June Top 100 Lists

(Left: NM Rohan Agarwal and IM Sam Shankland. Center: FM Danya Naroditsky and NM Steven Zierk. Right: Vignesh Panchanatham and Cameron Wheeler.)

The USCF posted the June Top 100 lists, including all tournaments rated by May 1 and an age cutoff also on May 1. Please note that the CalChess Scholastics on May 2-3 did not make the cutoff and will be rated on the July rating supplement.

I also finally updated the CalChess Top 100 lists for the first time since last October. Sadly, nobody else appears willing to dedicate 2-3 hours every other month to maintain these rankings, leaving the dirty work to me. Gee thanks!

Nine Northern California players have earned my gold medal distinction for being ranked in the top 5 of the country for their age. Three kids are ranked #1 in June: Tanuj Vasudeva (1767 at age 7), Samuel Sevian (2003 at age 8) and the veteran FM Danya Naroditsky (2378 at age 13). Congratulations to these three stars and best of luck in pursuit of their goals (IM title for Danya, NM for Samuel and 1800 + 2000 for Tanuj). A fourth #1 would have been NM Nicholas Nip, but his USCF membership expired at the end of February and, regretably, his family and coaches apparently chose other activities.

The two highest rated high school students in the Bay Area, IM Sam Shankland and NM Steven Zierk, are both ranked #2 at their age. Two middle school students, NM Greg Young and CalChess K-12 champion Yian Liou, check in at #3. Finally, I would like to welcome National K-3 champion Cameron Wheeler and the "master gambiteer" NM Rohan Agarwal as they earn their first gold medals on my blog!

GOLD MEDAL (top 5)
Tanuj Vasudeva (#1 age 7)
Samuel Sevian (#1 age 8)
Cameron Wheeler (#5 age 8)
Yian Liou (#3 age 11)
FM Danya Naroditsky (#1 age 13)
NM Greg Young (#3 age 14)
NM Steven Zierk (#2 age 15)
NM Rohan Agarwal (#5 age 16)
IM Sam Shankland (#2 age 17)

Players ranked in the top 10 and top 25 of the country also deserve a special recognition. The names shown in bold and italics are all current or former students of mine.

SILVER MEDAL (top 10)
Rayan Taghizadeh (#7 age 6)
Arun Khemani (#9 age 6)
John Canessa (#10 age 7)
Kesav Viswanadha (#9 age 9)
Jack Zhu (#8 age 10)

BRONZE MEDAL (top 25)
Alisha Chawla, Jeffrey Tao, Allan Beilin, Vignesh Panchanatham, Armaan Kalyanpur, Neel Apte, Kyle Shin, Daniel Zheng, Jerome Sun, Daniel Liu, Hemang Jangle, Hayk Manvelyan, Adarsh Konda, Michael Zhong