As the US Open in Norfolk, Virginia approaches, top seeds from the upcoming National events talked to US about gearing up for the opening weekend's prestigious trio of Invitational events, as well as a variety of schedules for the 118th US Open (July 29-August 6th).
NGTOC
Since we last previewed the National Girls Tournament of Champions (NGTOC), World Youth gold medallist Rochelle Wu of Alabama has entered. To learn more about Rochelle's style, you can watch GM Ben Finegold's video on the STL Chess Club's YouTube channel.
https://www.facebook.com/uschess/posts/1343724622350166:0
Richard Schiffrin, who along with his wife Barbara, donated the top $5000 prize at the NGTOC in both 2016 and 2017, said " “We want to continue to encourage more girls and women to enter fields that have traditionally been filled by boys and men–engineering, math, science, technology, to name a few."
Denker & Barber
Many of the players in the Denker Tournament of High School Champions have been attending Barber tournament of K-8 Championships or Denker for several years. Even for top seeds who are also focused on winning the tournament, seeing old friends and meeting new ones is also a priority.
IM-elect Craig Hilby of California, a top seed in the Denker, told US Chess,
"If I'm not bringing my A-game to Denker then I can definitely be upset. I will prepare briefly before the tournament for (some of the top seeds) like Praveen Balakrishnan, Bryce Tiglon, Andrew Liu. I've been to Barber/Denker a few times before and I think what makes it stand out from other tournaments is the professional yet friendly atmosphere given by the small stuff like the opening ceremony, having your state flag by your table and possibly exchanging state souvenirs with opponents. I will definitely be going in with a hunger to win every game, but I am also going to enjoy hanging out with and seeing my friends like Emily Nguyen, Edward Song, Jennifer Yu and Joey Kelly."
Another top seed in the Denker, Edward Song agreed with Craig. "One reason the Denker and Barber are special is that each player in the competition is representing their own state, which already sounds like a big accomplishment in itself. The representatives of their own state are likely the strongest high schooler in the state as well. There's no doubt that this tournament will be very difficult, as there are a lot of players rated 2400+ and even a few above 2500, so I'll probably just take it one game at a time and see if I can fight for first."
Another IM-elect, Bryce Tiglon was recently featured on US Chess for winning the Under 18 section at the North American Youth Championships, thus securing his IM title. He told US Chess, " The Denker tournament is special because it brings together incredible talent from across the country. It is already quite an achievement just to be at the tournament!"
See updated pre-registered lists on the Barber and the Denker.
US Open:
Emily Nguyen is registered for the Traditional Schedule of the US Open. She told US Chess "this will be my third consecutive US Open. I always love the schedule because there's a lot of time to rest and relax or go sightseeing, and this will be my first year playing the traditional schedule. To prepare, I just finished the US Girls Junior Championship and I'm attending a chess camp in Bulgaria."
https://www.instagram.com/p/BW-qs2eAVOC/?taken-by=stlchessclub
Best of US Chess writer IM Kostya Kavutskiy told US Chess that he chooses the US Open because "the upside of winning first place (and qualifying for the U.S. Championship) is tremendous, even though I consider myself a huge longshot to win. The tournament is a lot of fun nevertheless, and you can feel the fantastic history and tradition of the event while you're there."
Josh Friedel, a former US Open Champion (2013), jokes that he is playing the 4-day schedule in a tournament for chess purists, hoping this isn't the harbinger of bad things to come.
Follow the tournaments on the official site and also find out more about the Denker, Barber and NGTOC on their websites. Find top board games here http://chesslive.xyz/usopen/tfd.htm and the Denker/Barber and NGTOC here: http://chesslive.xyz/DBG/tfd.htm
Follow @USChess on twitter for takeovers from Vanessa Sun and look for updates from Al Lawrence and photography by Jim Doyle.
Categories
Archives
- October 2024 (6)
- September 2024 (23)
- August 2024 (27)
- July 2024 (44)
- June 2024 (27)
- May 2024 (32)
- April 2024 (51)
- March 2024 (34)
- February 2024 (25)
- January 2024 (26)
- December 2023 (29)
- November 2023 (26)
- October 2023 (37)
- September 2023 (27)
- August 2023 (37)
- July 2023 (47)
- June 2023 (33)
- May 2023 (37)
- April 2023 (45)
- March 2023 (37)
- February 2023 (28)
- January 2023 (31)
- December 2022 (23)
- November 2022 (32)
- October 2022 (31)
- September 2022 (19)
- August 2022 (39)
- July 2022 (32)
- June 2022 (35)
- May 2022 (21)
- April 2022 (31)
- March 2022 (33)
- February 2022 (21)
- January 2022 (27)
- December 2021 (36)
- November 2021 (34)
- October 2021 (25)
- September 2021 (25)
- August 2021 (41)
- July 2021 (36)
- June 2021 (29)
- May 2021 (29)
- April 2021 (31)
- March 2021 (33)
- February 2021 (28)
- January 2021 (29)
- December 2020 (38)
- November 2020 (40)
- October 2020 (41)
- September 2020 (35)
- August 2020 (38)
- July 2020 (36)
- June 2020 (46)
- May 2020 (42)
- April 2020 (37)
- March 2020 (60)
- February 2020 (38)
- January 2020 (45)
- December 2019 (35)
- November 2019 (35)
- October 2019 (42)
- September 2019 (45)
- August 2019 (56)
- July 2019 (44)
- June 2019 (35)
- May 2019 (40)
- April 2019 (48)
- March 2019 (61)
- February 2019 (39)
- January 2019 (30)
- December 2018 (29)
- November 2018 (51)
- October 2018 (45)
- September 2018 (29)
- August 2018 (49)
- July 2018 (35)
- June 2018 (31)
- May 2018 (39)
- April 2018 (31)
- March 2018 (26)
- February 2018 (33)
- January 2018 (30)
- December 2017 (26)
- November 2017 (24)
- October 2017 (30)
- September 2017 (30)
- August 2017 (32)
- July 2017 (27)
- June 2017 (32)
- May 2017 (26)
- April 2017 (37)
- March 2017 (28)
- February 2017 (30)
- January 2017 (27)
- December 2016 (29)
- November 2016 (24)
- October 2016 (32)
- September 2016 (31)
- August 2016 (27)
- July 2016 (24)
- June 2016 (26)
- May 2016 (19)
- April 2016 (30)
- March 2016 (37)
- February 2016 (27)
- January 2016 (33)
- December 2015 (25)
- November 2015 (23)
- October 2015 (16)
- September 2015 (28)
- August 2015 (28)
- July 2015 (6)
- June 2015 (1)
- May 2015 (2)
- April 2015 (1)
- February 2015 (3)
- January 2015 (1)
- December 2014 (1)
- July 2010 (1)
- October 1991 (1)
- August 1989 (1)
- January 1988 (1)
- December 1983 (1)