The United States Chess Federation is pleased to announce that the following players have qualified to compete in the 2008 World Youth Chess Championship to be held in Vung Tau, Vietnam, from October 19th – 31st.   The top players by rating in each age category are considered the official representatives.  The delegation to the 2007 World Youth in Antalya, Turkey, included thirty-three players plus family and coaches for a total of seventy-three persons.

Players may qualify to represent the United States by being established as one of the three highest rated candidates by peak post-tournament rating in the previous 12 months ending with events included in the April Rating Supplement.  They may also qualify by being within 50 rating points or less from the third qualifying spot.  A player may also qualify by personal right by achieving a medal at the World Youth in the previous year or by achieving a Gold Medal at the previous Pan American Youth Festival.  Qualifying by personal right this year from the 2007 World Youth is Daniel Naroditsky who won the Gold medal in the Under 12 age group in Turkey. 

The official website for the tournament is http://wycc2008.vietnamchess.com/default.htm

The first player listed in each age group below has qualified as the official representative. Congratulations to all of the players who qualified for the 2008 World Youth!

GIRLS UNDER 18
MELEKHINA, ALISA         PA       
MARSHALL, ABBY            VA       
JAMISON, COURTNEY      TX       
LIVSCHITZ, LOUIZA        CA       
KERR, JULIA                    NY       

GIRLS UNDER 16
LIU, JENNIE                    NJ       
DAI, YANG                      VA       
MCVAY, KARSTEN            NJ       

GIRLS UNDER 14
KATS, ALENA                  NY       
ROBINSON, DARRIAN     NY       
WU, KATHERINE             VA       
MATLIN, ANNA R             NJ       
LITVAK, EVE V                NJ       

GIRLS UNDER 12
CHIANG, SARAH            TX       
YANG, SYLVIA               TX       
LEE, MEGAN                 WA       
XIANG, ELLEN               TX       
ZHU, CAROLINE            TX       


GIRLS UNDER 10
LIAO, SIMONE               CA       
XIANG, EVAN                 TX       
HUA, MARGARET            MO       


GIRLS UNDER 8
LIU, HANNAH                TX       
SINGH, REVA                NY       
GUILLEN, SARAI           TX       
CHAWLA, ALISHA         CA       


BOYS UNDER 18
HESS, ROBERT             NY
LUDWIG, DANIEL         FL
CRITELLI, JAMES         CT
YEAGER, DANIEL          PA
JU, EVAN                      NJ
HARPER, WARREN        TX
PARRY, MATT                NY


BOYS UNDER 16
ARNOLD, MARC            NY
HEIMANN, MARK           PA
LEE, MICHAEL              WA
HEIMANN, ALEXANDER         PA
SHEN, VICTOR              NJ
GETZ, ALEC                  NY

BOYS UNDER 14
ROBSON, RAY               FL
NARODITSKY, DANIEL   CA
ZHAO, PARKER             NY
YOUNG, GREGORY        CA

BOYS UNDER 12
YANG, DARWIN                       TX
LUO, BRIAN                            WI
PAMATMAT, JAROD                  TX
VELIKANOV, ALEXANDER        WI
OSTROVSKIY, ALEKSANDR       NY
VARADARAJ, SRIKAR                OH

BOYS UNDER 10
NIP, NICHOLAS                 CA
WU, CHRISTOPHER            NJ
MOON, BENJAMIN              GA
BRATTAIN, MIKA                 MA
HARMON, LUKE                  ID
KARAMSETTY, JEEVAN        VA



BOYS UNDER 8
CHIANG, JONATHAN        TX
SUN, RAYMOND               TX
HE, OUTENG                   TX