CalChess Top 20 for Age 12-17

(Photo of FMs Danya and Steven from the 2008 CalChess Scholastics, where they shared top honors in the High School championship.)

The CalChess scholastic rankings keep becoming stronger and stronger. Ten players on the Top 20 for Age 12-17 are rated over 2000 and the next ten are over 1900; just 3-4 years ago, the 20th spot was well into the low 1800s. Incredibly, five ranked players are just 12 years old, with plenty of room to grow over the coming years.

Even with the graduation of IM Sam Shankland last June, there are still five active young Masters in the Bay Area. Two recently broke 2400 USCF, earning the distinction of 'Senior Master' in addition to the FIDE Master title. Congratulations Danya and Steven! And Evan Sandberg is racing to break 2200, having gained an impressive 77 points in two months.

CalChess Top 20 for Age 12-17
(February 2010 rating and points gained in last two months;
fpawn students, both present and former, are shown in bold)
Corrected February 1.

1. FM Naroditsky, Daniel (2426, +51, age 14)
2. FM Zierk, Steven (2417, +30, age 16)
3. NM Young, Gregory (2282, +10, age 14)
4. NM Liou, Yian (2211, -15, age 12)
5. NM Agarwal, Rohan (2204, 0, age 16)
6. Sandberg, Evan (2162, +77, age 16)
7. Manvelyan, Hayk (2064, +12, age 16)
8. Shin, Kyle (2052, -14, age 12)
   
9. Karas, Nicholas (2042, -3, age 16)
10. Liou, Arthur (2010, -4, age 15)
11. Lin, Michael (1974, 0, age 17)
12. Yeh, Andrew (1972, 0, age 14)
13. Bekker, Sam (1953, 0, age 14)
14. Liu, Daniel (1940, +11, age 12)
15. Xiao, Ted (1930,+41, age 14)
16. Kwok, James (1919, +71, age 12)
17. Chillakanti, Mukund (1907, 0, age 15)
18. Sun, Jerome (1907, 0, age 12)
19. Li, Changhe (1904, 0, age 13)
20. Frei, Thadeus (1903, +113, age 16)