Erick Zhao Wins the 2018 American Youth Foundation Grand Championship

This was our 2^nd annual tournament on June 2-4 at the Renaissance Hotel at Sea World in Orlando, FL. We had 114 players competing in not only our main event on Saturday and Sunday but also our side events, including Friday night blitz and bughouse tournaments and a puzzle solving tournament on Saturday night. In addition, there was an Adult Fun Tournament on Saturday evening with 4 of our parents coming out and enjoying their 3-game quad tournament. In our main event, our sections of Open, Under 1900, Under 1600, Under 1300, Under 1000, Saturday Under 700, Sunday Under 700, Saturday Under 400 & UNR, Sunday Under 400 & UNR, Saturday K/6 Non-Rated, and Sunday K/6 Non-Rated were played over two days with each section having their own time controls. Several players who competed are currently rated in the Top 100  in their ages in the USA. Players came from different states with California, Georgia, Tennessee, Alabama, Texas, and Florida all represented. In addition, a terrific club from Jamaica lead by Coach Ryan Blackwood came again this second year with a very strong contingent of high rated members. All competition was fierce with several upsets in each section of more than 150 rating points. Erick Zhao won clear 1st in the open section. He was seeded #4 entering the tournament and had a great event, winning each one of his games and defeating seeds #1-3 seeds in the process. Here is one of his favorite games from the tournament:

[pgn][Event "2018 AYCF GRAND CHAMPIONSHIP"]
[Date "2018.06.02"]
[Round "2"]
[White "Erick, Zhao"]
[Black "Andy, Yang"]
[Result "1-0"]
[WhiteElo "1913"]
[BlackElo "1936"]
[PlyCount "93"]
[EventDate "2018.??.??"]
[SourceDate "2015.04.04"]
[TimeControl "60"]1. e4 c6 2. d4 d5 3. Nc3 dxe4 4. Nxe4 Bf5 5. Ng3 Bg6 6. h4 h6 7. Nf3 Nd7 8. h5
Bh7 9. Bd3 Bxd3 10. Qxd3 e6 11. Bd2 Ngf6 12. O-O-O Be7 13. Ne4 Nxe4 14. Qxe4
Nf6 15. Qe2 Qd5 16. c4 Qe4 17. Qf1 O-O 18. Re1 Qh7 19. Ne5 Ne4 20. Ng6 Nxd2 21.
Nxe7+ Kh8 22. Kxd2 Rfe8 23. Rxe6 fxe6 24. Ng6+ Kg8 25. Qe2 e5 26. dxe5 Rad8+
27. Kc3 b5 28. cxb5 cxb5 29. Qxb5 Rc8+ 30. Kd4 Rcd8+ 31. Ke3 Re6 32. Qc4 Rde8
33. Rd1 Kf7 34. Rd7+ Kg8 35. Qxe6+ Rxe6 36. Rd8+ Re8 37. Rxe8+ Kf7 38. Re7+ Kg8
39. e6 Qxg6 40. hxg6 Kf8 41. Rf7+ Ke8 42. Rxg7 h5 43. Rxa7 Kf8 44. g7+ Kg8 45.
e7 Kxg7 46. e8=Q+ Kh6 47. f4 1-0[/pgn]

Here are the results with the names, the state or country they come from, and the scholarship award they won.

Open Section

1^st – Erick Zhao (FL) $800

2^nd/3^rd  – Jackie Liu (FL), Benjamin Chen (FL)  $450 each

4^th – Andy Yang (FL)  $250

 

Under 1900

1^st – Garret Liao (CA) $650

2^nd – Nicholas Lyn (Jamaica) $450

3^rd – Jayden Lang (FL), David Liu (FL), Jason Shen (TN), Donovan Wu (FL), and Andrew Xing (FL)  $50 each

 

Under 1600

1^st – Abhiram Pothuri (FL) $500

2^nd – Darren McKennis (Jamaica) $300

3^rd – Jaden Shaw (Jamaica), Andrew Ye (FL), Kyle Pratt (FL), and Jolie Huang (FL) $50 each

 

Under 1300

1^st - Armani Dyer (Jamaica) $350

2^nd – Jianlin Chen (FL) $250

3^rd – Kevin Liu (FL) $150

  Our Foundation’s upcoming tournaments are:

1. 2019 American Youth Championship – January 20-21, 2018 at the Atrium Hotel in Irvine. CA.
2. 2019 American Youth Chess Foundation Grand Championship – July 12-14, 2019 at Renaissance Hotel at Sea World in Orlando, FL
3. 2020 American Youth Chess Foundation Grand Championship – June 31-July 2, 2020 at Renaissance Hotel at Sea World in Orlando, FL
4. 2021 American Youth Chess Foundation Grand Championship – July 2-4, 2021 at Renaissance Hotel at Sea World in Orlando, FL

If you wish to see the USCF rating report for this year’s Grand Championship, please visit this link: http://www.uschess.org/msa/XtblMain.php?201806033192 I want to thank our Tournament Staff of Steve Lampkin and John Marble who worked hard to make this and last year’s tournaments run smooth. Mr. Lampkin also provided a very nice bookstore with books and equipment for everyone’s needs.  

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The American Youth Chess Foundation was created in 2016 and granted 501(c)(3) status in January, 2017. The mission/goal of this Foundation is to help our nation’s youth help to pay for college expenses through winning scholarships competing in chess tournaments. If anyone wishes to donate, join our mission, or have questions, please reach out to Joe Hanley at americanyouthchessfoundation@gmail.com. I hope to see you all at our upcoming tournaments.