NorCal Top 20 - September 2018

US Champion Sam Shankland has fun teaching talented
kids at the US Chess School. (Credit: US Chess School)

NorCal Top 20 Adults
September 2018

Rank	Name	USCF	FIDE
1	GM Shankland, Sam	2816	2722
2	GM Zviad Izoria	2718	2601
3	GM Naroditsky, Daniel	2691	2615
4	GM Holt, Conrad	2688	2561
5	GM Zierk, Steven	2565	2506
6	IM Harmon-Vellotti, Luke	2563	2455
7	GM Matamoros, Carlos (ECU)	2561	2494
8	IM Joshua Sheng	2550	2447
9	GM Sevillano, Enrico	2535	2423
10	IM Wheeler, Cameron	2503	2406
11	IM Liou, Yian	2499	2412
12	IM Kavutskiy, Kostya	2472	2424
13	SM Hong, Andrew Z	2467	2357
14	IM Viswanadha, Kesav	2457	2367
15	IM Zilberstein, Dmitry	2454	2378
16	IM Coleman, Teddy	2452	2378
17	IM Panchanatham, Vignesh	2451	2383
18	SM Zhu, Jack Q	2437	2373
19	SM Bick, Gabriel	2429	2381
20	SM Yoo, Christopher W	2414	2402

• Derived from US Chess Rating Lists by State.
• GM Negi moved to Massachusetts.
• GM Holt and GM Sevillano listed under other states.
• Newcomers GM Zierk (welcome back!) and IM Sheng.
• SM Bick enters list after playing abroad for a year.
• GM DeFirmian and IM Donaldson mostly inactive.

NorCal Top 20 JHS & High School (Age 12-17)

Local stars FM Josiah Stearman and FM Rayan Taghizadeh squared off at the
US Cadet (U16) Invitational in San Jose last month. (Credit: BayAreaChess)

NorCal Top 100 Lists and NorCal Top 20 Juniors
August 2018

Rank	Age	Name	USCF	Change	FIDE
1	13	FM Hong, Andrew Z	2454	33	2377
2	14	FM Stearman, Josiah P	2416	111	2346
3	16	FM Taghizadeh, Rayan	2402	-41	2302
4	15	NM Ke, Ivan	2351	37	2238
5	13	FM Daggupati, Balaji	2329	57	2226
6	16	NM Wang, Michael	2323	-15	2133
7	17	WIM Eswaran, Ashritha	2256	52	2243
8	12	NM Wu, Rochelle	2252	141	2094
9	17	NM Ravuri, Vinesh	2239	68	2050
10	13	NM Kolay, Alex	2220	141	2115
11	15	NM Wu, Derek S	2220	161	2050
12	15	nm Murugappan, Ganesh	2193	69	2076
13	17	FM Vasudeva, Tanuj	2184	-2	2013
14	15	Wang, Henry	2182	117	1970
15	15	Feng, Justin	2173	43	1987
16	15	Pan, David	2162	67	1979
17	12	Nathan, Krishna	2152	188	1894
18	17	Wei, Jeffrey	2150	19	1965
19	12	Pan, Kevin	2148	92	2040
20	17	nm Pan, Christopher	2145	-61	2045

• Derived from August 2018 US Chess Top 100 Lists.
• Age as of August 1, 2018.
• Rating Change from August 2017.

