2013 U.S. Junior Championship Overview

The 2013 U.S. Junior Closed Championship is the top tournament event in the United States for players aged 20 and younger. It will feature 10 of the country’s strongest up-and-coming chess players, and it is scheduled to be held at the Chess Club & Scholastic Center of Saint Louis, from June 13th through June 23rd.

The U.S. Junior Closed Championship is exciting on a number of levels. Not only do spectators get the opportunity to see the nation’s rising stars go head-to-head for the title, these young players also typically put on a fantastic show, playing swashbuckling chess that is full of aggressive attacks, wild swings, briliancies, blunders and innovative play on both sides of the board.

With an invitation to the 2014 U.S. Championship on the line, these players come to Saint Louis ready to fight for a shot at the title.

This marks the fourth consecutive year that the Chess Club & Scholastic Center of Saint Louis will host the U.S. Junior Closed Championship. The format will be a standard 10-player round robin, and live play-by-play commentary will be presented each day by GMs Yasser Seirawan and Ben Finegold.

Meet the Field

No.	Title	Name	Rating*	Invitation Method
1.	IM	Danel Naroditsky	2538	Rating
2.	IM	Victor Shen	2511	Rating
3.	NM	Robert Perez	2510	Rating
4.	IM	Kayden Troff	2505	Rating
5.	FM	Jeffrey Xiong	2483	Rating
6.	FM	Yian Liou	2469	Rating
7.	FM	Sam Sevian	2467	Rating
8.	FM	Atulya Shetty	2446	Wildcard
9.	FM	Luke Harmon-Vellotti	2434	Wildcard
10.	WFM	Sarah Chiang	2238	U.S. Open Invitation

* Based on the April USCF ratings list.

Schedule

Day	Date	Time	Event
Thursday	June 13th	6:00 PM	Player Arrival, Opening Ceremony
Friday	June 14th	1:00 PM	Round 1
Saturday	June 15th	1:00 PM	Round 2
Sunday	June 16th	1:00 PM	Round 3
Monday	June 17th	1:00 PM	Round 4
Tuesday	June 18th	1:00 PM	Round 5
Wednesday	June 19th	REST DAY	REST DAY
Thursday	June 20th	1:00 PM	Round 6
Friday	June 21st	1:00 PM	Round 7
Saturday	June 22nd	1:00 PM	Round 8
Sunday	June 23rd	11:00 AM	Round 9, Playoff (if necessary), Closing Ceremony

Meet the Arbiter

Assistant Arbiter: Tony Rich, FA, IO, STD

Tony Rich is a FIDE Arbiter and International Organizer as well as a USCF Senior Tournament Director. Rich serves as the Executive Director of the Chess Club and Schoalstic Center of Saint Louis and was the assistant arbiter for the 2010 and 2013 U.S. Championship. He has also been an assistant tournament director for the 2009 Supernationals, 2010 U.S. Open, 2010 Denker Tournament of High School Champions, 2010 Girls Junior Open 2010 College Tournament of Champions, and 2013 SuperNationals.

In addition, he is one of only 22 FIDE International Organizers in America. In this role he has successfully organized major events including four U.S. Championships, four U.S. Women’s Championships, three U.S. Junior Closed Championships, international matches and a variety of other high-level tournaments. In both 2009 and 2010 Rich was named the U.S. Chess Federation’s “Organizer of the Year” and was on the Barber Tournament of State K-8 Champions and the Denker Tournament of High School Champions organizing committees in 2011.

Tony has traveled extensively since 2008, serving as the head of delegation for the American teams at various events, including FIDE Olympiads, World Team Championships and the Pan American Team Championship. He is a member of the FIDE Swiss Pairing Program Commission, the FIDE Social Chess Commission and the USCF International Relations Committee. In addition, Tony also serves as an adjunct professor in the department of elementary education at the University of Missouri – Saint Louis.

Tony is originally from Saint Louis, Missouri and has a bachelor’s degree in computer science from Missouri University of Science & Technology. He spent a number of years working in the IT industry before spearheading the Chess Club and Scholastic Center of Saint Louis.