The Field
Title:
- Grandmaster
Rating:
- 2521
Federation:
- Dobbs Ferry, NY
Age:
- 15
Bio:
- Checa’s first big chess achievement was in 2012 swhen he became U12 National Champion in the USCF/Chess.com invitational championship. He has since been a member of the All-American Chess Team. At age 11, he became the youngest New York State Champion in history—a record that he still holds which led to his profiles in both the Wall Street Journal and the New York Times. In 2014 he placed second in the U14 section of the North American Youth Chess Championship and obtained 1st place in the NAYCC Blitz Open. 2015 brought continued success as he tied for 5th place in the World Youth Chess Championship in Greece, where he was the official U.S. player in the U14 section. In that same year, he became an FM. The following year, he became an IM. In 2017, Checa has continued his chess succes when he became National High School (K-12) Blitz Champion at the VI SuperNationals that took place in Nashville in May. In March, he became the New York High School Championship in Saratoga, New York and in February he participated in the SCCSC GM Norm Invitational. Checa recently got a GM Norm at the Philadelphia international last week leading up to the Juniors tournament.
Tag:
Title:
- FIDE Master
Rating:
- 2466
Federation:
- White Plains, NY
Age:
- 18
Bio:
- Josh began playing chess at a young age and quickly starting competing in tournaments; he participated in the 2006 World Open at the age of 7. He currently holds the record of youngest African-American chess master at 11 years old. Other accomplishments for Josh include being a USCF All-American (2010-2013), winning the 2012 SPF World Open U-18, competing in four different World Championships, and becoming the 2013 New York State High School Chess Champion. He also earned a GM Norm at the 2015 North American Open. This will be his second time competing in the U.S. Junior Closed Championship, having last played in 2014. Josh is currently studying business management at Webster University. If Josh successfully reaches 2400, he will be eligible for his International Master title.
Tag:
Title:
- Woman FIDE Master
Rating:
- 2368
Federation:
- Boston, MA
Age:
- 13
Bio:
- Carissa learned to play chess at the age of six from her father and has been shattering world records ever since; at 9, she became the youngest ever to attain the title of Expert, and at age 11, became the youngest female to achieve the National Master title. Carissa also set the record for youngest female player to beat a Grandmaster when she won against GM Alexander Ivanov in the New England Open a few days before her 11th birthday. Carissa recently had a strong showing at the 2017 U.S. Women’s Championship where she defeated four-time U.S. Women’s Champion, Anna Zatonskih, and drew against six-time U.S. Women’s Champion, Irina Krush, who she had previously defeated in the 2016 U.S. Women’s Championship.
Tag:
Title:
- Woman Candidate Master
Rating:
- 2335
Federation:
- Columbus, OH
Age:
- 16
Bio:
- Finishing with a score of 6.5/7, in 2016 Maggie became the first female in history to win the K-9 Championship. (Previous winners include Fabiano Caruana and Hikaru Nakamura.) She recently competed in the 2017 Women’s Chess Championship where she had notable draws against former U.S. Women’s Champions, Nazi Paikidze and Irina Krush, and a win against the current U.S. Women’s Champion, Sabina Foisor. Maggie finished the championship with a score of 6/11, along with Anna Sharevich, Anna Zatonskih, and Jennifer Yu.
Tag:
Title:
- Woman International Master
Rating:
- 2324
Federation:
- Chantilly, VA
Age:
- 14
Bio:
- When Akshita first entered the chess scene in March 2009 at the age of seven, she was rated 400. However, that rating quickly shot up: 1000 by the end of 2009, and 1467 by the end of 2010. Some notable achievements began to stack up for Gorti after a few years of playing in an impressive number of tournaments (averaging 30 per year). She took second in the 2013 All-Girl National Championship U-18 and the 2013 All-Girl National Blitz Championship U-18, tied for first in the 2014 U.S. Junior Girls Invitational, and took clear first in the Releya Chess WGM Norm Tournament in 2015. After earning titles of Woman International Master and FIDE Master in 2015, she was able to showcase her skills at the 2016 Women’s Chess Championship at age 13.
Tag:
Title:
- Woman International Master
Rating:
- 2290
Federation:
- La Cañada, CA
Age:
- 15
Bio:
- In March 2014, Annie Wang became the youngest female chess master in the United States at age 11–breaking the record that had been held by Irina Krush since 1996. (Annie held this record for one year, until Carissa Yip broke it in March 2015.) The following year, she competed in the 2015 U.S. Women’s Chess Championship at just 12 years old. Notable achievements for Annie include an undefeated win in the U2100 section of the Annual Recession Buster Open in San Diego in 2013, and first place in the U-18 Girls section of the 2014 North American Youth Chess Championship, where she earned her WIM title. When she isn’t playing chess, Annie enjoys reading and spending time with friends.
Tag:
Title:
- Woman International Master
Rating:
- 2287
Federation:
- Austin, TX
Age:
- 14
Bio:
- Emily started playing chess competitively at a young age. She notably won the U.S. Junior Under 8 Championship (Open section–both girls and boys) in 2010 and at the same time, reached a 1500 Elo rating. Emily is currently the reigning U.S. Junior Girls’ Champion. Entering the tournament last year as an underdog, she had an impressive win against the top seed, Maggie Feng, and finished clear first with a score of 6.5/9. This earned her a spot in the 2017 U.S. Women’s Championship, where she drew against a former U.S. Women’s Champion, Nazi Paikidze.