NorCal Top 20 Elementary (Age 11 & Under)

11 year old FM Christopher Yoo won a brilliancy against GM Conrad Holt to
complete his second IM norm this month in Berkeley. (Credit: Chessdryad)

NorCal Top 100 Lists and NorCal Top 20 Juniors
August 2018

Rank	Age	Name	USCF	Change	FIDE
1	11	FM Yoo, Christopher W	2414	140	2378
2	10	NM Li, Eric Y	2207	158	2008
3	11	Yan, Rui Y	2133	167	1852
4	11	Vidyarthi, Vyom	2105	132	1912
5	10	Kondakov, Adrian	2057	133	1948
6	11	Boldi, Ethan K	2011	139	1879
7	10	CM Krishnakumar, Sriram	1978	22	1675
8	10	Shivakumar, Shawnak	1919	131	1713
9	11	CM Nachiappan, Aghilan	1911	94	1631
10	11	Sairam, Pranav	1866	57
11	11	Kamath, Atul R	1832	66	1478
12	9	CM Nath, Nitish	1811	187	1506
13	9	Sivakumar, Shaaketh	1792	109	1522
14	11	WCM Wong, Allyson	1746	107	1479
15	10	Le, Nikko D	1745	96
16	11	Zhou, Nolan Y	1742	128
17	10	Weng, Nicholas	1737	138
18	7	Rajaram, Rohan	1718	505	1321
19	9	WCM Rajaram, Anika	1706	181	1371
20	11	Kou, Daniel	1703	-71	1444

• Derived from August 2018 US Chess Top 100 Lists.
• Age as of August 1, 2018.
• Rating Change from August 2017.

NorCal Top 20 Girls

Rui Yang Yan also played at the
Women's Western Regional in
Berkeley. (Credit: Chessdryad)

NM Rochelle Wu took first place
at the Women's Western Regional
in Berkeley. (Credit: Chessdryad)

NorCal Top 100 Lists and NorCal Top 20 Juniors
August 2018

Rank	Age	Name	USCF	Change	FIDE
1	17	WIM Eswaran, Ashritha	2256	52	2243
2	12	NM Wu, Rochelle	2252	141	2094
3	11	Yan, Rui Y	2133	167	1852
4	15	WFM Liu, Kimberly	2012	33	1877
5	15	Nayberg, Simona	1954	114	1880
6	17	Chatterjee, Trina	1913	53	1748
7	12	WCM Eswaran, Aksithi	1876	86	1757
8	13	WFM Meiyappan, Annapoorni	1843	-25	1631
9	16	Show, Serafina	1836	23	1550
10	14	WCM Garai, Antara	1826	-40	1556
11	17	Hasteer, Divija	1775	-35	1544
12	11	WCM Wong, Allyson	1746	107	1479
13	12	Zhou, Chelsea	1733	343
14	15	Gomboluudev, Enkhjin C	1720	55	1676
15	9	WCM Rajaram, Anika	1706	181	1371
16	8	WCM Vidyarthi, Omya	1679	351	1145
17	10	WCM Pang, Ashley	1666	80	1604
18	14	Chen, Ashleann	1616	-66
19	13	Wang, Agnes Z	1592	85
20	11	Lee, Yesun	1591	214

• Derived from August 2018 US Chess Top 100 Lists.
• Age as of August 1, 2018.
• Rating Change from August 2017.

NorCal Top 20 JHS & High School (Age 12-17)

Presenting the three young Bay Area International Masters: Cameron Wheeler,
Vignesh Panchanatham and Kesav Viswanadha. Credit: USChess and ChessDryad
USCF Rating List
July 2017
Age as of July 1

1. IM Wheeler, Cameron (16) 2486
2. IM Panchanatham, Vignesh (17) 2477
3. IM Viswanadha, Kesav (17) 2471
4. SM Hong, Andrew Z (12) 2422
5. SM Taghizadeh, Rayan (14) 2417
6. FM Jirasek, Ladia (16) 2369
7. NM Wang, Michael (15) 2338
8. NM Banik, Siddharth (16) 2321
9. NM Ke, Ivan (14) 2303
10. FM Stearman, Josiah P (13) 2290
11. NM Nagarajan, Pranav (17) 2264
12. NM Daggupati, Balaji (12) 2247
13. WIM Eswaran, Ashritha (16) 2231
14. NM Chow, Colin (17) 2223
15. NM Zhao, Art (17) 2218
16. NM Yi, Richard (17) 2211
17. nm Wang, Michael Lei (17) 2194
18. Pan, Christopher (16) 2192
19. Ravuri, Vinesh (16) 2170
20. nm Iyengar, Udit (17) 2161

http://www.fpawn.com/NorCalTop20Juniors.pdf

NorCal Top 20 Elementary (Age 11 & Under)

