Arthur Xu, Family, Reflect on World U10 Silver

 

At the recent 2017 World Youth in Brazil, Oak Park's Arthur Xu earned the silver medal in the Under 10 competition. With the World Cadets beginning this week, also in South America, Arthur and his supportive family were kind enough to share thoughts with the ICA website.

XuWorldU10

Arthur became the USA's U10 Official Representative ("OR") when Eric Li became the "Personal Rights" designee from winning a Gold medal in the Pan America Youth in July. As a result of this designation, Arthur received training from GM John Fedorowicz as assigned by US Chess.

Arthur's thoughts on the event:  Before I went to Brazil I thought I could have a really good chance to get Top Three.

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Illinois' Emrikian is World U8 Champ; Xu Scores U10 Silver

 

Aren Emrikian 1 1 700x350By virtue of his 11th round victory against fellow-American Abhi Mishra, Aren Emrikian has won the 2017 World Cadet Under 8 competition!  Aren finished with 9.0/11.

Playing the black colors, Aren trailed the top-seeded Mishra by a half-point heading into the last round. Aren's victory dropped Mishra into a second place tie at 8.5 with Battulga Tenuunbold of Mongolia who scored a mild upset in Round 11.

In the U10 section, Arthur Xu drew his 11th round match, compiling an 8.5 tally and the Silver Medal for clear second!

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Almost Four Dozen Girls in US Top 100's As of 8/17

 

47 Illinois girls under 18 rank in the top 100 nationwide for their respective ages, 33 holding a rating higher than 1000.

Experts Shreya Mangalam, Marissa Li and Miranda Liu lead the way with ratings over 2000! 

Linda Pham has now moved from the Ages 7 & Under to the Age 8's category ranking #27 in the US. Happy belated birthday, Linda! Enkhjin Namuunbayar (Age 8), Lily Meegoda (Age 9), Stella Pashyan (Age 11) and Zhengxin-Cindy Tang (Age 15) earned their first mentions in the Top 100 Girls lists – keep up the progression!

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Chicago High Schoolers Creates Chess Documentary

 

Seniors at the Latin School of Chicago have an opportunity to learn through non-traditional means by completing a senior project focused on their individual passions.

To some students that meant designing a (computerized) virtual reality experience, to others it meant exploring molecular gastronomy, creating a wilderness survival video, or dispelling stereotypes of rap music. 

When presented with this opportunity, I immediately knew that mine would somehow revolve around my passion of chess. 

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A Rook & A Quarter: A Classroom Setting

 

Setting: January 2017. A Beginners Chess Class.

Students setting up. Javier and Erik, friends, rivals, promising players, are eight moves into their game;  neither has castled.

I sit at their table. "Are either of you gentlemen planning to castle?"

"We like our kings in the middle," says Javier.

"Keeps your opponent guessing," says Erik.

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