the rest of the field of players.  The format of this tournament was a 9 rounds (round robin).

FINAL STANDINGS:

• #1 GM Hikaru Nakamura- 7/9
• #2 GM Leiner Perez Dominguez- 6/9
• #3-4 GM Vugar Gashimov and GM Alexander Beliavsky- 5.5/9
• #5-6 GM Rafael Vaganian and Michal Krasenkow- 4.5/9
• #7 GM Josep Pallise Oms-4/9
• #8 GM Miguel Cordoba Illescas- 3.5/9
• #9 GM Marc Dublan Narciso- 3/9
• #10 IM Jordi Fluvia, 1.5/9

Congratulations to GM Hikaru Nakamura for this impressive win and for being an excellent embassador of American Chess!

Top 20 Juniors October 2007

(FIDE) TOP 20 JUNIORS

IN THE TOP 5

• Teimour Radjabov is a leading chess player from Azerbaijan. Radjabov earned the title of International Grandmaster in March 2001 at the age of 14, making him the 2nd youngest grandmaster in history at the time.
• Magnus Carlsen is a Norwegian chess Grandmaster. On April 26, 2004 he became Grandmaster at the age of 13 yrs, 4 months, and 27 days, the 3rd youngest Grandmaster in world history, surpassed only by Sergey Karjakin and Parimarjan Negi.
• Wang Yue is a Chinese chess player. In 1999, Wang Yue was the world champion in the category under 12 yrs. On the July 2007 FIDE list he is #22 in the world and #1 in China.
• Sergey Karjakin of Ukraine became the youngest chess grandmaster in history at the age of 12 yrs and 7 months. On the FIDE list of October 2007, he is #24 in the world, #4 in the category of boys up to 20 years old and #3 in the Ukraine.
• Hikaru Nakamura is an American chess Grandmaster (GM).
  He was the youngest American ever to earn the title of National Master. In 2003, at the age of 15 yrs and 79 days, he earned the grandmaster title, breaking Bobby Fischer’s record by 3 months for youngest American to have claimed the GM title. He is the #2 player in the USA.

IN THE TOP 20

Rank	Name	Title	Country	Rating	Games	B-Year
1	Radjabov, Teimour	g	AZE	2742	9	1987
2	Carlsen, Magnus	g	NOR	2714	25	1990
3	Wang, Yue	g	CHN	2703	27	1987
4	Karjakin, Sergey	g	UKR	2694	11	1990
5	Nakamura, Hikaru	g	USA	2648	21	1987
6	Tomashevsky, Evgeny	g	RUS	2646	19	1987
7	Predojevic, Borki	g	BIH	2645	18	1987
8	Wang, Hao	g	CHN	2643	47	1989
9	Stellwagen, Daniel	g	NED	2639	19	1987
10	Wojtaszek, Radoslaw	g	POL	2635	11	1987
11	Vachier-Lagrave, Maxime	g	FRA	2634	24	1990
12	Rodshtein, Maxim	g	ISR	2615	20	1989
13	Nepomniachtchi, Ian	g	RUS	2611	11	1990
14	Laznicka, Viktor	g	CZE	2610	18	1988
15	Koneru, Humpy	g	IND	2606	27	1987
16	Caruana, Fabiano	g	ITA	2594	35	1992
17	Vitiugov, Nikita	g	RUS	2594	20	1987
18	Lysyj, Igor	g	RUS	2591	18	1987
19	Kuzubov, Yuriy	g	UKR	2582	27	1990
20	Mamedov, Rauf	g	AZE	2582	9	1988

The New Denker Tournament of H.S. Champions Page

THE NEW DENKER TOURNAMENT PAGE

The 2007 Denker Tournament held in August 2007 was a huge success!

We have now added a page to the U.S. Chess Trust Website dedicated to this wonderful event.

This page includes the Denker Rules, Schedule, Eligibility Information, Scholarship and Award Information, and much much more!