Christopher Yoo became the youngest master in US history
at 30 days before his 10th birthday. Credit: USChess

USCF Rating List
July 2017
Age as of July 1

1. NM Yoo, Christopher (10) 2235
2. CM Bayaraa, Chinguun (11) 2112
3. WCM Wu, Rochelle (11) 2082
4. Pan, Kevin (11) 2051
5. Li, Eric Yuhan (9) 2040
6. Palusa, Maurya (11) 1974
7. Yan, Rui Yang (10) 1970
8. Vidyarthi, Vyom (10) 1958
9. Nathan, Krishna (11) 1953
10. CM Krishnakumar, Sriram (8) 1945
11. Kondakov, Adrian (9) 1884
12. Peng, Andrew Wayne (11) 1876
13. Boldi, Ethan (10) 1838
14. Sairam, Pranav (10) 1809
15. WCM Eswaran, Aksithi (11) 1801
16. Thirumalai, Atul (11) 1800
17. CM Nachiappan, Aghilan (10) 1795
18. Shivakumar, Shawnak (9) 1781
19. Kamath, Atul (10) 1766
20. Zhang, Nathaniel A (11) 1763

http://www.fpawn.com/NorCalTop20Juniors.pdf

NorCal Top 20 Women

Some top women are just girls. Here 10 y/o Rui Yan (white) faces California newcomer
11 y/o Rochelle Wu at the 2017 People's Tournament. Credit: Bay Area Chess

USCF Rating List
July 2017

1. WIM Eswaran, Ashritha 2231
2. WFM Byambaa, Uyanga (MGL) 2232
3. NM Tsodikova, Natalya 2202
4. WFM Tsegmed Munkhchuluun (MGL) 2132
5. Saikhanchimeg Tsogtsaikhan (MGL) 2128
6. WCM Wu, Rochelle 2082
7. Yan, Rui Yang 1970
8. Liu, Kimberly 1941
9. WIM Haring, Ruth 1938
10. Li, Sophia 1881
11. Chatterjee, Trina 1860
12. WCM Garai, Antara 1854
13. Goodkind, Lauren 1849
14. Ravindran, Ashwini (IND) 1849
15. Nayberg, Simona 1840
16. Hasteer, Divija 1810
17. WCM Eswaran, Aksithi 1801
18. Show, Serafina 1796
19. Goodkind, Barbara 1795
20. Meiyappan, Annapoorni 1760

http://www.fpawn.com/NorCalTopAdults.pdf

NorCal Top 20

Two future Grandmasters battle at the 2007 CalChess Scholastics.
Daniel Naroditsky plays white against Sam Shankland. Credit: ChessDryad

USCF Rating List

July 2017

1. GM Shankland, Sam 2752
2. GM Negi, Parimarjan (IND) 2742
3. GM Naroditsky, Daniel 2733
4. GM Zviad Izoria 2702
5. GM Holt, Conrad 2647
6. GM Chirila, Ioan Cristian (ROU) 2630
7. GM DeFirmian, Nick 2576
8. IM Zierk, Steven 2555
9. GM Sevillano, Enrico 2510
10. IM Wheeler, Cameron 2486
11. IM Panchanatham, Vignesh 2477
12. IM McCambridge, Vincent 2475
13. IM Viswanadha, Kesav 2471
14. SM Sharma, Arun 2468
15. IM Zilberstein, Dmitry 2466
16. IM Kavutskiy, Kostya 2456
17. IM Coleman, Teddy 2440
18. IM DeGuzman, Ricardo (PHI) 2431
19. SM Zhu, Jack Q 2422
20. SM Hong, Andrew Z 2421

http://www.fpawn.com/NorCalTopAdults.pdf

NorCal Top 20 for January 2017

Bay Area star GM Sam Shankland faces Super-GM Levon Aronian at 2015 World Team Championship.

