First Moves/ Chess news from around the U.S.
FACESACROSS THE BOARD
By AL LAWRENCE IRIS ZHOU
CREVE COEUR “The GMs got into so much time trouble with so much time!”
Levon Aronian playing bughouse with Karthik Ramachandran
including a variety of chess puzzles, vari- ants, apps, and lectures to continually build interest in the game. The kids also received visits from Levon, Dejan, and Tatev, who each offered sound advice for improving as a chess player before taking many photos and signing books, boards, and T-shirts! After the day was over, we held evening
activities to give students a chance to play casual chess, socialize, and have fun. We held a blitz tournament on the first day and bughouse tournaments on days three and four, which were open to all students. On the second day GMs Bojkov and Khachiyan joined forces to perform a tandem clock simultaneous exhibition on 40+ boards. Despite the very quick pace they ended up doing quite well, losing just three games, drawing a few, and winning the rest. As a prize for the winners of the evening activities, we gave out a copy of Bojkov’s new book, Modernized: The King’s Indian Defense, which he personally signed for each win- ner. We gave a copy to Levon as well, who promptly asked Dejan for his autograph. The final day of the camp had a lot of
excitement. For starters, it coincided with the FIFA World Cup Final (soccer)! With most of the coaches and students inter- ested in watching, and the game starting right at lunchtime, no one was disap- pointed with missing a bit of lecture time to view Germany take on Argentina. After the game was over, we gathered
everyone into a large ballroom for group photos and one-on-one blitz games with Aronian. Visiting on the final day were two special guests: the Glendale city mayor, Zareh Sinanyan, and the Glendale city clerk, Ardashes Kassakhian, a big sup- porter of the camp. The mayor, city clerk, and Levon all took photos with the top
finishers in each group, after which it was time for the individual blitz games. Levon chose to play black and handedly
won each game, offering a quick post- mortem and advice to each of his oppo nents. He then played a few bug- house games against the winners of the bughouse tournaments, which were even more fun as Levon was quite the trash- talking virtuoso. Then followed many more requests for photos and autographs from Levon, who kindly obliged and remained in a positive mood, offering constant encouragement to each student. Overall the camp was a huge success,
as most players expressed great satisfac- tion and an interest in coming back next year. Levon enjoyed his time as well, tak- ing pleasure in sharing his love and passion for chess with such a diverse group of students. MetroChess and ACA will likely work together for more camps in the future, hopefully growing the inter- est and popularity of chess both locally and across the United States.
Do you want your camp featured in
Chess Life? Let us know well in advance (at least three-six months) of your camp what you have planned by writing to
dlucas@uschess.org. Your camp should have some kind of “hook” (a top player like Levon Aronian participating is a good start!) or be attempting something innovative to make it of interest to our national audience.
A little girl who has had a big year, Iris won the un- der-2000 section of the Millionaire Satellite event in St. Louis, jumping 200 rating points and moving her into the top of her age group in USCF. She’s skipped two grades of math and was the only girl in the top 10 for her grade level in the Missouri State Math Contest. Mom Yanfang says, “She’s a very modest kid. She loves music and art, plays piano and just started cello. She’s a crazy reader who reads tons of books. We often have close to 100 library books cir- culating in our house!”
ARJUN PURI & MIKE KUMMER
CREVE COEUR AND SAINT LOUIS “Each move was explained.”
Arjun, a first grader, is the 2014 Missouri Novice champion and would like to be “really good,” some- day. A great way to get good is by watching the live action at the U.S. Championship in the St. Louis club. He goes to the club four times a week. “I enjoy my time with friends there.” Mike Kummer, Arjun’s teacher is a former Missouri high school champion who works at the club giving instruction and directing tournaments. “I’ve worked all six championships,” Mike said. “It’s still amazing to see how intense it is. There’s nothing like it.”
JULIAN PROLEIKO ST. LOUIS
“I really enjoyed the commentary and watching high-level chess in person.”
Julian started playing tournaments in 2012, after his first visit to the Chess Club and Scholastic Center of Saint Louis. Now 15, he’s played in 200 rated events and is on the verge of becoming an expert. “One day I was at the chess club and a guy asked me to play blitz with him. He hardly used any of his time, and the way he beat me was just tragic. I was a little flus- tered and asked him his rating. He said, ‘Oh, about 2700.’ In shock, I asked him what his name was and he said, ‘Veruzhan Akobian.’ I think that pretty much sums up the St. Louis chess club.”
Write to
faces@uschess.org.
www.uschess.org 11
CHAMPIONSHIP!
AT THE U.S.
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