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!

NM Agarwal Honored as Scholar-Chessplayer

Last week, the US Chess Trust announced five recipients of the 2010 Scholar-Chessplayer Award, including 11th grader NM Rohan Agarwal of Fremont. The other scholarship winners were Richard Herbst (Colorado), WFM Abby Marshall (Virginia), Jake Miller (New York) and FM Victor Shen (New Jersey).

"These annual scholarships awarded by the US Chess Trust, the National Scholastic Chess Foundation, and the USCF, are intended to recognize and encourage high school junior or senior students who promote a positive image of chess. High School students who have shown outstanding merits in academics, sportsmanship and chess were eligible to apply to these scholarships. Five awards of $1,500.00 each (total of $7,500) in scholarship money are awarded."

Well done Rohan for excelling in challenging courses at Irvington High School as much as on the chessboard! Read my blog tribute to the "Master Gambiteer" dated January 2009 and my report on the 2009 US Cadet invitational. No doubt the many skills required to checkmate will also help Rohan in other walks of life. Good luck!

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.

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

Fun Games from North American Open

Check out Chess Life Online for the official recap of North American Open in Las Vegas at the end of December. Georgian GM Giorgi Kacheishvili took clear first place in his second major tournament in a row after a spectacular sacrificial game against Armenian-American GM Varuzhan Akobian in the penultimate round.

As usual, my main focus has been on Northern California players. Fortunately, I found a spectacular sample of games to post on this blog. The games include two draws against Grandmasters and an incredible pair of victories against the colorful IM Emory Tate (see photo at right). To view these games online, just click on this link for a webpage automatically generated by Chessbase.

• S Zierk 1/2 V Akobian: Steven holds a pawn down endgame vs a strong GM.
  
• E Tate 0-1 R Agarwal: The legendary IM Tate has no answer to Philidor gambit.
• Y Liou 1-0 J Irrzary: Yian goes king hunting after a strange Alekhine opening.
• M Nita 0-1 M Aigner: This expert quickly bows to the power of the Dutch defense.
• R Hess 0-1 S Shankland: IM Shankland smokes his main junior rival IM Hess.
• S Shankland 1/2 J Ehlvest: For an encoure, a solid draw against a veteran GM.
• S Zierk 1-0 E Tate: The local juniors sure gave IM Tate the one-two punch!
• R Agarwal 1-0 K Mackinnon: NM Agarwal shows off the power of gambits.
• M Aigner 1-0 D Haessel: The Trompowsky takes down a FM in a quick win.
  

January Player of the Month: The Master Gambiteer

(Rohan Agarwal in deep thought at the CalChess Scholastics in San Jose last May.)

I will begin recognizing one deserving Northern California chess player each month who has achieved significant success within recent weeks or occasionally an accumulation over a longer time period. It is my pleasure to award the first Fpawn Blog Player of the Month to the Bay Area's newest National Master, 15 year old Rohan Agarwal from Fremont. By earning the hallowed title of Master at North American Open in Las Vegas, Rohan became the sixth Bay Area junior in K-12 to break 2200 USCF and also solified his spot among the elite of the nation (there are only about 35 masters under age 18).

• Name: Rohan Agarwal
• Title: National Master
  
• Current ratings: 2212 USCF and 2190 FIDE
• National ranking: #11 for age 15
• CalChess ranking: #5 for age 12-17
  
• First tournament: December 2002
• First established rating: 1248 in November 2003
  
• Last 12 months: gained 142 points in 65 rated games at 11 tournaments
• Latest tournament: Scored 3.5/7 in Open at North American Open in Las Vegas for a 2335 performance, including win against IM Tate and a draw with GM Lein.
• Biggest scalps: IM DeGuzman (9/07) and IM Tate (12/08)

Rohan learned how to play at Weibel Elementary School in Fremont under the tutelage of legendary coach Richard Shorman. Even today, Rohan enjoys the opening gambits that he first learned years ago and he is not afraid to essay the Philidor Counter Gambit or the Sicilian Wing Gambit even against masters. His style may be best described as tactical or even insane--I still remember a year ago when Rohan beat a master after playing Kh1 by move 20, which wouldn't have been too unusual except that he was black in that game!?

