Scholastics / Spring Nationals


Celebrating Sprin With Promise and Numbers:A Record-


By JORGE BARRERA AND ALYCIA HESSE


THIS SPRING BROUGHT TWO EXCITING SCHO LASTIC NATIONAL TOURNAMENTS TO THE MIDWEST. The top high school chess players gathered in Columbus, Ohio at the 2015 National High School Championship on April 10th-12th, while a week later on April 17th-19th, girls from across the country had a chance to test their skills against one another at the Kasparov Chess Foundation’s All-Girls National Championships in Chicago, Illinois.


For many years now, there has been a growing sense that there is an increasing interest in chess among youth players.


Steadily, the number of participants at national tournaments has been rising, and this year made this growth quite evident, as both tournaments had a record- breaking number of players regis tered! At the National High School Championship, 1,492 participants were on the boards, while at the All-Girls, there were 359 competitors. If one focuses, for example, just on the National High School (K-12) Championship section, there has been a significant increase in recent years: in 2012, there were 330 players, while in 2015, there were 472 players. In just three years, that is a 43 percent increase in the Championship section alone, which demon strates vividly the growing number of players drawn to the game.


PHOTO: Some of the 1,492 participants at the Hyatt Regency in Columbus, Ohio 20 July 2015 | Chess Life


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