NorCal Top 20
January 2017 USCF ratings

1. GM Sam Shankland 2755
2. GM Parimarjan Negi 2742
3. GM Daniel Naroditsky 2732
4. GM Cristian Chirila 2593
5. GM Nick DeFirmian 2566
6. IM Steven Zierk 2559
7. IM-e Cameron Wheeler 2479
8. SM Arun Sharma 2468
9. IM Kesav Viswanadha 2456
10. IM Vignesh Panchanatham 2450
11. IM Ricardo DeGuzman 2431 
12. IM David Pruess 2408
13. IM Ray Kaufman 2402
14. NM Faik Aleskerov 2399
15. NM Jack Zhu 2399
16. FM Rayan Taghizadeh 2375
17. NM Andrew Hong 2370
18. FM Andy Lee 2361
19. NM Daniel Schwarz 2360
20. NM Ladia Jirasek 2343

In general, all players have completed one Bay Area tournament within the past year. Exceptions made for local titled players who are active out of state or abroad. 

Honorable Mention (players with local roots who have been less active recently)

• GM Vinay Bhat 2570
• IM Yian Liou 2500
• IM Vincent McCambridge 2496
• IM Vladimir Mezentsev 2435
• IM John Donaldson 2412

NorCal Top Adults - January 2016

GM Negi studies at Stanford University (credit: Stanford Daily)

1. GM Negi, Parimarjan 2734 USCF 2664 FIDE
2. GM Shankland, Sam 2723 2638
3. GM Naroditsky, Daniel 2710 2634
4. GM Chirila, Cristian 2599 2536



GM Chirila

5. GM Barbosa, Oliver 2593 2508
6. GM De Firmian, Nick 2583 2508
7. GM Kraai, Jesse 2573 2510
8. GM Bhat, Vinay 2570 2519
9. IM Mc Cambridge, Vincent 2515 2465
10. IM Liou, Yian 2500 2414
11. SM Sharma, Arun 2456 2362
12. IM Mezentsev, Vladimir 2444 2359
13. FM Wheeler, Cameron 2436 2369
14. IM Pruess, David 2416 2350
15. FM Panchanatham, Vignesh 2416 2344
16. IM Viswanadha, Kesav 2415 2359
17. FM Lee, Andy 2391 2317
18. IM De Guzman, Ricardo 2387 2363
19. FM Critelli, James 2366 2273
20. IM Kaufman, Ray 2337 2315

http://www.fpawn.com/NorCalTopAdults.pdf

Bay Area Teenage Mutant Chess Masters

Future GMs: Daniel Naroditsky (white) squares off against Sam Shankland in 2007.

Over the past decade, the Bay Area has become an incubator for the development of young chess talents.  Indeed, school age masters used to be a rare breed, with no more than one or two gracing local tournaments at the same time.  This changed at the 2006 CalChess Scholastics, which saw a quartet of masters compete in the K-12 section.  Moreover, two of the experts participating that year would go on to earn the highest title in chess: Grandmaster!

Today, the roster of teenage masters has mutated.  It no longer numbers in single figures, but rather in the 20s!  Only a few states around the country can boast that many adult masters.  Some of the most talented juniors earn the NM title already at age 10 or 11.

