Chess Students Head Off To College

All smiles on graduation day.

For almost two decades, I have been blessed with the opportunity to coach some of the brightest young minds in Northern California.  Simply spoken, smart children play chess, and chess offers a competitive arena to exercise their brain muscles.  Of course, I always knew my students had the cerebral skill to excel.  And every June, it seems that the graduates move on to some of the best colleges in America.  Well done mates!

The High School graduating Classes of 2015 and 2016 included more than a dozen of my former chess trainees, four who achieved the master level.  Their college choices were, quite literally, all over the map.  Six preferred the short commute to Berkeley, Stanford, UC Santa Cruz and San Jose State.  Another signed up for the short flight to UC Irvine.  The remaining students apparently wanted to get away from home--far, far away.  They enrolled at MIT, New York University, Carnegie Mellon, Wesleyan, U Mass and Washington University (Saint Louis).  Quite a list, I dare say!  

The following list shows the universities all around the country where 51 of my former chess students enrolled at (includes incoming freshmen).  Two prominent Bay Area schools top of the list.  Roughly 2/3 stayed close to home, choosing to study at one of a dozen California schools.  If it is not the nice weather, then it must be the worldwide acclaim of the University of California.  Indeed, my list includes 7 of the 9 undergraduate UC campuses.   

• 14 = UC Berkeley
• 6 = Stanford 
• 3 = MIT and UC San Diego
• 2 = Duke, Carnegie Mellon, NYU, UCLA and UC Santa Cruz  
• 1 = Cambridge (UK), Yale, Wesleyan, UMass, Rutgers, Northwestern, Washington (StL), Caltech, Pomona, UC Davis, UC Irvine, UC Santa Barbara, Pacific, San Jose State and Puget Sound

Note: The above list only includes undergraduate institutions and not graduate schools.

Chess Players Graduate - Class of '13

Andrew and Benjamin

Kevin

Over the years, I have been blessed by the opportunity to coach some of the brightest kids in Northern California.  Simply spoken, smart children play chess, and chess offers a competitive arena to exercise their cerebral talents.  I always knew my students had the brains to excel.  Every June, it seems that the graduates move on to some of the best colleges in America.  Well done mates!

Many hearty congratulations to the High School Class of 2013!  Former chess students will matriculate all around the country in the Fall: Stanford (Kevin), UC Berkeley (Andrew and Ted), MIT (Jonathan), Yale (Benjamin) and NYU (Embert) in the Fall.  These young stars not only achieved state and national recognition in chess, but also in math and science.  Here is a special shout-out to Kevin and Andrew for being recognized as finalist and semifinalist (respectively) in the Intel Science Talent Search!


The nine main members of the 6-time CalChess K-12 Champion team at Saratoga High School have all moved on, with four choosing Stanford and four attending UC Berkeley (plus one guy at Duke).  David and Jeff have graduated from Berkeley while Marvin and Aaron earned their diplomas from Stanford.  Aaron will continue at MIT for graduate studies.  Congratulations guys! 

The following list shows the number of former chess students who enrolled at prestigious universities (including new freshmen).  Unfortunately, I lost track of a few students.

• 11 = UC Berkeley
• 6 = Stanford 
• 3 = MIT
• 2 = UCLA and UC San Diego 
• 1 = Yale, Northwestern, Duke, NYU, Rutgers
• 1 = Pomona, UC Santa Barbara and UC Santa Cruz
  

Chess: The Road to College

(Where does this internationally certified chess nut go to college?)

The end of summer brings upon us the annual ritual of starting school. And those who managed to graduate from high school in June now begin a whole new chapter of their lives. Four of the Bay Area's elite scholastic players moved into college dorms this week. I was fortunate to have taught three of the four. They combined to win the past four state High School titles, with each victorious at least once. This post serves as a small tribute.

IM Steven Zierk definitely counts as the star of the class of 2011, both academically and based on chess results. He had many phenomenal results, but three stand out in my mind:

1. Clear 1st in A section of 2007 People's tournament with a published rating of 1527.
2. Beat GM Loek van Wely in 27 moves with black at 2009 Western States (Reno).
3. Gold medal at 2010 World Youth U-18 in Greece, earning the IM title.

While chess played big role in Steven's youth, he had a broad range of interests. As I found out accompanying him at the 2008 US Open in Dallas, he loves math puzzles and devours books of different genres. An active athlete, he played and refereed soccer, earned a second degree black belt in tae kwon do and even joined the school track and field team (shot put). Of course, he also excelled at Los Gatos High School. The photo at the top of this post leaves no doubt where Steven chose to go for college: MIT.


A year ago, NM Evan Sandberg (photo at right) became my sixth student to achieve the rank of master. Yet his greatest achievement came in 2009, when he shared 1st place in the High School section at the CalChess Scholastics (with Yian Liou), thereby earning the right to play in the Denker Invitational in Indianapolis. An active member of the Mechanics' Institute chess club, Evan continued to participate in the Tuesday Night Marathon through this summer. The streak will necessarily end since Evan decided to attend Rutgers University in New Jersey.

NM Rohan Agarwal (photo at left) reached 2200 despite never being one of my students. However, I wrote a tribute to his aggressive playing style titled "The Master Gambiteer". Sadly, he didn't have time for many tournaments over the past two years at Irvington High School in Fremont. He did leave a mark by teaching the next generation at Weibel Elementary. Rohan won't need to go far for college as he decided to attend UC Berkeley.


Expert Nicholas Karas (photo at right) of Rio Americano High School in Sacramento started out with a provisional rating of 395 and then rocketed through the rating scale to a peak of 2159. Much of the teaching credit goes to his first coach--and my longtime student--NM Daniel Schwarz. Nicholas saved the best for his senior year, winning clear 1st in the High School section at the CalChess Scholastics and then attending the Denker Invitational in Orlando. He also became a Golden Bear as he began studying at UC Berkeley.

ConGRADulations to Steven, Evan, Rohan and Nicholas! (I admit that I'm a little late.)

Each year, the most talented young chess players typically get admitted to the best universities around the state and nation. Take GM Robert Hess, America's top rated junior, as an example; he just matriculated at Yale University. Among my growing group of ex-students, there's no doubt that Berkeley has become the most popular school, with at least a half dozen: David C, Jeff Y, Kevin H, Charles S, Michael L and now Nicholas. Five of these six reached 2000 at chess, establishing a quasi benchmark for future Berkeley applicants. And I believe three guys remain at Stanford (Marvin S, Aaron G and Adam G) after the June graduation of Daniel Schwarz.

Numbers aside, however... Go Stanford! Beat Cal!

Can Chess Get You Into College?

Conventional wisdom suggests that you must participate in a wide range of academic and extra-curricular activities to get into a top tier university. Examples include math club, debate team, band or a varsity sport. Where does chess fit into the picture? Over the years, there has been little evidence that competitive colleges view chess as more than another club.

A parent pointed out this article from April 2008 about admissions at UC Berkeley. I wouldn't have thought much about it except for one 5-letter word in this paragraph.

"The admitted class for fall 2008 also excels beyond academics. It includes a world champion in youth division sailing, a student who wrote a symphony during high school, a back-up dancer for a pop star on a U.S. concert tour, a national chess tournament champion, an international Irish dance competition winner, several Olympic and Junior Olympic medalists and a set of quadruplets."

Perhaps there is hope after all! It is just a few short words, yet they say chess matters.

The more frequently admissions officers see chess listed among activities, the better the chances that it leaves a positive impression. In fact, my teaching experience has shown that chess can indeed be one component of a successful college application, especially when supported by thoughtful essays.