Tag:
Title:
- Woman International Master
Rating:
- 2272
Federation:
- San José, CA
Age:
- 16
Bio:
- Ashritha learned to play chess at the age of 7. At 13, she became a national master under the training of Bulgarian Grandmaster Dejan Bojkov at the NorCal House of Chess. In her first appearance in 2014, she won the prize for the Best Game of the Tournament despite being the youngest among the field. In 2015, she took first place in the U.S. Girls’ Junior Championship with a score of 6.5/9. The very next day, she flew to Colombia for the 2015 Pan-American Youth Chess Championship where she earned bronze through a tie-break. Other accomplishments throughout her career include becoming All-Girls National Champion U-12 in 2012, and All-Girls National Champion U-15 in 2013. She has played in the World Youth Championships four times from 2012-2015, and has already competed twice in the U.S. Women’s Chess Championship tournament.
Tag:
Title:
- Woman International Master
Rating:
- 2264
Federation:
- Goleta, CA
Age:
- 17
Bio:
- Agata began playing chess when she was eight. Highlights of her chess career include participation in the U.S. Woman’s Chess Championship, Bronze at the World Youth in Greece, Gold at the North American Junior in Canada, and Gold at the PanAmerican Championships in Mexico.Violin and the sciences are her passions outside of chess. At sixteen she earned AA degrees in Mathematics, Physics, and Chemistry.When not playing chess and going to school, she is conducting research in the Lipshutz Lab at UCSB where she has authored scientific papers in Organic Chemistry.Agata has been awarded one of the nation’s most prestigious college scholarships from the Jack Kent Cooke Foundation and is headed to MIT to study Chemical Engineering in the fall.
Tag:
Title:
- Woman FIDE Master
Rating:
- 2258
Federation:
- Troy, MI
Age:
- 18
Bio:
- Apurva Virkud has been playing chess ever since her teacher taught her in first grade. She saw success at an early age; in 2011, Apurva earned the achievement of Michigan’s Individual Children’s Champion for 4th and 5th grade, and won the Susan Polgar Girls’ Invitational Chess Tournament. She tied for first place at the first National Girls’ Invitational in 2013 and in the 2014 U.S. Girls Junior Invitational. Apurva has already been able to showcase her chess skills at the CCSCSL in both the 2015 and 2017 U.S. Women’s Chess Championships. Outside of chess, Apurva enjoys violin and piano. She plans to study engineering in college.
Tag:
Title:
- Woman FIDE Master
Rating:
- 2223
Federation:
- Appleton, WI
Age:
- 17
Bio:
- Rachel Ulrich comes from a chess-playing family; she and her three siblings all have played chess competitively starting at a young age. Rachel has competed on an international scale in the 2010 World Youth Championship, and nationally at the prestigious Susan Polgar Girls Invitational tournament later that same year. In 2015, she was invited to compete in the U.S. Junior Girls’ Invitational. She is currently the #6 female player under the age of 18 in the United States.
Tag:
Title:
- Woman Candidate Master
Rating:
- 2032
Federation:
- Saint Louis, MO
Age:
- 14
Bio:
- Thalia Cervantes is junior member of Webster University SPICE program, and is determined to achieve great success in chess. Originally from Cuba, she relocated to Saint Louis to compete at a higher level. Already, she has racked up a number of accomplishments: in the 2016 Chicago Open tournament, Thalia, ranked around #30 her section, dominated and took first in the under 2100 section with a score of 7/7. Thalia also won the 2015 SPF Girls’ U-19 Invitational at age 12, the 2016 All-Girls National U-16 Championship, the 2016 Mid-America Open (U1900 section), and earned bronze in the 2017 All-Girls National U-18 Championship.
Tag:
Title:
- Grandmaster
Rating:
- 2676
Federation:
- Plano, TX
Age:
- 15
Bio:
- Ruifeng began playing chess at 5 years old. He won the Arkansas State Championship in 2011 at the age of 8, and later that same year placed second in the World Youth Chess Championships U-10 section. In 2012, after this early success, he was invited to participate in the Young Stars program, a chess training program coached by Garry Kasparov. Soon after, Li went on to earn his National Master title. He received his IM title in 2015, and recently earned his title as Grandmaster earlier this year. Some of Ruifeng’s greatest chess accomplishments include several draws during major chess tournaments against world class players such as Fabiano Caruana, Gata Kamsky, Luke McShane, and Alexey Dreev. Ruifeng also won the 2016 North American Junior Chess Championship. He recently was able to participate in the 2017 Spring Classic tournament in Saint Louis. Ruifeng finished 4th place out of 6 in his group, but had notable draws against GM Sam Sevian.