NorCal K-12 Masters (Age and January 2016 USCF rating)

1. FM Wheeler, Cameron (15) 2436 (photo at right)
   
2. IM Viswanadha, Kesav (16) 2416
3. FM Panchanatham, Vignesh (15) 2415
4. NM Zhu, Jack Qijie (17) 2313
5. FM Taghizadeh, Rayan (13) 2312
6. NM Hong, Andrew Z (11) 2306
7. NM Banik, Siddharth G (15) 2265
8. NM Jirasek, Ladia (15) 2257
9. NM Zhao, Art (16) 2242
10. WIM Eswaran, Ashritha (15) 2238
11. NM Beilin, Allan J (16) 2231
12. NM Virtanen, Teemu (16) 2230
13. NM Klotz-Burwell, Hunter (17) 2225
14. NM Bick, Gabriel J (16) 2223
15. NM Wang, Michael (14) 2217
16. NM Nagarajan, Pranav (16) 2217
17. NM Chow, Colin (16) 2209
18. NM Apte, Neel (17) 2205
19. NM Iyengar, Udit (15) 2205
20. NM Stearman, Josiah P (12) 2203 (photo at right)
21. nm Wang, Michael Lei (16) 2196*
22. FM Vasudeva, Tanuj (14) 2186*
23. nm Liu, Daniel (18) 2159*

 * previously broke 2200, but slipped back down

In addition, several local juniors have been awarded the Candidate Master title by the World Chess Federation in recognition of excellent performance at international youth tournaments.  These young stars are well on track to become masters themselves.

• CM Senthilkumar, Pranav (13) 1975
• CM Bayaraa, Chinguun (10) 1889 (photo at right)
• WCM Garai, Antara (11) 1821
• WCM Zhao, Chenyi (12) 1775
• CM Nachiappan, Aghilan (8) 1743
• WCM Eswaran, Aksithi (9) 1709

Make sure to check out the NorCal Top 20 Juniors at my chess teaching website.
Photo credit: Richard Shorman at ChessDryad.

Sam Sevian Plays in Armenia

Sevian begins his game against Petrosyan. (Photo: Armen Sevian)

What has former Bay Area resident GM Sam Sevian been up to lately?  Readers of my blog may have noticed that he declined to participate in the US Junior Closed.  Apparently, America's youngest Grandmaster ever has bigger fish to fry these days.

Instead of Saint Louis, Sam chose to play in a category XV (average of 2618) invitational at Lake Sevan in Armenia.  The 10 players include 5 of the top 20 juniors in the world: Vladislav Artemiev (2660, RUS), Jan Krzysztof Duda (2632, POL), David Anton Guijarro (2632, ESP), Hovhannes Gabuzyan (2611, ARM) and Sam Sevian (2578, USA).  The older half of the field hopes experience will overcome youthful enthusiasm.  Incidentally, one name jumps out: Tigran Petrosyan may be strong at 2630, but he is not the 9th World Champion by the same name!

Lake Sevan International

• Pairings and Results
• Live Games

NorCal Top 20 Junior High + High School

Yian Liou will graduate next month.

Kesav Viswanadha playing at UT-B.

Top 20 JHS and High School

(Age 12-17)

1. IM Liou, Yian (17) 2501
2. IM Viswanadha, Kesav (15) 2386
3. FM Wheeler, Cameron (14) 2386



Vignesh Panchanatham won Denker
qualifier. (photo from WYCC 2014)

4. FM Panchanatham, Vignesh (15) 2365
5. NM Zhu, Jack Qijie (16) 2298
6. NM Richter, Paul (17) 2278
7. NM Chow, Colin (15) 2261
8. NM Banik, Siddharth G (14) 2255
9. NM Wang, Michael (13) 2249
10. FM Taghizadeh, Rayan (12) 2226
11. NM Virtanen, Teemu (15) 2218
12. NM Iyengar, Udit (15) 2215
13. NM Beilin, Allan (15) 2205
14. NM Zhao, Art (15) 2204
15. NM Nagarajan, Pranav (15) 2200
16. nm Jirasek, Ladia (14) 2196
17. Wang, Michael Lei (15) 2183   
18. Apte, Neel (16) 2180
19. nm Sun, Jerome (17) 2180
20. Tao, Jeffrey (14) 2169

Check out this table for rating changes over the past year and FIDE ratings. 
Generated from the USCF Top 100 lists.
Last updated using the April 2015 supplement.

