Agarwal Shoots for Cadet Title

NM Rohan Agarwal of Fremont sits in first place at the US Cadet Invitational (under 16) in Crossville, Tennessee. He beat Jarod Pamatmat (Texas) and Deepak Aaron (New York) and drew with Christian Tanaka (Southern California). All three of his young opponents are rated in the low 2200s; in fact, two earned the NM title within the past month. Master or not, they were unable to handle the wild tactical complications that Rohan prefers in all of his games. A special mention goes to Rohan's mentor Richard Shorman, who inspired his aggressive playing style. (Photo by Shorman at ChessDryad.)

Update on July 10: Congratulations to national U16 champion Andrew Ng from New Jersey! Rohan finished in 3rd place at the US Cadet, losing a pivotal contest in a 100+ move queen endgame. Final standings: Ng 5.5, Shen 5.0, Agarwal 4.5 (all out of 7).

Roster for US Cadet Invitational
(age as of May 1, but the eligibility cutoff was Jan 1)

• Victor Shen, 2320, 16, NJ
  
• Deepak Aaron, 2216, 14, NY
  
• Christian Tanaka, 2212, 15, CA/S
  
• Rohan Agarwal, 2207, 16, CA/N
  
• Jarod Pamatmat, 2201, 12, TX
  
• Michael Yang, 2191, 14, MN
  
• Andrew Ng, 2168, 14, NJ
  
• Matthew Dahl, 2122, 15, MN
  

I will maintain round-by-round updates on my Twitter feed at the right sidebar of my blog. For more information, check out this press release and a brief report on Chess Life Online.