Check this page when you want to find out more or check for updates and news related to this event!

Click the link below or visit our Programs/Resources page for a list of this and other programs and events!

DENKER TOURNAMENT OF HIGH SCHOOL CHAMPIONS

Top 50 Women Chess Players !

(FIDE) TOP 50 WOMEN CHESS PLAYERS

Congratulations to all the women who made it to the Top 50 Women Chess Players list!

There are some interesting statistics associated with the top two women players in the world.

Player #1, GM Judith Polgar has ranked # 1 in the top Women’s Players list 29 times.

Player #2, GM Humpy Koneru has ranked # 1 in the top Girl’s Players list 22 times.

The best USA player in this list is IM Irina Krush , who is also our 2007 US Women’s Champion!

Rank	Name	Title	Country	Rating	Games	B-Year
1	Polgar, Judit	g	HUN	2708	9	1976
2	Koneru, Humpy	g	IND	2606	27	1987
3	Cramling, Pia	g	SWE	2531	20	1963
4	Zhu, Chen	g	QAT	2531	9	1976
5	Zhao, Xue	wg	CHN	2530	36	1985
6	Kosteniuk, Alexandra	g	RUS	2515	0	1984
7	Sebag, Marie	m	FRA	2509	12	1986
8	Hou, Yifan	wg	CHN	2502	19	1994
9	Chiburdanidze, Maia	g	GEO	2500	10	1961
10	Kosintseva, Tatiana	m	RUS	2492	10	1986
11	Ushenina, Anna	m	UKR	2486	19	1985
12	Harika, Dronavalli	m	IND	2480	28	1991
13	Krush, Irina	m	USA	2475	22	1983
14	Javakhishvili, Lela	m	GEO	2474	16	1984
15	Socko, Monika	m	POL	2473	27	1978
16	Muzychuk, Anna	wg	SLO	2469	19	1990
17	Kosintseva, Nadezhda	m	RUS	2469	10	1985
18	Hoang Thanh Trang	g	HUN	2466	0	1980
19	Cmilyte, Viktorija	m	LTU	2464	10	1983
20	Vijayalakshmi, Subbaraman	m	IND	2464	0	1979
21	Stefanova, Antoaneta	g	BUL	2463	29	1979
22	Pogonina, Natalija	wg	RUS	2462	27	1985
23	Galliamova, Alisa	m	RUS	2460	9	1972
24	Lahno, Kateryna	g	UKR	2459	9	1989
25	Danielian, Elina	m	ARM	2458	18	1978
26	Zatonskih, Anna	m	USA	2458	11	1978
27	Ruan, Lufei		CHN	2453	19	1987
28	Paehtz, Elisabeth	m	GER	2452	18	1985
29	Zhukova, Natalia	wg	UKR	2452	0	1979
30	Shen, Yang	wg	CHN	2450	21	1989
31	Khurtsidze, Nino	m	GEO	2450	0	1975
32	Kovalevskaya, Ekaterina	m	RUS	2448	19	1974
33	Dembo, Yelena	m	GRE	2448	18	1983
34	Hunt, Harriet V	m	ENG	2448	0	1978
35	Korbut, Ekaterina	m	RUS	2443	10	1985
36	Gaponenko, Inna	m	UKR	2440	55	1976
37	Skripchenko, Almira	m	FRA	2438	5	1976
38	Matveeva, Svetlana	m	RUS	2433	20	1969
39	Arakhamia-Grant, Ketevan	m	GEO	2432	26	1968
40	Bojkovic, Natasa	wg	SRB	2428	17	1971
41	Peng, Zhaoqin	g	NED	2419	10	1968
42	Li, Ruofan	wg	SIN	2417	0	1978
43	Mohota, Nisha	wg	IND	2416	57	1980
44	Dzagnidze, Nana	m	GEO	2416	27	1987
45	Huang, Qian	wm	CHN	2416	19	1986
46	Tania, Sachdev	wg	IND	2413	43	1986
47	Moser, Eva	m	AUT	2412	28	1982
48	Rajlich, Iweta	m	POL	2411	17	1981
49	Ciuksyte, Dagne	m	ENG	2411	11	1977
50	Wang, Pin	wg	CHN	2410	0	1974