NorCal Top 20 Elementary

NM Andrew Hong. By Chessdryad

nm Josiah Stearman. By Daily Cal

Top 20 Elementary

(Age 11 & Under)

1. NM Hong, Andrew Zhang (10) 2255
2. nm Stearman, Josiah Paul (11) 2100
3. Pan, David (11) 2087
4. Daggupati, Balaji (10) 2010
5. Feng, Justin (11) 1993   



CM Chinguun Bayaraa. By Chessdryad

6. CM Bayaraa, Chinguun (9) 1977
7. Susarla, Rishith (10) 1906
8. Maiti, Milind (9) 1899
9. Somalwar, Anaiy (10) 1887
10. Chang, Eliam Huai-Yang (11) 1874   
11. Palusa, Maurya (9) 1831
12. Peng, Andrew (9) 1831   
13. Mccarty-Snead, Callaghan (9) 1817
14. Zhao, Chenyi (11) 1815
15. Sartorio, William Jiarui (10) 1814
16. Ho, Stephen R (11) 1813   
17. Zhang, Jason Shuhe (11) 1810   
18. Pan, Kevin (9) 1807
19. WCM Garai, Antara (11) 1804
20. Yoo, Christopher Woojin (8) 1761   

Check out this table for rating changes over the past year and FIDE ratings. 
Generated from the USCF Top 100 lists.
Last updated using the April 2015 supplement.

Teenage Mutant Chess Masters

11 y/o NM Hans Niemann (by parents)

10 y/o NM Andrew Hong (by Shorman)

The explosion of scholastic chess in the Bay Area has resulted in the proliferation of a mutant subspecies of chess master.  Most of these mental wizards mastered the relevant skills in their early teens, and a few even younger than that!  Overfeeding of adult masters forced the mutants to compete against each other, and they studied diligently merely to keep up with peers.

The net results are astonishing: no fewer than 23 local youngsters under age 18 lay claim to the distinguished title of National Master!  That's 7 more than just three months ago.  Even the legendary state High School championships of 1997 (Zilberstein, Bhat, Mont-Reynaud, Pruess, Frenklakh) and 2006 (Schwarz, D.Wang, Yap, M.Ho, Shankland, Naroditsky) cannot compare to the current tidal wave of precocious masters. 

Top CalChess Juniors (rated above 2150 on January supplement)

Rank	Age	Name	USCF	FIDE
1	17	IM Liou, Yian	2502	2417
2	15	IM Viswanadha, Kesav	2389	2404
3	14	FM Wheeler, Cameron	2383	2282
4	14	FM Panchanatham, Vignesh	2365	2303
5	17	NM Richter, Paul	2281	2220
6	14	NM Banik, Siddharth G	2274	2154
7	13	NM Wang, Michael	2269	2112
8	15	NM Chow, Colin	2265	2123
9	16	NM Zhu, Jack Qijie	2254	2092
10	12	FM Taghizadeh, Rayan	2238	2160
11	15	NM Virtanen, Teemu (FIN)	2213	1985
12	15	NM Beilin, Allan	2212	2093
13	17	NM Sun, Jerome	2211	2045
14	15	NM Nagarajan, Pranav	2202	2163
15	11	NM Niemann, Hans Moke	2200	2192
16	11	nm Stearman, Josiah Paul	2195	2007
17	10	NM Hong, Andrew Zhang*	2192	2146
18	13	FM Vasudeva, Tanuj	2190	2013
19	14	nm Jirasek, Ladia**	2190	1972
20	16	Klotz-burwell, Hunter	2188	2104
21	14	nm Iyengar, Udit	2177	2035
22	15	NM Zhao, Art***	2174	2034
23	17	nm Liu, Daniel	2159	2091
24	15	Bick, Gabriel	2156	1939
25	14	Moy, Kevin	2155	1966
26	14	nm Eswaran, Ashritha	2150	1954

nm = NM but currently rated under 2200
* Andrew broke 2200 at New Year Open
** Ladia broke 2200 at NM Lawless Champ but fell below at New Year Open
*** Art broke 2200 at North American Open

