Chess — Stephen Dann
The 2013 World Youth Chess Championships in Al-Ain, United Arab Emirates (80-plus miles from Dubai), drew 1,790 youth under 18 — from about 100 countries — in 12 sections and will finish Saturday. At this writing, Carissa Yip of Chelmsford won her first two games in the Girls Under Age 10 section, and Friday was to face the top-ranked girl in her 135-player group (one of 12 total from under age 18 to under age 8, open and girls). Today is round 6 of 11 rounds, with Christmas being the only “free” day.
There are nine players from the U.S. in just her section (nearly 100 overall) and daily reports are being posted on www.wachusettchess.org, as well as the official site, www.worldyouth2013.com and www.fide.com.The largest sections of the six open and girls are those under age 12.
Speaking of the Wachusett Chess Club, Mike Lally of Leverett won the 35-player George Sturgis Memorial. Carissa Yip tied for second (she was unable to play the final round) along with Ray Paulson, Bruce Felton and Gary Brassard. Due to the holidays, the Wachusett CC will resume meetings on Jan. 8 at Fitchburg State University’s Fitchburg campus.
Snow dampened attendance at the Pillsbury Memorial last Sunday in Marlboro. Alexander Ivanov of Newton split first with Mika Brattain of Lexington. Other section winners were Robert Stewart tying with Eric Feng, Richard Kahn and Abhinav Govindaraju in the 31-player event.
David Hall of Springfield had a jolly time winning the fourth Saint Nick Open in Holyoke, seeing he defeated top-ranked Cliff McLaughlin of West Brookfield and tied for second place in the 16-player event, also during the storm.
Meanwhile, about a dozen state scholastic players basked in the sun in Lake Buena Vista, Fla., as seven won trophies in the 1,476-player U.S. Grade K-12 Championship. Top finishers in the 13 grade sections were Andrew Liu of Westboro in Grade 9, taking third after losing on first board in the final round. Nithin Kavi of Acton tied for second in Grade 6. Jason Tang of Belmont was third in Grade 5. Others with high awards were Alex Fauman, Alan Sikarov, Loring Lauretti and Suraj Ramanathan.
Hikaru Nakamura, top-rated U.S. player, and now number three in world rankings, won the London Chess Classic; detailed coverage at www.uschess.org and www.chessbase.com. Visit www.masschess.org to view upcoming events, including the Jan. 10-12 Boston Chess Congress and concurrent third Chess Education Expo in East Boston.
Is 2014 a chess political year? Former World Champion Garry Kasparov is on the campaign trail seeking to head the World Chess Federation (FIDE).
Source: http://www.telegram.com
Love this column.