Tag:
Title:
- Grandmaster
Rating:
- 2603
Federation:
- Saint Louis, MO
Age:
- 18
Bio:
- Akshat started playing chess at the age of around 9 1/2 years. He has recorded one of the fastest rises in the history of world chess when his chess rating climbed steeply from 1548 to a GM rating of 2500 in under 5 ½ years. Notable achievements for Akshat include winning the 2015 U.S. Junior Chess Championship in his first appearance and taking first in both the 2015 National High School Chess Championship as well as the National High School Blitz Championship. Since 2014, at age 14, Akshat has been the #1 ranked Junior Rapid Chess player in the country.
Tag:
Title:
- Grandmaster
Rating:
- 2597
Federation:
- West Jordan, Utah
Age:
- 19
Bio:
- Kayden started playing chess at age three when his father, Daniel, taught the game to him and his brothers. After it was discovered that Kayden had a special talent for chess, at age six he began training with Grandmaster Igor Ivanov. He was one of the first young chess players to be selected for participation in the Young Stars – Team USA program, where he was mentored by World Champion Garry Kasparov. He has also trained with GM Alex Chernin, GM Melikset Khachiyan, and GM Sam Shankland. In addition to winning multiple Utah Scholastic and adult Utah Championships, some highlights of his chess career include winning the 2009 North American Championship (Under 12), placing second at the 2010 World Youth Championship U-12, taking gold in the 2012 World Youth Championship U-14, and competing in the 2013 and 2015 U.S. Chess Championships. Kayden also notably won the 2014 U.S. Junior Closed Championship with an impressive 7/9 score at age 16. You can learn more about Kayden on his website, www.kaydentroff.blogspot.com.
Tag:
Title:
- International Master
Rating:
- 2583
Federation:
- Madison, WI
Age:
- 14
Bio:
- Awonder Liang is one of the most impressive chess prodigies in recent history. He holds a number of records including youngest ever to defeat an International Master, youngest to defeat a Grandmaster, youngest American to achieve a master rating, and youngest American to achieve the International Master rating. Other achievements include winning the U8 Open world title (2011), U10 Open world title (2013), tying for first at the 2011 U-8 World Youth Chess Championship, achieving a GM Norm at the 2016 Continental Championships, and placing second in the 2016 U.S. Junior Closed Championship. He enters this tournament having recently dominated Group B of the Spring Classic tournament, held in Saint Louis in May 2017, with a score of 7.5/9. He earned another GM Norm at that event.
Tag:
Title:
- International Master
Rating:
- 2581
Federation:
- Trabuco Canyon, CA
Age:
- 19
Bio:
- Michael began playing chess in first grade as an after-school hobby. A year later, he began training with a coach, and playing in tournaments. By fourth grade, he was competing in national tournaments, and soon after, Michael began playing internationally. He earned the title of National Master in 2011 and the FIDE master title in May 2014. In spring 2016, Michael broke 2500 USCF, a landmark goal of his. Notable achievements include third place in 2013 World Youth Championship in Dubai (where he placed third), first in the 2015 Utah Open Championship, and first in the 2016 Utah G/60 Championship. Michael is a junior at Brigham Young University. This will be his second appearance at the U.S. Junior Championship Tournament in Saint Louis.
Tag:
Title:
- International Master
Rating:
- 2562
Federation:
- Plymouth, MN
Age:
- 17
Bio:
- Andrew Tang started playing chess in preschool, and earned a National Master title in sixth grade. He earned his IM title in 2014 when he won the North American Junior Chess Championship in Canada as the eighth seed with a dominating score of 7.5/9. He also earned a GM Norm at this event. Other achievements include tying for first at the 2015 Pan American Junior Championship in El Salvador, becoming the 2016 National High School co-champion, earning his second GM Norm at the 25th Kavala International Tournament in Greece, winning the Minnesota State Champion title in 2017, and recently tying for first in the K-12 section at SuperNationals VI this past May in Nashville. This is his first time playing in the U.S. Junior Championship in Saint Louis.
Tag:
Title:
- National Master
Rating:
- 2486
Federation:
- Lexington, MA
Age:
- 18
Bio:
- Mika learned how to play chess at age 6, and by 10, he had already won a college scholarship by placing first at the 2009 K-5 Chess Super National Championship. He was a participant in the 2014 U.S. Cadet Championship, and the winner of the 2014 83rd Massachusetts Open, where he had victories against two former champions, Alexander Ivanov and Robert Perez. He also placed first in the Denker Tournament of High School Champions in Indianapolis last August. This will be Mika’s second appearance at the U.S. Junior Championship in Saint Louis.
Tag:
Title:
- National Master
Rating:
- 2315
Federation:
- Houston, TX
Age:
- 15
Bio:
- After winning a local competition at age 7, Bovey was inspired to start playing chess on national and international levels. He has participated in the 2011 World Youth Chess Championship and the 2013 U.S. World Youth U-16 tournament, and achieved his National Master title at the age of 12. Other accomplishments include the first place (Champion) at the 2016 U.S. Junior Open; the middle school Champion at 2014 in Texas and placed 3rd in 2014 Barber tournaments of middle school champions in US; and the High School Champion at the 2016 Texas State Championships and placed 3rd place in the Denker Tournament of High School Champions in Indianapolis last August.
Tag: