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
  

GM Benjamin Gives Advice to Parents of Young Talents

"Hi GM Joel, My son is 8-year-old with a rating of 1600. He consistently beats lower rated players simply because he waits until his opponent blunders. He often lost to higher rated players because they don't blunder and his positions are getting worse and worse. Based on the feedback I have, including from his coach, a local IM, he often doesn't have a plan and sometimes he makes mistakes in the opening. He reacts to his opponents' moves, even when playing White."

To read the response by 3-time US Champion GM Joel Benjamin (see photo), go to Chess Life Online. This article should be interesting and relevant for many families in the Bay Area and around the country. Frankly, I must add that I completely agree with the advice from GM Benjamin. Here are a few key quotes:

"Ratings improve because children develop certain skills that are strong enough to defeat players at certain levels, but it doesn’t mean that all their skills have reached that level."

"To me, improvement is a long-term, ongoing process, that doesn’t necessarily manifest itself in wins in the next tournament."

"Every player is competing against the game, to unlock its secrets and become stronger. What other people (families) are doing—and what their ratings are--should not affect your own approach."

You may also wish to browse through other tidbits of advice that I have blogged about over the past year and a half, including my suggestion for how much to practice and appropriate parental behavior at tournaments.

Ask GM Joel

Grandmaster Joel Benjamin (see photo) answers a question on Chess Life Online about when parents should seek online lessons from a Grandmaster. Specifically, would an 8 year old rated 627 benefit? Here is part of the response.

"An eight-year-old needs most of all to establish a good rapport with an instructor. It is difficult to get to know someone without seeing them face-to-face. Your son may be reluctant to express himself to a stranger on the phone. Furthermore, you may end up with a high-rated teacher that isn’t a good match for your son."

To read the full text of Ask GM Joel, please click on the link to the USCF website. I completely agree with his opinion in this matter.