16th KCF All Girls National Tournament Underway [PHOTO GALLERY]

The 16th edition of the Kasparov Chess Foundation (KCF) All Girls National Tournament is underway with approximately 400 girls participating in six sections. The event, hosted from April 12-14 in Chicago, is presented by the KCF and the Renaissance Chess Knights, in association with US Chess. This year, the All Girls is sharing Chicago’s famed convention center, McCormick Place with a Star Wars Convention. The extra crowd may account for a slight drop off in attendance, but the young ladies who are playing are fully focused on chess. I heard no one plans to let the Wookie win. In the morning, ten teams participated in a Bughouse side event. First place went to Jocelyn Chen and Sonia Devaraju of New York. Harker’s Smarties formed by Anika Rajaram and Omya Vidyarthi of Illinois walked away with second place. While third was earned by Rose and Simon Morden of Her Move Next. The first round of the main event was kicked off with the National Anthem sung beautifully by 11-year-old Kalia Wang of Austin, Texas. Chief Tournament Director NTD Jeff Wiesel made sure the tournament started on time. Follow pairings & standings here throughout the weekend. Betsy Zacate is photographing and reporting on the event for US Chess.