The 2007 Individual Online College Chess League Tournament (Duncan Oxley Memorial)

THE ONLINE COLLEGE CHESS LEAGUE

Information provided by – Gregory Alexander (USCF College Committee Associate Chair)

The goal of the Online College Chess League is to allow all of the colleges to play together in order to strengthen the bonds of the entire college chess community.

The League has significant interest, and our tournaments are attracting new colleges year after year.

In the last several years, the synthesis between the major college chess programs, and the small chess programs has created mutual benefit. Year after year, we are making consistent improvements, and the word is getting out and we are having improved attendance and communication between all of the schools.

It is also our goal to draw the colleges into participating in a National Collegiate Chess Community so that the College Chess Committee can reach a majority of the clubs.

Allowing all of the clubs to compete against each other in a national scene helps to build better competition and fosters competitive camaraderie.

Most of the ‘average’ clubs do not have the funding to go to the Pan-Am games, and unless we gain a critical mass of colleges coming to our site, most of the colleges would not know about the Pan-Ams in the first place.

It takes club years to build a successful program, and it will take a consistent leadership to eventually gain university funding. With the credibility gained by the colleges participating in online collegiate games, the club has a much better chance to go to the administrators and prove that they deserve some extra funding to attend the Pan-Ams as they can prove that they can compete. It is our goal to allow the clubs to send the CCL results to their student papers, and eventually gain enough credibility and generate exposure so they can make a better case to gain critical funding.

2007 INDIVIDUAL ONLINE COLLEGE CHESS LEAGUE TOURNAMENT (DUNCAN OXLEY MEMORIAL)

October 14th -  November 11th 2007 Schedule :

Games are played online on Sunday afternoons at 3 pm EST ( = 2 pm CST = 1 MST pm = 12 PST).

• Round 1 — October 14
• Round 2 — October 21
• Round 3 — October 28
• Round 4 — November 4
• Round 5 — November 11

Where: All the games are played online at the Internet Chess Club “ICC” www.ChessClub.com.

Note: The ICC is offering free accounts for the event, and will also graciously offer a 33% discount on ICC accounts for all student participants after the tournament!

This tournament is open to all student chess players in the Americas and we will announce several category winners.

Awards:

While there are no cash awards or trophies, the following categories will be recognized and advertised:

• Top 10 overall
• Top Individual U2000
• Top Individual U1800
• Top Individual U1600
• Top Individual U1400
• Top Individual Unrated
• Best Individual from a Community College
• Top 10 Overall- Females

A quick note from our Tournament Directors: Jon Haskel, Sara Walsh and Gregory Alexander.

• 1. Players will be allowed to take up two 1/2 point byes. Byes for round 5 must be reported prior to the start of the round 4 games.
• 2. If a player has ever had a USCF rating and it is not properly listed for that player, it must be reported to the CCL administrators ASAP so the correction can be made. Remember that once rated always rated, so if you have a USCF rating and your last rating was from 10 years ago, you must use that rating. Do not list an ICC rating for yourself. If you do not have a USCF rating, but have some other established rating, you may request that the other rating be used rather than being listed as unrated. If it is determined that you are a class winner at the end of the tournament and it is reported to us that an incorrect rating was used, you may lose that title. Any corrections reported by others must be reported within 10 days of the conclusion of the tournament.
• 3. Players not showing up within 30 minutes of the start of a round will be forfeited. The players will also be removed from the remainder of the tournament unless they subsequently contact the administrators and the administrators allow them back in. For the 1st round only, players may be repaired if their opponent is a no-show.

If you would like to follow this event on-line, you can log on for free at ICC and root for your players, and watch the games.

For more information check www.collegechessleague.com.

