Dallas, Texas is being bombarded by young chess players with dreams of national championships. Texans should not be alarmed by children armed with weighted chess pieces because November 18 – 20 is the 2011 United States Chess Federation’s National K-12 Chess Championships.
The USCF National K-12 Chess Championship is the premier grade-level chess tournament in the United States. Chess players in grade 12 or below compete for three days in thirteen sections to determine the best school-aged chess players in America. Chess players in identical grades from the same school will also be competing for team standings.
This year I have fewer students participating do to the fact that the World Youth Chess Championship in Brazil starts on the same day. Its unfortunate that the USCF and Fide would schedule championship tournaments that conflict with eachother. Even with the double scheduling, California will have several strong players representing the state.
Two of my favorite six-year-olds will be in attendance. Milind Maiti of Cupertino went undefeated at the 2011 National Elementary Chess Championship and also finished first at the 2011 National Junior Chess Congress. Rishith Susarla of Fremont has worked as hard as any of my chess students for the last sixth months. Underrated at 1454, Rishith seems poised to win his first National Championship. Milind and Rishith are good friends and will likely rise to chess stardom aided by eachother’s successes.
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