All told, there are 2 International Masters, 4 FIDE Masters, 16 rated above 2200 on January rating list.  And here's a special round of applause for the newest masters, those who broke 2200 since this post dated September 19: Teemu, Jerome, Pranav, Hans, Andrew, Ladia and Art!  (Corrected 1/20)

Who's next?

CalChess Young Masters

Kesav Viswanadha calculates.

Michael Wang concentrates.

The Bay Area has built the reputation for supporting the growth of  talented young chess stars.  Over a few short years, many of these juniors improve to Expert, Master and Beyond!  Incredibly, 11 now hold a USCF rating above 2200 on the October supplement.  Another 5 earned their National Master certificate previously, but have since dropped a few points.  That's a total of 16 CalChess young masters!  

To put these numbers in perspective, consider that zero masters played at the CalChess Scholastics in 2003, while 2006 was the first year to see more than two masters participate.

Top CalChess Juniors (rated above 2150 on October supplement)

1. IM-elect Yian Liou (age 17) 2502 USCF rating
2. FM Kesav Viswanadha (15) 2429
3. FM Cameron Wheeler (14) 2382



Josiah Stearman smiles on his birthday.

4. NM Vignesh Panchanatham (14) 2356
5. NM Colin Chow (14) 2282
6. NM Paul Richter (16) 2271
7. NM Michael Wang (12) 2240
8. NM Allan Beilin (15) 2221
9. NM Siddharth Banik (14) 2215
10. NM Rayan Taghizadeh (12) 2212
11. FM Tanuj Vasudeva (13) 2209
12. nm Josiah Stearman (11) 2185
13. Teemu Virtanen (15) 2184
14. Neel Apte (16) 2180
15. nm Jack Zhu (15) 2174
16. Ladia Jirasek (14) 2174
17. Pranav Nagarajan (14) 2172
18. nm Ashritha Eswaran (13) 2171
19. nm Daniel Liu (16) 2165
20. nm Udit Iyengar (14) 2165
21. Jerome Sun (17) 2165
22. Hunter Klotz-burwell (16) 2164
23. Joshua Cao (17) 2164
24. Kevin Moy (14) 2155

* nm = NM but currently rated under 2200

The top two players on this list both have a trio of IM norms to their credit.  Yian also achieved the required 2400 FIDE rating, while Kesav must pick up another 18 FIDE points.  We should have two new International Masters among our midst soon.

Watch out for Josiah!  The young lad spent the last month of summer on a quest for 2200.  He reached his goal in San Diego, peaking at 2215 before slipping back down.  Officially, Josiah gained 133 rating points in one month, from the August rating list to September (2066 to 2199)! 

Who will be next to make master?  Certainly anyone rated above 2150 could crack 2200 after one or two good weekends.  In addition, a pair of even younger stars, Hans Niemann (11) and Andrew Hong (9), already sport competitive ratings above 2100.

NorCal Top Juniors - March 2014

FM Yian Liou

FM Cameron Wheeler

In anticipation of the upcoming National and State Championships, I completed the long-overdue update of my NorCal rankings for the best juniors and adults.  This post recognizes the Top 10 highest rated youngsters, both by USCF and FIDE (international) rankings.  Please follow this link for a more extensive listing, including the Top 20 players per category.

The explosion of talented juniors living in the Bay Area continues.  No fewer than ten chess kids 14 years old or younger can call themselves "master" today!  Three more teens currently find themselves within 20 points of the 2200 threshold, and another two reached the magic number but have since fallen below.  By my count, there are 39 experts and masters under age 18 who push pawns and sacrifice knights in Northern California.  Amazing!