In a newsletter, longtime Weibel advisor Dr. Alan Kirshner wrote a moving tribute. "Rohan, under the mentorship of Richard Shorman at Weibel, accomplished a milestone. I congratulate Rohan not because he was trained better than other Fremont players, but because he worked harder and had the perseverance and determination to go all the way. I might add that he is also a great all around person. I know he will spend the remainder of his High School years teaching the students at his Elementary School alma mater. I look forward to seeing him, in the future, win many more titles." Coach Agarwal's (see photo at right) young proteges won first place team trophies in both 5th and 6th grade last month at the CalChess Grade Level Championships in Stockton.

The following crush from Las Vegas illustrates Rohan's attacking style. He chooses to mix it up against the iconic IM Emory Tate out of Philidor's defense. The sly IM quickly got an inferior position (16.Nb1 simply admits failure) and it went downhill from there. White's retreat 21.Bg2 lost instantly to Nxg2 followed by an invasion along the h-file.

IM Emory Tate (2390) vs Rohan Agarwal (2196)
2008 North American Open (2)
1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 d6 3. c4 f5 4. d3 Nf6 5. Nc3 Be7 6. Be2 O-O 7. c5 Nc6 8. cxd6 Qxd6 9. O-O a6 10. a3 Be6 11. Ng5 Nd4 12. Nxe6 Qxe6 13. exf5 Qxf5 14. Be3 Rad8 15. Bxd4 exd4 16. Nb1 Nd5 17. Bf3 Nf4 18. Be4 Qg5 19. g3 Rd6 20. Nd2 Rh6 21. Bg2 Nxg2 22. Kxg2 Qf5 23. h4 Bxh4 24. g4 Qf4 25. Ne4 Bxf2 26. Rh1 Rg6 27. Kh3 h5 28. Qe2 Rxg4 29. Qxf2 Qxf2 0-1

To replay this game, click on this link to Chess Publisher.

Recap of North American Open

The annual North American Open attracted 583 chess enthusiasts to Bally's Casino (above photo taken by official webmaster Chris Bird) at the heart of the Las Vegas Strip. Between the Christmas and New Year's holidays, the city bustles with tourists, gamblers and revelers--plus a few wood pushers amongst the crowds. The winter weather offered a perfect excuse to spend long hours at the chess board (especially for those under the legal gambling age of 21). Everything, from the tournament hall to hotel rooms to restaurants, is conveniently located under one roof. In fact, you can walk from Bally's to France--or at least to the adjacent Paris Casino.

About 40 Northern California players and their parents took the 1 hour flight or drove for 8-10 hours. Fortunately, gas prices are quite reasonable now! Those who arrived in the evening on Christmas Day battled heavy traffic and even an ice storm, but the rest of the week was sunny and cold, but dry. Nine of my students showed up for their final chess competition of 2008.

The tournament began rather auspiciously. Nobody could have predicted that IM David Pruess and FM Daniel Naroditsky would each start 0-2 against substantially weaker opponents, yet as a testiment to their fighting spirit, they both recovered to finish above 50%. Somehow, all five of my students in the U2100 section lost in round 1, but one still ended up tied for third. Even I struggled with draws against two low experts, perhaps a consequence of a bout with the stomach flu.

Fortunately, the final results were far more encouraging. Below are some notable scores from local players. Please click on the link for the USCF ratings report.

• IM Sam Shankland, 5.0 in Open (top U2500, see photo above)
• IM David Pruess, 4.5 in Open
  
• FM Daniel Naroditsky, 4.0 in Open
• NM Steven Zierk, 4.0 in Open (broke 2300 USCF)
• NM Michael Aigner, 4.0 in Open
  
• NM Rohan Agarwal, 3.5 in Open (broke 2200 USCF)
  
• Yian Liou, 5.5 in U2100 (tied for 3rd place)
• Karim Seada, 5.5 in U2100 (tied for 3rd place)
  
• Michael Da-Cruz, 6.0 in U1900 (tied for 2nd place)
• Mukund Chillakanti, 5.5 in U1900 (tied for 5th place)
• Samuel Sevian, 4.5 in U1900
  
• Roland Zhu, 4.5 in U1900 (+137 rating points up to 1760)
• Seid Seidov, 7.0 in U1700 (clear 1st place)
• Rahul Desirazu, 5.5 in U1700
  
• Merak Arriola, 6.0 in U1300 (tied for 2nd place)
• Jeffrey Zhang, 5.5 in U1300 (tied for 5th place)
• Rohan Kapre, 5.5 in U1000 (tied for 3rd place)
  

Five local juniors had an especially memorable tournament and deserve special recognition. Two won significant money and the other three all achieved rating milestones.

