Five Players Named Chess Scholar Award Recipients

COLUMBUS, OHIO: The 501(c)3 US Chess Federation’s 2018 National High School (K-12) Championship, was contested from April 27 – 29, at Columbus, Ohio’s Greater Columbus Convention Center. As part of the festivities, the U.S. Chess Federation (US Chess) named five recipients of the 2018 Scholar-Chessplayer Awards. The recipients were: Abhimanyu Banerjee, age 16, from Gainesville, Florida; Maggie Feng, age 17, from Dublin, Ohio; Craig Hilby, age 18, from Irvine, California; Seth Talyansky, age 17, from Portland, Oregon; and Andrew Tang, age 18, from Plymouth, Minnesota. The Scholar-Chessplayer Awards target high school juniors and seniors who excel in academics, chess, and leadership. The five winners receive equal $1500.00 scholarships totaling $7,500.00 in awards. These annual recognitions, provided by the U.S. Chess Trust with the support of the National Scholastic Chess Foundation and US Chess, are intended to encourage high school students who promote a positive image of chess. As we fulfill our mission of “empowering people through chess one move at a time,” we use our scholastic nationals to fulfill our goals of growing the game, engaging the educational community about the benefits of chess, and continuously improving our operations and member services. As US Chess Executive Director Carol Meyer notes, “We are proud of how many thousands of happy young US Chess members we have both at the beginning and the end of our championships. This is a testament to our staff, our volunteers, and the many parents and coaches of teams large and small.” For more information on our events, please visit www.uschess.org.