NorCal Top 10 Age 12-17

1. FM Liou, Yian (age 16) 2475 USCF
2. FM Wheeler, Cameron (13) 2345
3. NM Viswanadha, Kesav (14) 2334
4. NM Panchanatham, Vignesh (14) 2325
5. NM Banik, Siddharth G (13) 2247
6. NM Eswaran, Ashritha (13) 2231
7. NM Chow, Colin (14) 2224
8. NM Beilin, Allan (14) 2219
9. NM Iyengar, Udit (13) 2218
10. NM Wang, Michael (12) 2215

NorCal Top 10 Age 11 & Under

Rayan Taghizadeh

1. nm Taghizadeh, Rayan (age 11) 2181 USCF
2. Stearman, Josiah Paul (10) 2102
3. Niemann, Hans Moke (10) 2054
4. Liu, Joanna (11) 2006
5. Hong, Andrew Zhang (9) 1977
6. Daggupati, Balaji (8) 1919
7. Pan, David (10) 1862
8. Murugappan, Ganesh M (11) 1855
9. Zhou, Anthony (11) 1853
10. Feng, Justin (10) 1830

NorCal Top 10 FIDE Rated Age 17 & Under

1. FM Liou, Yian (age 16) 2387 FIDE 
2. FM Wheeler, Cameron (13) 2229
3. NM Viswanadha, Kesav (14) 2194
4. NM Panchanatham, Vignesh (14) 2121
5. NM Beilin, Allan (14) 2096
6. Apte, Neel (15) 2095
7. nm Liu, Daniel (16) 2091
8. NM Chow, Colin (14) 2082
9. Li, Edward (16) 2077
10. NM Wang, Michael (12) 2062

List adapted from Fpawn Chess
Photo credit Bay Area International 

NorCal Top 20 FIDE Rated Juniors

Chess Punks learning from Daniel Naroditsky in 2010. From left to right:
Vignesh Panchanatham, Allan Beilin, Danya, Kesav Viswanadha and
Cameron Wheeler. Three of the students are now masters themselves.

NM Colin Chow, photo by Shorman

A new wave of talented Bay Area juniors has begun filling the highest level.  A year and a half ago, there were only four local young masters.  Today, eight have broken the magical 2200 USCF mark, and the trend promises to continue. The Chess Punks of 2010 have grown into the Chess Masters of 2013.

However, the international FIDE ratings lag up to 200 points behind the national USCF ratings.  The sheer number of underrated youngsters has transformed FIDE points into a precious commodity at local events.  I counted an incredible 40 NorCal kids who have earned a published FIDE rating, yet more than half are rated below 2000.  Most shocking to me: the youngest two were born in 2005!

Kudos to NM Colin Chow for gaining an impressive 100 FIDE points in the past 8 months.  His USCF rating also rocketed up to 2324.  Well done making the Sacramento Chess Club proud!

       FIDE RATED JUNIORS

Rank	Name	FIDE
1	GM-e Naroditsky, Daniel	2503
2	FM Liou, Yian	2402
3	FM Wheeler, Cameron	2176
4	NM Chow, Colin	2162
5	Ruddell, Solomon	2136
6	NM Viswanadha, Kesav	2134
7	nm Liu, Daniel	2095
8	Apte, Neel	2082
9	Tong, Benjamin	2081
10	Beilin, Allan	2075
11	Jirasek, Ladia	2064
12	NM Panchanatham, Vignesh	2058
13	NM Zhu, Jack	2056
14	Shin, Kyle	2046
15	Klotz-Burwell, Hunter	2020
16	Nagarajan, Pranav	2012
17	Cao, Joshua	2007
18	FM Vasudeva, Tanuj	2000
19	Iyengar, Udit	1993
20	Handigol, Abhishek	1989