Chess by Stephen Dann
Andrew Liu, 15, of Westboro tied for first in the National Junior High Grade K-9 section last weekend in Atlanta. The seven-section event drew 1,296 players. Details at www.uschess.org.
David Vigorito and Steven Winer tied for first in the top of five sections at the 24th Mass. Game/60 in Marlboro. Prize winners of the 109-player event can be found at www.masschess.org.
April events at the Greater Worcester Chess Club were won by Brett Kildahl in the Open and Maik Sohn, a novice, in the Under-1700 section. Other prize winners were Mike Odell, John Curdo, Daniel St. Germaine, Lou Jacques and Eric Stevens. Details of May events may be found at www.chesspals.com.
Carissa Yip, 10, not only upped her USCF rating to 2137, but is now just 63 points away from the master plateau in sweeping the Siiskonen Memorial, 5-0 at the Wachusett Chess Club on Wednesday nights at Fitchburg State University. She also took the top under-2200 prize at the Mass. Game/60. Full list of winners of the 38-player event at www.wachusettchess.org.
Denys Shmelov of Pepperell won the closed Metrowest CC championship, and Neil Cousin of Franklin topped the class section. Yi Yang of Shrewsbury tied for first in the concurrent April Fool Open, all together attracting 85 players. Full details of the Natick Tuesday action at www.metrowestchess.org.
Top chess story of the week may have come Monday from The Washington Post an article headlined “Is Webster University spending $1 million to dominate college chess and crush UMBC,” referring to the University of Maryland Baltimore County. Susan Polgar and husband, Paul Truong, answered back from St. Louis Thursday at their www.susanpolgar.blogspot.com.”The importance of College Chess.” This college “sports” debate may now reach out to hundreds if not thousands of college campuses across the country, not to mention primary and secondary schools where young students compete for these STEM scholarships now going mainly to students from Europe and Asia.
In other results, Alexander Ivanov and Robert Perez led a field of 40 (time limit G/25) in the N.H. Quick Championship in Portsmouth at 7-1. Magnus Carlsen dominated the six-player Gashimov Memorial with 6.5. Hikaru Nakamura, the U.S. representative, finished third on tiebreak at 5-5 in the ultrastrong event. Full details at www.theweekinchess.com.
Source: http://www.telegram.com
People who lost are jealous.