• IM Sam Shankland tied for 7th place overall and earned top U2500 with 5.0/7. After a disappointing draw in round 1, he caught fire and beat his major rival IM Robert Hess with black and then drew GM Jaan Ehlvest. At least there's still room for improvement: Sam got schooled by GM Zviad Izoria in the penultimate round.
• NM Steven Zierk (see photo at right) impressed with 4.0 against 7 FIDE titled players with an average rating of 2408 USCF. His highlights included a solid draw against GM Varuzhan Akobian, ranked #5 in the USA, and a crushing win against IM Emory Tate. Steven also can still improve: he lost quickly to IM Shankland in the final round.
• Please join me in congratulating California's newest master, NM Rohan Agarwal! He had quite a memorable tournament, defeating IM Emory Tate and drawing with GM Anatoly Lein on his way to a 2335 performance. Rohan's style and opening repertoire always generate many exciting tactical slugfests.
• Young expert Yian Liou no doubt has his eyes on the master title after he tied for third place in the U2100 section with a 2219 performance. He got a much needed kick in the rear end by losing round 1, but after five straight wins, he was on board 1 in the final round (a draw with section winner Jared Tan).
• Las Vegas was my first opportunity to watch new student Roland Zhu (see photo at right) play. Suffice it to say that he left quite an impression, far exceeding my expectations by scoring 4.0/7 while playing up in the U1900 section. As a reward, his rating jumped from 1623 to 1760!

The winner of the Open section was--no, not me!--Grandmaster Giorgi Kacheishvili with 6.0 out of 7. He took control in the fourth round and never relinquished the lead, picking up three wins and two draws against fellow Grandmasters. Five GMs tied for second: Zviad Izoria, Melik Khachiyan, Alexander Shabalov, Julio Becerra and Jaan Ehlvest. Check out the interesting tournament blog by USCL's Blogger of the Year Chris Bird for further details and a few key positions from the top boards.

Shankinator Strikes in Philly

A week ago, I blogged about FM-elect Sam Shankland as a patient teacher who mentored some of the Bay Area's top juniors during a meeting of the San Francisco School of Chess. However, Sam is better known as a fearless tournament competitor who is capable of beating literally anyone, anytime, anyplace. He emphatically proved this point in the first round of the World Open when he scalped last year's US Champion GM Alexander Shabalov with a crushing kingside attack. What could Sam do for an encore?

The primary goal for Shanky's adventure in Philadelphia was to earn one of the three norms required for the International Master title. To score a norm, the player must perform at a level above 2450 FIDE in a 9+ round tournament against a variety of opponents from different countries, at least 3 who hold the GM/IM title. After beating GM Shabalov, Sam scored against two strong titled players from India and drew with IM Dean Ippolito. His final result in the World Open was merely 50% (4.5 out of 9), but he faced an incredibly difficult field of 4 Grandmasters, 3 IMs and a WGM! Thanks to these high rated opponents, Sam could wrap up his norm even before the final round began. Mad props to the Shankinator for his first IM norm! His next norm opportunity comes at the Mechanics' Institute invitational in August.

Several other local juniors also participated in the World Open (click for crosstables). FM Danya Naroditsky remained in contention for an IM norm through 7 rounds with several impressive draws in a row with titled players, plus a win against local IM David Pruess. Unfortunately, Danya's dream ended with a loss to a Grandmaster in round 8 and he finished at 4.5/9. Teenage expert Rohan Agarwal scored 50% in the U2400 section, defeating three opponents rated above 2270. Last but not least, CalChess Denker representative Steven Zierk won major money at the World Open for a third time in his young life by sharing 3rd place in U2200 at 7.0/9. Way to go Steven!

Click here for a great photo of Sam Shankland taken by USCF web editor Jennifer Shahade or read the entire final report about the World Open on Chess Life Online.

Chicago Open Post Mortem

Now that I am back home in California, I can blog about the roller coaster of emotions that I had experienced during the last round of the Chicago Open. Both my opponent, NM James Lewis, and I were tied for 2nd place before the game began and had a lot to play for. In fact, it became apparent after 3 hours that the leader, NM Gylfi Thorhallsson, was in deep trouble and that the winner of our game would share the $5000 top prize.

