2016 All-America Chess Team Announced

(Crossville, TN) The United States Chess Federation (US Chess) is pleased to announce the 2016 All-America Chess Team sponsored by Trophies Plus. Team members will be presented with their team jackets and plaques at the 2015 National K-12 Grade Championship to be held December 4th through the 6th in Lake Buena Vista, Florida at the Disney’s Coronado Springs Resort. The All-America Chess Team was created in 1987 to honor the very best players ages 18 and under. The team, one of the highest national honors attainable by a young chess player, is selected on the basis of age, rating, and activities during that year, similar to the selection process of "all conference" sports teams. This year's candidates were selected based on their age as of January 1, 2015, and their peak post-tournament rating from July 1, 2014 through June 30, 2015. Since this award is a "post-season" selection, the minimum rating limits in each age group are reviewed annually by the US Chess staff and the US Chess Scholastic Council. The All-America Chess Team is sponsored by Trophies Plus of Templeton, Iowa. Trophies Plus has sponsored the team since 2004. In addition to the support provided for this award, Jim Jensen, owner of Trophies Plus, provides trophies for national tournaments as well as post-tournament trophy shipping. The US Chess is proud to have Trophies Plus as a part of scholastic chess by sponsoring this year's All-America Team. You can visit Trophies Plus at their website: www.trophiesplus.com or call them at 800.397.9993. The United States Chess Federation wishes to congratulate each of the 64 members of this year’s All-America Chess Team for receiving this prestigious award! 2016 USCF All-America Chess Team Sponsored by Trophies Plus:

Age 18 (Min. Rating 2550)
Darwin Yang	TX

Age 17 (min. rating 2450)
Michael H Bodek	NY
Arthur Shen	NJ
Michael Brown	CA

Age 16 (min. rating 2400)
Kayden Troff	UT
Luke Harmon-Vellotti	ID
Mika Andrew Brattain	MA
Safal Bora	MI
Joshua Colas	NY
Christopher Wu	NJ

Age 15 (min. rating 2400)
Akshat Chandra	NJ
Andrew Tang	MN
Kesav Viswanadha	CA
Edward Song	MI

Age 14 (min. rating 2350)
Samuel Sevian	MA
Jeffery Xiong	TX
Cameron Wheeler	CA
John Gabriel Ludwig	FL
Joshua Sheng	CA
Vignesh Panchanatham	CA
Craig Hilby	CA
Roland Feng	WA
Ethan Li	NY

Age 13 (min. rating 2300)
Ruifeng Li	TX
Nicolas Checa	NY
John Michael Burke	NJ
Albert Lu	CA

Age 12 (min. rating 2200)
Praveen Balakrishnan	NJ
Advait Patel	OK
David Brodsky	NY
Jennifer R Yu	VA
Annie Wang	CA
Marcus Ming Miyasaka	NY
Ben Li	MI
Aravind Kumar	NJ
Akshita Gorti	VA
Andrew Zheng	MD
Rayan Taghizadeh	CA
Aaron Shlionsky	NJ
Andrew Titus	MN
Luke Bohua Xie	OH
Josiah p. Stearman	CA
Age 11 (min. rating 2200)
Awonder Liang	WI
Hans Moke Niemann	CT
David Tianjian Peng	IL
Carissa Shiwen Yip	MA

Age 10 (min. rating 2100)
Andrew Zhang Hong	CA
Christopher Yu-Shuo Shen	OH
Wesley Wang	NY
Andy Huang	VA

Age 9 (min. rating 2000)
Kevin D Chor	AZ
Justin Wang	TX
Chinguun Bayaraa	CA
Logan Wu	TN
Anthony Bi He	WA
Atreya Vaidya	TX
Maximillian Lu	CT
Benjamin Medina	NY
Balaji Daggupati	CA
Daniel Hung	TX
Age 8 & Under (min. rating 1950)
Arthur Guo	GA
Jason Yuyang Wang	OH
Rithik Sai Polavaram	TX
Nico Werner Chasin	NY
Jason Yu	WA
Nathaniel Lande Shuman	NY