Over 500 Young Chess Players Gather for National Youth Action Chess Championship

573 young chess players from 20 states participated in the National Youth Action Chess Championship held November 15-17, 2002 at the Clock Tower Resort and Conference Center in Rockford, Illinois. The National Youth Action Chess Championship was a nine round Swiss system tournament played with a time control of game in 30 minutes. Each player played nine different opponents. Each player had 30 minutes for each game, so the maximum duration for any game was one hour. Each player scored one point for each win and half point for each draw. Three or more players from the same chess club could participate as a team, and the scores of the four highest scoring players from the same team in each section were added together to form the team score for that section.

Jesse Cohen of Longmont, Colorado won the section for players in grades K-12 with a perfect score of 9 points. Cohen also led his team, Chess for Juniors, to a first place finish with a team score of 28 points. Timothy Moroney of Beverley Hills, Michigan and Derek Lyon of Chicago, Illinois tied for first place in the section for players in grades K-9 with 8 points each. Lyon led his team, Latin School of Chicago, Illinois, to the K-9 team championship with a team score of 27 points. Sam Edelstein of Glenview, Illinois, James Nitz of Plantsville, Connecticut, and Benjamin Krause of Betheseda, Maryland tied for top individual honors in the section for players in grades K-6 with 8 points each. Montessori Academy of Hobart, Indiana took top team honors in the K-6 section with a team score of 26 points. Jason Chien of Bloomington, Illinois won the section for players in grades K-3 with a score of 8 ½ points. Jason led his team, Twin City Chess Club of Bloomington, Illinois, to the K-3 team championship with a team score of 26 points.

The event began with a blitz tournament held on November 15. Robert Rasmussen of Niles, Illinois won the blitz tournament for players in grades K-12 with a perfect score of six out of six. Chicago, Illinois’ Chicago Public School All Stars won top team honors in the K-12 blitz tournament with a team score of 16 points. Zach Kasiurak of Illinois and Sam Edelstein of Illinois tied for first place in the K-6 blitz tournament with 5 ½ points each. Saint Gilbert of Grayslake, Illinois won top team honors in K-6 blitz with a team score of 14 points. Blitz chess is played with a time control of five minutes per player per game.

The team of Rasmussen and Collins won the bughouse tournament held November 16. Bughouse is a chess variant involving two-player teams. More information about the 2002 National Youth Action Chess Championship is available at www.uschess.org/tournaments/Youth Action.

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The USCF, founded in 1939, is the governing body for chess in the United States and is devoted to extending the role of chess in American society. It promotes the study and knowledge of the game of chess, for its own sake as an art and enjoyment, and as a means for the improvement of society. The USCF is a not-for-profit membership organization with more than 90,000 members. For more information, please visit http://www.uschess.org.