At that point, our pivotal contest transformed from a quiet positional struggle into a tactical melee filled with missed opportunities. On move 39, I accidentally left my b3 pawn en prise and, as Fritz points out, I overlooked the combination beginning with gxf5 that I would play later. Now having already snatched one pawn, Lewis will regret not finding the decisive 40... Qc5 (there's no useful way to defend the c3 pawn) on the final move before time control, with about half a minute left. Having dodged one bullet, I became concerned by move 50 that I had walked into a losing endgame, despite temporarily being two pawns ahead. I found the resource 51.c4 but overlooked the obvious continuation 52.c5 (threatening to push all the way), instead allowing a drawn rook endgame after 52.Nb5 Bxb5.

Considering my poor start, I must be content to have finished with an undefeated 5.5 out of 7 after reentering. The share of 3rd place was my second biggest payday at a chess tournament, coincidentally behind another Chicago event: the 2006 US Open. Sadly, my opponent and I can both lament the multiple blunders that cost each of us over $2000, which was the difference between a share of 1st place and the 4-way split of 3rd place. On the bright side, I met and socialized with many people whom I don't see frequently at west coast events or whom I only know from ICC.

In other news, GM Varuzhan Akobian of Los Angeles, GM Tigran Petrosian of Armenia (not the 9th World Champion) and GM Hikaru Nakamura of New York shared the top honors at 5.5/7 in the Open section, with "Var" winning the Armageddon playoff. Yes, Grandmasters in the 21st Century actually have their own personal websites! For a first-hand impression of playing in the Open section, I highly recommend the articles by Ohio teenager Jonathan Hilton on Chess Life Online (first story and second story).

Of course, my fans in California will be eager to know how GM Josh Friedel ended up. Please note my proper use of title: Grandmaster Josh Friedel!!! (Photo at right by Betsy Dynako.) Congratulations dude on scoring a third norm at the US Championship last week and the minimum 2500 FIDE rating just a few days later! After a long history of American Grandmasters being born overseas (notably Russia and former Soviet republics), Josh became the second native son in a year to earn the top honor in chess. Will Josh concentrate on teaching or does he have ambitions to achieve 2600 FIDE?

My final kudos goes to teenager Rohan Agarwal for a master level performance of 4.0/7 in the U2300 section. Rohan's result is even more impressive considering that he faced five masters (including one IM) and two preteen experts. His rating continues to climb, now up to 2136.

Change Your Fortunes by Reentering!

I don't pay the extra fee to reenter often, but if there ever is a time to do it, this tournament was that opportunity. After languishing with 0.5 out of the first 3 rounds at the Chicago Open, I could either play on for pride or reenter into the accelerated 2-day schedule. For once in my life, I made the right choice.

Actually, my first G/45 contest in the 2-day schedule didn't go so well. I was being outplayed by an expert, a phenomenon that I became accustomed to earlier this weekend. Fortunately, I had a time advantage of 15 minutes to 1 second (with 5 second delay) and eventually, despite my bad position, I was able to win on time. At the end of the four rounds of G/45, I had a solid score of 3.5/4, including this tactical miniature as black in the Sveshnikov against FM Renard Anderson. Battling fatigue after nearly six hours of play in the evening, I managed to win an even endgame against NM Chris Nienart. Unfortunately, I would have gotten to bed two hours sooner if I had seen 34.Bh6+ Kf6 35.Bc4 (threatening Rf2 mate) g5 36.Bxa6 Rxa6 37.Nb4 (I missed this knight fork).

Somehow, after the terrible start, I now sit in second place with 4.5 out of 5, good for a performance rating of 2588. As the tournament organizer, Bill Goichberg, astutely pointed out, I raised the level of my play by about 1000 points. My opponent this morning is Gylfi Thorhallsson of Iceland, an older gentleman who has a perfect 5-0 score, including wins against IM Richard Costigan and top rated WFM Tatev Abrahamyan. Wish me luck!

In other news, IM Josh Friedel has 3.5 out of 5 after drawing with GM Varuzhan Akobian and remains in the hunt to meet the 2500 FIDE rating requirement for the Grandmaster title. He stands half a point out of first place. You can watch the top boards live on MonRoi. On the other hand, teenager Rohan Agarwal cooled off a bit on Sunday, losing both games.

Update on Monday afternoon: Thorhallsson 1/2-1/2 Aigner. Thorhallsson now has 5.5 while I am part of a group of 4 or 5 players tied for second at 5.0.

