Youth Chess News
Media Outlets Join Discussion of CPS Chess Reform
- Details
An increasing number of media outlets have added their voices recently to those urging reform of the chess program in Chicago’s public schools. A selection of the public comments follows.
NEW YORK TIMES:
Whitney Young… was the only representative at the [December 2013] K-12 Championships from [Chicago], which is not known as a chess stronghold. More students are enrolled in scholastic chess programs and are sent to tournaments across the country from schools in New York, which sends more teams to competitions than any other city; Miami; Seattle; Portland, Ore.; and even Brownsville, Texas. It is unusual for a city as large as Chicago, with 2.7 million people, to have only one school enter a tournament as prestigious as the K-12 Championships. By comparison, Los Alamos, N.M., population 18,000, also sent one school. (Dylan Loeb McClain, December 28, 2013)
St. John's Scholastic Chess Tournament - Two Romans in First Place
- Details
- Written by Hector Hernandez Hector Hernandez
The Romans played in the St. John's Scholastic Chess Tournament last Saturday, November 23, 2013.
Danny took First Place with a perfect 5-0 score in the Upper Primary Section. In the final round he had to overcome an opponent who kept making constant and repeated draw offers and would put captured pieces back on the board. Danny's picked up 229 rating points.
Illinois Youth Shine At Greater Midwest Class
- Details
- Written by Bill Feldman Bill Feldman
While Grandmasters Yury Shulman and Josh Friedel shared the championship of the first-ever Greater Midwest Class, it was an occasion of personal bests for many Illinois youth players.
Sam Schmakel and David Peng both finished in a seven-way tie for fourth. Schmakel bolstered his rating to a personal best 2389, losing only to Shulman while drawing Friedel. 10-year old Peng upped his rating to 2174. His only loss came at the hands of Wisconsin master Erik Santarius.
The three-day, six-round tournament concluded December 1 in Rosemont, IL with 105 players competing in the main event.
Juniors Aydin Turgut and Daniel Bronfeyn smashed the 2000-barrier for the first time, with Turgut unofficially becoming the highest-rated nine year old in the US.
Top 100 Youth for November, 2013
- Details
- Written by Bill Feldman Bill Feldman
While Massachusetts may be the only state with two top-rated players in their respective age group, Illinois is one of only four states with three among the top two.
Thanks to Aydin Turgut (age 9), David Peng (age 10) and Adarsh Jayakumar (age 18), all ranked second in their particular age classification, the Land of Lincoln joins New York, California and Texas with that distinction this month.
New class levels were achieved at the Midwest Class by Joe Fennessey (Expert), Andrew Fei (Class A), and Stefan Musikic (Class B). Jason Daniels also achieved Class A status due to his second category titling at the 2013 Hobbit Classic.
CPS Coaches, Struggling, Describe Their Frustration
- Details
Neal Suwe’s job description has changed. Instead of teaching and mentoring and overseeing his kids at tournaments, as he’s done for most of his 20 years as chess coach at Kelly High School, he now spends his time trying to raise money through candy sales and skating parties. His chess players have to help. He told them recently that being in a Chicago Public School is sometimes like being in a Third World country and that to sustain the team they’d have to raise the funds themselves. But raising money in an urban, low-income school is easier said than done, says Suwe, and many of his efforts fail. “I feel like Ralph Kramden with his get-rich-quick schemes that never pan out. I am one CPS chess coach who sees the writing on the wall that I may soon have to give it up. I need a lifeline."
If Suwe’s team folds, it will be but the latest casualty of a high school program that has shrunk from more than 40 teams in 1997 to fewer than a dozen today.