Youth Chess News
Alex Zhao Wins K-1 National Championship, Coonley Takes 5th
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- Written by Bill Feldman Bill Feldman
Alex Zhao, a first-grader at Avery Coonley School in Downers Grove, is the K-1 National Champion!
Alex defeated Californian Sriram Krishnakumar in the final round to secure the championship after upsetting top-rated Marvin Gao (1613) and third-ranked Adrian Kondakov (1500) in the sixth and fifth rounds respectively.
Sriram was the top tiebreak in the ten-player 6.0 scoregroup, which included Illinois' Dimitar Mardov. Sriram claimed third place, Dimitar, the K-1 Illinois Champion, took fifth place. Sriram defeated Dimitar in the sixth round.
Virginia Kindergartner Ronen Wilson had a shot at the co-championship, but could only manage a draw in the last round against second-rated William Safranek (1596) of New York. Ronen finished with 6.5 to claim second place outright.
Mardov and Zhao Perfect at National K-1 Through Five Rounds, Max Malecki also 5.0/5 in K-6 Under 1000
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- Written by Bill Feldman Bill Feldman
Update: In a major upset (330 rating points!), Alex Zhao won his sixth round match and is one of three perfect scores remaining in the National K-1 Championship. Max Malecki also won round six, and now plays for the K-6 Under 1000 championship.
Dimitar Mardov (5.0/6) is playing white on Board 5 in the K-1, Aydin Tugut (5.0/6) is playing white on Board 5 of the K-6 Championship, and Aaron Gan (5.0/6) is playing black on Board 6 of the K-3 Championship. In the K-5 Championship, Peter Zheng (5.0/6) is playing black on Board 6 and Advaith Prabu (5.0/6) is playing black on Board 9.
Original story: With two rounds remaining, a pair of Illinois youth have two of the five perfect scores in the K-1 section of the National Elementary Championships. The seven round event concludes today in Nashville, TN.
Daniels-Turgut Team Wins National Bughouse Championship
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- Written by Bill Feldman Bill Feldman
It won't impact their USCF ratings in the least, but a pair of downstate Illinois juniors have claimed the National Elementary Bughouse Championship.
Jason Daniels and Aydin Turgut compiled 11 out of 12 points to claim clear first place at the competition completed May 7 in Nashville, TN. They split in the fourth round with Alex Costello and Max Lu, the pair which took second on tiebreaks atop a four-pack of 10.0 scorers.
Jason is in sixth grade, Aydin is in 5th grade. Aydin is the defending K-5 Champion, a title he earned at the same competition last year in Dallas.
70 pairs competed in one or more rounds of the bughouse competition. Results are posted at the USCF site.
Discounted USCF Memberships Available For Juniors
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- Written by ICA Staff ICA Staff
From now through the end of May (2015), any juniors K-12 who are interested in a USCF one year membership at the rate of $9 may contact Carl Dolson at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..
This gives the member the right to play in USCF-rated events and to achieve a USCF rating.
This membership is part of a bulk purchase which does not provide for mailing of a printed magazine, but does include access so that the Chess Life (or CL for Kids) magazine can be viewed and selectively printed at home.
There are a limited number of vouchers and once the supply is depleted, the promotion may not be available to others.
Existing regular memberships are $17 for those Under 12, $22 for those Under 16 and $26 for other high schoolers, so this is quite a discount.
David Peng Claims 2015 USCF K-9 National Championship
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- Written by Bill Feldman Bill Feldman
With a seventh-round draw, 7th-Grader David Peng clinched top honors at the 2015 USCF National Junior High Championships, winning the K-9 section outright with a 6.5 tally.
David's final opponent, Sam Capocyan of Texas, tied for second with two others at 6.0.
Eighth-grader Matthew Stevens posted 5.0/7, tying for 10th place, 13th on tiebreaks. Hanson Hao tied for 25th with 4.5.
In the K-8 section of the same event, Rockford's Vincent Do, a seventh grader, tied for seventh place with a 5.5/7 result, drawing Ohio's Maggie Feng in the final round. Maggie had the top tiebreak among 5.5 scorers, having drawn the section champion in the sixth round. Marcus Miyasasaka of New York had the highest tiebreak among six 6.0 scorers to win the section.