Update from Chicago Open

This is just a short update from the Chicago Open (check standings here). Unfortunately, everything that can go wrong has indeed gone wrong. I dropped out of the 4-day schedule after 0.5/3 against experts (1851 performance rating) and will instead try my luck today in the insane 2-day schedule (first four rounds at G/45). Sadly, I don't know what is wrong with me. I won't make excuses; either I'm playing like %$@* or my opponents are all GMs in disguise! Please check my ICC finger notes for updates from the 2-day schedule.

I have only seen two CalChess members here in Wheeling, Illinois. IM Josh Friedel inched closer to the GM title by taking down top rated GM Hikaru Nakamura. However, he subsequently lost to GM Atanas Kolev and remains about 7 rating points away from his dream. You may watch games from the Open section live on MonRoi. The other local competitor is teenager Rohan Agarwal (see photo above) who has an impressive 2.5/3 in the U2300 section against master level opposition.

Many thanks to tournament director and fellow blogger Chris Bird for making me feel better by describing his embarrassing mixup involving GM Tigran Petrosian during round 1.

Reno: The Next Generation

(9th grader Steven Zierk hard at work against WIM Batchimeg "Chimi" Tuvshintugs in the last round. He won this game to claim a share of second place in the Open section.)

The legal age to win money in the Nevada casinos is supposedly 21, but that didn't stop three Northern California juniors from hitting the jackpot at the Far West Open chess tournament. The lifetime achievements of 6th grader FM Danya Naroditsky have been well chronicled, and still he managed to elevate his chess game to a higher level. Joining in the youth wave were a pair of talented 9th graders: Steven Zierk and Rohan Agarwal.

• Danya: tied for second place (behind GM Khachiyan) with undefeated 4.5/6 ; 2600+ USCF performance rating ; beat IM Mezentsev for first IM scalp ever ; drew GM Kudrin and GM Yermolinsky for first two GM draws ever ; cracked 2300 USCF rating to become the top rated junior in CalChess
• Steven: tied for second place at 4.5/6 and top U2200 by a full point ; 2400+ USCF performance rating ; beat WIM Tuvshintugs (2289) and drew FM Strugatsky (2450)
• Rohan: scored a solid 3.5/6 including win against Bryant (2314) and draw against Aigner (2271)

(11th grader Alan and 6th grader Danya Naroditsky pose together outside of the playing hall. The brothers are truly inseparable.)

Three of my eight students won major money by finishing in the top two of their rating division. I already mentioned Danya and Steven. The other big winner was Yian, who took second place in the A section with 4.5/6 (behind San Francisco's own Evan Sandberg). Way to go! Two other students each finished with a score of 3.5/6: Nicholas in the A section and Samyukta in the B section. Finally, Alan only scored 2.5 points in the difficult Open section, but gained rating and a lot of experience from playing masters.

As you may have already noticed, I drew as black against Rohan in the last round to finish at 3.5 out of 6--a disappointing result considering that I was much better or even winning in both of my last two games, but lost one and drew the other. Both my USCF and FIDE ratings will drop about 6 or 7 points from this tournament. I really wish that I had beaten someone rated over 2050, but my pairings were not kind. I will need to play better next weekend in Tulsa, Oklahoma!

I plan to work on the final report for Chess Life Online sometime on Tuesday. Look for it! (Edit: This report won't appear until Thursday. Sorry, I've been busy in between major chess tournaments.)

Naroditsky Takes No Prisoners in Reno

The big story so far at the Far West Open in Reno has been the success of Bay Area juniors in the Open section, especially FM Daniel Naroditsky (see photo at left). After three rounds, Danya is tied for first place at 2.5, having defeated IM Vladimir Mezentsev and drawn with top rated GM Sergey Kudrin. I believe these are the highest rated opponents that Danya has ever beaten and drawn! He is playing with a poise well beyond his years. In fact, he feeds off the pressure of playing a strong opponent on the stage.

Three other local kids have done well. Steven Zierk drew with FM Vladimir Strugatsky (2450) before losing to FM Alexandre Kretchetov (2402). Rohan Agarwal (see photo at right) beat strong NM John Bryant (2314) before losing to Bryant's father, IM Enrico Sevillano (who is 3-0). NM Sam Shankland drew with GM Alex Yermolinsky in round 3 and both are tied for second at 2.5.

I have two wins against 2000 average opponents and a miniature loss to GM Yermolinsky. You can read more about my loss to Yermo and the tournament overall in my second blog entry at the USCF homepage. If I feel like it, I may post an update late tonight after round 4.