Blindfold Chess World Cup- Bilbao, Spain October 16-20, 2007

BLINDFOLD CHESS WORLD CUP

Chinese grandmaster (GM) Bu Xianghzi wins Blindfold World Cup.

GM Bu Xiangzhi, 22, was for some time the youngest chess player in world to obtain the Grand Master Chess title when he was just 13 years old.

He led the event from start to finish, losing only one game in the last round against GM Judith Polgar.

His FIDE rating performance was a remarkable 3000 ELO !

THE FINAL STANDING WAS:

In this event players earn three points for every game they win, one point for every draw and zero points for every loss.

In this 10-round Blindfold Chess World Cup all six players played two games per day and each player has 25 minutes plus 10 second incremental time per move.

Throughout the five days of the Blind Chess World Cup, a fully equipped stage was set up in the Sheraton Hotel to allow the public to follow the matches on giant screens,while they watched and listened to the analysis, commentary and interviews offered by the Chess Grandmasters Boris Spassky, Ubilava, Lubojevic, Txelu and Fernandez.

The key game for Bu Xianghzi was against Norway’s GM Magnus Carlsen for the leadership at the Blindfold Chess World Cup.

This was a very interesting event, that included many special features besides the fact that the games were played blindfolded.

One more rule that distinguished this Championship for other events, is that players were not allowed to agree to draws, but the Tournament Director can decide if a game is drawn by applying one of the following rules:

• The position repeats itself three times, perpetual check, and any other theoretically drawn positions.

These types of events are experimental, aiming to make chess more attractive to the media.

Although, in Spain , chess is very popular, and a chess market exists that allows professional players to make a living from chess.

In the USA, we are facing a different reality and many prominent players are more actively engaged in teaching rather than playing because scholastic and youth chess offer better opportunities for them than participating in tournaments in the USA.

As always, your opinions/comments are welcome!

Schein – Friedman Scholastic Recognition Project, In Cooperation With The U.S. Chess Trust

SCHEIN-FRIEDMAN SCHOLASTIC RECOGNITION PROJECT

By Joan DuBois/Aviv Friedman

Mark Schein and Aviv Friedman, in cooperation with the U.S. Chess Trust, are happy to announce their new scholastic project.

The project is a two-tier program, designed to help some of our younger champions improve and dedicate themselves more to chess, while offsetting the financial expenses that usually come with those.

Hopefully the project will reward excelling youngsters, and help them become tomorrows best players and Grandmasters. At the same time they would be serving as role models and inspiration to the entire scholastic community.

The program is generally designed for youngsters age 7-17.

Occasionally, in cases of unusual excellence (considerably exceeding the programs criterions), applications by players up to age 20 would be considered.

THERE ARE 3 ANNUAL SCHOLARSHIPS IN PLACE:

The top recipient will get $6000; the second recipient will get $4000; and the third $2500.

Additionally, the project will run a week long chess camp for 10 or so leading juniors, with a Grandmaster instructor.

Applicants must have been U.S .citizens or permanent legal residents for a minimum of 18 months prior to the deadline date (February 1st for 2008).

They must show dedication to chess, talent and accomplishment, a will to work hard and improve, as well as good sportsmanship and a positive attitude.

THE MINIMUM RATINGS QUALIFICATION FORMULA IS AS FOLLOWS:

• Ages 7-14: age * 100 + 1000 for boys, and age * 100 + 800 for girls.
• Ages 15-16: age * 100 + 900 for boys, and age * 100 + 700 for girls.
• Age 17: 2500 for boys, 2400 for girls.

Applicants must be active tournament players. Playing in open events or sections above the lowest allowed – a bonus.

All applications should be in the form of an essay, describing the applicants chess accomplishments, and why he or she should receive a scholarship.

WHERE TO SEND THE APPLICATION:

Applications should be sent via e-mail to Aviv Friedman at avivster@hotmail.com .

Have a comment or question? Just post them here !

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