Scholastics / Spring Nationals
be honest, I’m doing what no decent player should do: passively waiting for the oppo - nent to make a mistake and making moves without a plan. I needed a win if I wanted to tie for first and looking at the position it’s quite hard to generate play without creating weaknesses.
19. Re2 Rfd8
Still waiting, though I’m fortunate enough that it’s not too easy for White to attack either. A better continuation is 19. ... d5 20. e5 Ne4 21. Nxe4 dxe4 22. Qg3 Bd5 23. Rd1 f5 24. Be3, when Black is barely better, but White is ex treme ly solid with no weaknesses.
20. Bh4?
This is the most active-looking square for the bishop, but drops a pawn.
20. ... Nxe4 21. Bxe7 Nxc3 22. Bxd8 Nxe2+ 23. Qxe2 Rxd8 24. c3
is sure to bring excitement in future iterations of the All-Girls. When looking back at both tourna ments,
Despite not being an exciting game, it
does show the importance of being tacti - cally aware, even in quiet-looking po si tions.
The four-way tie for first place made this
year’s edition of the KCF National All-Girls Championships the closest contest that the tournament has seen in many years. In the resulting tiebreaks, Becca won the first- place trophy, while Jackie took the second place. Then Alice and Anupama took third and fourth, respectively. The excitement during the last round
was not reserved for just the Under 18 Championship section though. Going into the last round, the team trophy looked to be almost a certainty for Hunter College High School of New York City, who had a commanding lead of 11
⁄2 points over Catalina
The game should now be easily won for Black, but there’s still work to do.
24. ... Bd5 25. Qg4 Qe7 26. Re1 Qf6 In hindsight, I’m sure my king was in
no danger, but at the time I was trying to prevent any possible counterplay for White.
27. Qg3 Rc8 28. Qe3 h6 29. Kh2 Re8 It’s easy to see my technique, for what -
ever reason, is quite ugly. But now with ... e6-e5 coming, I may actually begin to start caus ing problems for White.
30. Nc2? Bxg2, White resigned. At A Glance ⁄2 : De LaSalle (IL); Under 14 Team, 1st, 121 ⁄2
Foothills High School of Tucson. Stun - ningly, no team member of Hunter man aged to get another point in the last round, while Amber Fox and Aiya Cancio from the Catalina team brought home a point each. This put them half a point ahead of Hunter, and the results were that they became the sole winners in the team trophy awards. Another wonderful result came from
the youngest section. The Under 8 player from Florida, Maya Behura, managed to win her last game against Amelie Phung from New York, and with that final point, Maya achieved the only perfect score in the entire tournament. Though clearly a favorite, with an amazing rating over 1500, this young player has bright prospects and
it is easy to forget that each of the partic- ipants in these events is a student. Chess can offer players another world to take part in and explore, but outside of the game, these young players juggle many other responsibilities. If one looks at some of the teenage players, for example, we often celebrate their amazing games, without realizing how much effort it took to get to that point. Not only do many of these players have to study chess to get their results, but they also contend with a full load of coursework, SATs and ACTs, college applications, and many other important duties. Both IM Akshat Chandra and Becca Lampman, who are each upper classmen in high school, mentioned how they strive to find balance between their academic work and their chess. Akshat spoke of how he has tried to use his free time to prepare for chess, but that with school assignments and other significant responsibilities, he can get very busy. Likewise, Becca said that prior to the tournament, she had Advanced Placement examinations that she needed to focus on, which resulted in limited study time for the tournament. Therefore, when we look at the players
at the 2015 National High School Champi- onship and those at the KCF National All-Girls Championships, we are seeing their determination and their love of chess in action. For indeed, each player has shown how much chess means to them, as they travel and take the time to participate amid their busy lives. As the number of scholastic participants rise at our national tourna - ments, there is much to celebrate and much promise on the horizon.
See the At A Glance boxes for the National Elementary and the National Junior High School events on the next two pages.
12th All-Girls National Championships
Date: April 17-19, 2015 | Location: Hyatt Regency McCormick Place, Chicago, Illinois | 359 players | Top Finishers: Under 18, 1st- 4th, 5: Becca Lampman, Jackie Peng, Alice Dong, Anupama Rajendra; Under 18 Team, 1st, 9: Catalina Foothills H.S. (AZ); 2nd, 71 Hunter College High School (NY); 3rd, 4: De LaSalle (IL); Under 16 Team, 1st, 111 School (TN); 3rd, 21
⁄2 ⁄2 : Rocky Run MS (VA); 2nd, 81 ⁄2 ⁄2 : I.S. 318 (NY); 2nd, 11: Douglass K-8 (TN); 3rd-4th, 101
High (CA), University Prep Science & Math (MI); Under 12 Team, 1st, 11: Weibel Elementary (CA); 2nd, 10: I.S. 318 (NY); 3rd, 71 Hunter College Elementary (NY); Under 10 Team, 1st, 14: Dalton (NY); 2nd, 13: Speyer Legacy (NY); 3rd, 101
:
: Douglass High ⁄2
: Weibel Elementary
(CA); Under 8 Team, 1st, 12: P.S. 139 (NY); 2nd-4th, 10: Weibel Elementary (CA), Dalton (NY), Hunter College Elementary (NY). | Chief Tournament Director: Glenn E. Panner.
www.uschess.org 27
: Horner Jr. ⁄2
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