Home Page 
Chess Life Online 2014 June Third Annual ChessKid Online National Invitational Championship
Chess Life Online 2014 June Third Annual ChessKid Online National Invitational Championship | Third Annual ChessKid Online National Invitational Championship |
|
|
| By Mike Klein | |
| June 4, 2014 | |
|
The 2014 ChessKid National Online Invitational Championship will take place live on ChessKid.com TV and will feature 30 of the nation's best and brightest young players. Included in the field are four national masters, a senior master, and many USCF National Schaolastic champions and World Youth medalists. New for this year is a "6 and Under" section. Although five of the six players have turned seven since qualifying, the lone six-year-old has a peak rating above 1600! The event, which is an officially recognized national championship by the USCF, will consist of five sections of six-player round robins. Games will be Friday June 6 to Sunday June 8, 2014 and will feature live commentary from ChessKid.com Director of Content FM Mike Klein and Vice-President IM Danny Rensch. 6 and Under 1 Raphael Manahan -1210 2 Chen, Andrew- 1435, NJ 3 Arthur Xu-1368, IL 4 Lucas Foerster-Yialamas-1575, NY 5 Anshul Gokul-1154, GA 6 Vishnu Vanapalli-1515, NC 8 and Under 1 Justin Wang -1839, TX 2 Benjamin Medina-1845, NY 3 Atreya Vaidya-1866 , TX 4 Winston Ni-1826 , NJ 5 Andrew Tang-1761, TX 6 Chinguun Bayaraa-1842, CA 10 and Under 1 Kevin Chor-1943, AZ 2 Ajay Krishnan-1931, CA 3 Kevin S. Yang-2001, CA 4 Daniel Levkov-1893, NY 5 Anthony Ge-1944, CA 6 Alexander Costello-1942, CA 12 and Under 1 Praveen Balakrishnan-2294, NJ 2 John M. Burke-2271, NJ 3 Ruifeng Li-2409, TX 4 Marcell Szabo-2140, WA 5 Albert Lu-2250, CA 6 Michael Wang -2216, CA Girls 13 and Under 1 Anupama Rajendra, 1976, WI 2 Camille Kao-1887 3 Emily Nguyen-2051, TX 4 Chenyi Zhao-1665, CA 5 Julia Sevilla-1823 ,CA 6 Priya Trakru- 1910, TX
All games will be played on Chess.com with a time control of G/90+30 second increment. Games are USCF rated and many players will be playing at their local chess clubs for added exposure. All games and commentary can be watched live at Chess.com TV or ChessKid.com TV. Further rules and regulations can be found here. Ten different states are represented. California leads the way with 10 participants, including 66 percent in the 10 and Under section. Texas constibutes six players; New York and New Jersey each bring four. Highlighting the highest-rated in each section, Lucas Foerster-Yialamas of New York City is also the youngest in the 6 and Under group. He plays under the name "ThirstyDonkey" on ChessKid.com and won the K-1 section at the 2013 USCF K-12 Grade Nationals, scoring a perfect 7-0.  Here he shows that he's too young to just shake hands in an equal ending - Lucas only knows how to play for a win: 7405 The 8 and Under section is tightly compacted. Atreya Vaidya of Plano, Texas leads the way, but four of his five competitors are within 40 rating points.  Atreya once won $300 in a chess tournament before his 5th birthday. He is a ChessKid Online Nationals veteran - finishing third last year in the same section. Here he is at last year's World Youths, showing the same sort of endgame tenacity that Lucas manifested. 7404 Kevin Yang is one of three boys from the San Diego, California area in the 10 and Under section. He recently became an Expert, thanks in large part to a great performance at the 2014 National High School Championship. Kevin Chor has also been above 2000 and was a 2013 Pan-Am Youth Gold Medalist. He finished second place in the 2013 ChessKid Online National Invitational. Here Kevin earns a wild win at the World Youths: 7406 Ruifeng Li, also of Plano, Texas, leads all players at 2409! 
He has a World Youth Silver Medal to his credit and recently even got the chance to play world #15 GM Wesley So.
---
Continuing the theme of endgame perseverance, how about this 126-move win!
7407 Finally we come to the Girls 13 and Under Section, where Expert Emily Nguyen of Austin, Texas leads the pack. She will look to rebound from last year's last-place finish in the same section (she was the second-to-last seed last year). She led this year's National Elementary Championships (K-6 section) after five rounds, eventually finishing 6th. Here she shows good understanding of playing against the isolated queen pawn. 7408 |