699 young chess players participated in the U. S. Chess Federation�s 2003 National Youth Action Chess Championship held November 14, 15, 16, 2003 in Rockford, Illinois at the Clock Tower Resort and Conference Center.

The 2003 National Youth Action Chess Championship was a nine round Swiss system tournament played with a time control of game in 30 minutes. Each player played nine different opponents. Each player had 30 minutes for each game, so the maximum duration for any games was one hour. Three or more players from the same chess club could participate as a team, and the scores of the four highest scoring players from the same team in each section were added together to form the team score for that section.

Section Champions:

• Primary K-3: Darren Hou with 8.0
• Elementary K-6: Zach Kasiurak with 8.5
• Junior High K-9: Peter Yeh with 8.0
• High School K-12: Zachary J. Beach with 8.0

Team Champions:

• Primary K-3: West Suburban CC from Minnesota with 27.5 points.
• Elementary K-6: Chess Utopia from Grayslake, Illinois with 29.5 points.
• Junior High K-9: Chicago All Stars from Chicago, Illinois with 26.5 points.
• High School K-12: Page High School from Franklin, Tennessee with 26 points.

The opening event for the weekend was a blitz tournament held on November 14. Blitz chess is played with a time control of five minutes per player per game! Frankie Swindell won the Blitz K-6 with a final score of 5.0. The Blitz K-12 was won by Kayin Barclay with a final score of 4.5.

Next years 2004 National Youth Action Chess Championship will be held in Hershey, PA November 12-14, 2004 at the Hershey Resort.

The United States Chess Federation, founded in 1939, serves as the governing body for chess in the United States and is devoted to extending the role of chess in American society. It promotes the study and knowledge of the game of chess, for its own sake as an art and enjoyment, and as a means for the improvement of society. The USCF is a not-for-profit membership organization with more than 90,000 members. For more information, please see http://www.uschess.org.