Fpawn Interview on Chess.com Blog

Kirk Ghazarian (credit: David Llada
at 2019 Bay Area International)

How well do you really know fpawn? Chess blogger and longtime mentee NM Kirk Ghazarian was determined to find out. Kirk asked the right questions and I gave him my honest replies. Check out the following sample of the topics:

• How did you improve as a player to reach the NM title?
• How do you inspire your students to achieve their goals?
• Do you have advice for a player who stagnated in improvement.

Kirk included several photos and three games to illustrate the power of the King's Bishop Pawn - a trio of Black wins in my favorite Dutch Defense opening.

Chess Improvement Guide Blog

Thank you Kirk for inviting me for this interesting interview. Keep up your good work!

World Cadet Underway in Spain

The playing venue is at the Ciudad de la Cultura. (website)

The 2018 World Cadet Chess Championships kicked off on Sunday at the Christian pilgrimage city of Santiago de Compostela located in northwestern Spain. Nearly 850 young chess players from around the world compete in six sections: Open and Girls for age U8, U10 and U12. The Open U10 and Open U12 divisions both have over 200 participants. After eleven rounds, gold, silver and bronze medals will be awarded on November 15.

Team USA includes 74 players, at least that many parents, 6 official team coaches and several private trainers. The American medal chances seem greatest in Open U12, where 21 kids rock the red, white and blue, including 4 of the top 10 seeds. Top contenders include Rachael Li (1st seed in Girls U8), FM Christopher Yoo (2nd seed in Open U12), IM Arthur Guo (4th seed in Open U12), NM Kirk Ghazarian (8th seed in Open U12), Dimitar Mardov (8th seed in Open U10), CM Jason Wang (10th seed in Open U12) and Crystal Gu (10th seed in Girls U8). Note that seeds are ranked by FIDE ratings, and the order may differ from USCF ratings.

Team USA hails from 17 states, including 16 youngsters from New York, 12 from California, 10 from New Jersey and 6 each from Illinois and Texas. The other states represented are: AZ, CT, FL, GA, MA, MI, OH, OR, PA, VA, WA and WI.

The official website is http://www.wccc2018.com/. The daily rounds begin at 7:30am PST except on November 10 (free day) and November 15 (final round starts 2.5 hours sooner). Watch the top boards at FollowChess or at Chess24 (with a 30 minute delay to deter cheating).

FINAL STANDINGS

Top American scores plus California kids

Rating from November USCF supplement

Age given as of December 31, 2018

OPEN U12 results link (21 players)

• FM Chasin, Nico (12 NY 2320) = 8.5 - BRONZE MEDAL (tied for 2nd)
• IM Guo, Arthur (12 GA 2387) = 8.5 - 4th place (tied for 2nd)
• FM Yoo, Christopher (12 CA-N 2455) = 8.0 - 7th place (tied for 6th)
• CM Wang, Jason (12 OH 2317) = 8.0 - 8th place (tied for 6th)
• Tian, Eddy (12 NJ 2270) = 7.5
• CM Zhou, Liran (10 NY 2291) = 7.5
• NM Ghazarian, Kirk (12 CA-S 2230) = 7.0 
• CM Xu, Arthur (11 IL 2158 = 7.0
• Nathan, Krishna (12 CA-N 2115) = 6.5
• Clasby, Derek (12 NJ 2231) = 6.5
• Park, Evan (11 PA 2177) = 6.5
• Yu, Jason (12 WA 2208) = 6.5
• Sethuraman, Sandeep (11 AZ 2149) = 6.5
• Oberoi, Shelev (12 TX 2045) = 6.5
• Gu, Andy (12 CA-S 1693) = 4.5

GIRLS U12 results link (11 players)

• WCM Pang, Ashley (11 CA-N 1737) = 8.0 - 6th place (tied for 3rd)
• WFM Wang, Ellen (11 NY 2015) = 7.5 - 12th place (tied for 8th)
• WCM Ke, Rianne (12 CA-S 2102) = 7.0
• WCM Velea, Stephanie (11 WA 1668) = 6.5

OPEN U10 results link (12 players)

• Zhao, Erick (10 FL 2067) = 9.0 - SILVER MEDAL (tied for 1st)
• Mardov, Dimitar (10 IL 2178) = 8.0 - 8th place (tied for 7th)
• Ngo, Bach (10 FL 2075) = 7.5
• Lee, Jayden (10 AZ 2022) = 7.5
• Shivakumar, Shawnak (10 CA-N 1991) = 7.0
• Sloan, Jed (10 NY 1912) = 6.5
• Tay, Brian (10 VA 1822) = 6.5
• Sivakumar, Shaaketh (10 CA-N 1861) = 5.5
• Huang, Brian (10 CA-S 1924) = 5.5

GIRLS U10 results link (15 players)

• WCM Velea, Sophie (10 WA 1782) = 8.0 - 7th place (tied for 5th)
• Liu, Kelsey (10 MA 1944) = 7.0
• Evans, Serena (10 CT 1475) 7.0
• WCM Wen, Kally (10 CA-N 1681) = 6.5
• Elangovan, Ramya (10 TX 1593) = 6.5
• Peng, Sophia (10 AZ 1697) = 6.5
• Zhu, Florina (10 NJ 1623) = 6.5
• Field, Lila (9 NJ 1310) 6.5

OPEN U8 results link (8 players)

• Chennareddy, Yuvraj (8 IL 1901) = 10.5 - GOLD MEDAL
• Wang, Alexander (8 NJ 1960) = 8.0 - 10th place (tied for 6th)
• Jiang, Andrew (8 GA 1864) = 7.0
• Woodward, Andy (8 TX 1812) = 7.0

GIRLS U8 results link (7 players)

• WCM Qiao, Evelyn (8 GA 1641) = 8.5 - BRONZE MEDAL
• Prakash, Nandini (8 IL 1554) = 7.5 - 9th place (tied for 8th)
• Gu, Crystal (8 CA-S 1578) = 7.0
• Li, Rachael (8 TX 1994) = 6.5