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Andover girl is youngest US female chess master

3/16/2015

Carissa Yip can play chess with her eyes closed.

The Andover sixth-grader doesn’t need a board, no stoic chessmen at the ready. In her mind, she can lead a kingdom into a war of wits and strategy, visualizing each move. And several that will follow.

That helps explain how, in February, the 11-year-old became the youngest female in the United States to earn the title of chess master. When she beat Alexander Ivanov last fall at the New England Open, Carissa became the youngest female ever to defeat a grandmaster.

“It’s a challenging game and I like that about it,” she says. “I prefer to play with someone who’s actually good … and I also like the pretty pieces.”

When Carissa knows she’s winning, her eyes narrow and a look of glee floods her face. A sideways grin forms. Her opponents don’t always see it coming, but that face symbolizes the end is near. Her focus is always two, four, six, 10 moves ahead of her opponent.

See the full article at Boston Globe and watch the video.

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The Boy’s Gambit: Inside the world of Nihal Sarin, a chess champion at the age of 10

3/14/2015

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Last September in Durban, Nihal was crowned the Under-10 Classical World Champion. This was on the back of winning the Asian Under-10 rapid title and blitz title — both at Tashkent in Uzbekistan in June. Seven months earlier, he had clinched his first major international title: the World Under-10 blitz at Al Ain, UAE. At Durban, Nihal had clinched the classical world title with a round to go.

The Sarins are not pushy when it comes to their son’s career. He isn’t a product of the academy-driven conveyor belt that thrives in the sport’s nurseries in Chennai. Nirmal coaches Nihal three times a week, with each session lasting two hours.

Nihal is brought up like any other 10-year-old. He comes back from the Devamatha CMI Public School by 4 pm. His parents, both assistant professors at the Thrissur Medical College, finish their day half an hour earlier. Once Nihal is back home, he gets out of his uniform, pulls out the badminton racquets and pesters his father to play with him at the makeshift badminton court in front of the house. “There is no point pushing him to spend more hours in front of the chess board. There are so many cases of parents making their children play chess for up to six to seven hours a day. This will only lead to a burnout,” Sarin says.

Yet, his parents have seen the bookworm in him when they tip-toe past his room at night. When most children are tucked into their beds, or leafing through The Diary of a Wimpy Kid, Nihal is up reading books on chess. “I like reading books by former world champion Alexander Alekine,” he says. “It is quite a task to get him ready on time for school. Most days, the school bus is waiting for him,” grandfather Ummar says.

See article.

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Your Move, Grandmaster. (To the U.S., Please.)

3/12/2015

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The secret effort currently underway involves trying to persuade Fabiano Caruana, the No. 2 player in the world, to switch to playing for the United States from Italy. Last September, while playing in an elite tournament in St. Louis, Mr. Caruana said he was approached and offered a large sum to switch federations. Mr. Caruana, who was born in Miami and has dual American and Italian citizenship, said he had turned down the offer, for now.

Mr. Caruana would not say who approached him, but the offer came after he won the Sinquefield Cup, obliterating an impressive field that included the world champion, Magnus Carlsen of Norway. The tournament is named for Rex Sinquefield, a retired financier active in Missouri politics who has become the primary benefactor of chess in the United States. Mr. Sinquefield provided the $315,000 prize fund for the event, as he also does for the United States Championship, which for seven consecutive years has been held at the Chess Club and Scholastic Center of St. Louis, which he financed and built.

Switching federations, particularly for an elite player, is not simple. A grandmaster, for example, and the federation he would like to play for must apply to the World Chess Federation, the game’s governing body, for permission, then pay a fee of up to 5,000 euros (about $5,400) if the player is to be allowed to represent his new country immediately. If the player has not been a resident of his new country for two years, an additional compensation fee to the player’s old federation is required — as much as €50,000 for a player of Mr. Caruana’s caliber.

Consequently, transfers of elite players are rare. In the last 15 years, there have been only two involving players ranked in the world’s top 20: Sergey Karjakin, a Ukraine-born player ranked No. 12 who now plays for Russia, and Wesley So, No. 8 in the world, who switched last year to the United States from the Philippines.

See the NYTimes article.

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Carissa Yip: Youngest Female Master Ever!

3/3/2015

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She just keeps breaking records.

Carissa Yip, 11, is already in the record books for beating a grandmaster at age 10. Now she is also the youngest American girl to become a national master.

She broke the record set less than a year ago by Annie Wang, whose mark was eclipsed by about four months.

"I hope that the record can bring more opportunities for me to participate in more strong and invitational tournaments," Carissa told ChessKid.com. "It takes hard work to reach master, and there are a lot of ups and downs but in the end it's worth it."

Carissa is well known to the ChessKid.com community. She played in both the 2013 and 2014 USA-Polgar Youth Match, and she won the 2013 ChessKid Online National Invitational Championship for the Under-10 section.

She also tied for second place at the 2013 World Youth Championships.

See article.

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Wesley So: Life at the top (2/2)

3/3/2015

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In playing against the strongest opponents, particularly in long events such as Tata Steel, which had 13 rounds with no easy games, physical fitness and strong nerves always become a big factor.

A member of Team Wesley reported on one of the rest days at Wijk aan Zee: “It is terribly exhausting and I can hardly fault anyone here for losing or not doing their best. The weather is horrendous, rain every day and the cold and wind are exceptionally bitter. We walk back and forth to the venue and often arrive wet. The schedule is exhausting and the games quite long. But then again, this is the way champions are made and we are all grateful to be here at this event.”

Everyone at Tata lost at least one game. So’s only loss, against Giri in the 12th round, lasted 111 moves and took eight hours and 20 minutes to finish, well past normal dinner time. It was the longest game in the entire tournament. The following day, with the last round starting 1.5 hours earlier, So came back strong and ended another successful stint at Wijk aan Zee with a brilliant win against Loek van Wely.

“Anish is a nice guy and obviously an extremely talented player,” So said upon his return to Minnesota. “He deserved to win although there was a moment I thought it was a draw. You can always learn from any loss and, personally, it motivated me to work harder and stay more focused.”

That loss stopped So’s unbeaten run at 54 games, beginning from April 2014 in the 4th round of the Bill Wright Saint Louis Open. During that remarkable streak, he won four high-profile tournaments: the Capablanca Memorial in Havana, Cuba, in May; the ACP Golden Classic in Bergamo, Italy, in July; the Millionaire Chess Open in Las Vegas, in October, where he got into the world’s top 10 for the first time; and the North American Open, also in Las Vegas, in December. He also finished second, just half a point behind the Ukrainian legend Vassily Ivanchuk, at the Edmonton International in Alberta, Canada, in June.

Considering how closely So had come to at least a tie for first with Carlsen at Tata, his many fans could only rue the one that got away and couldn’t help but wonder how things might have turned out differently. So himself had thought about it and this is what he had to say –

“Hindsight is always 20/20 and of course you tell yourself, I should have done this or that. Losing a game is hard but that is what gaming is about. The heartbreaking losses make it interesting. If you always won, you’d get bored and stop growing.”

“I did the best I could, I learned a lot, and the biggest lesson was that there is always room for improvement and greater effort,” So said. “It was a wonderful time for me at Wijk aan Zee. To survive a long challenging tournament, it is crucial to be disciplined and Tata Steel provided me the opportunity to test myself in this and in many other ways."

See the full article.

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March 2015 Newsletter

3/1/2015

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News

Steps Classes in Spring

Step 1, unit 2: 1:30 - 2:35pm
Step 2, unit 1: 2:45 - 3:50pm
Step 2, unit 2: 4:00 - 5:05pm
Saturdays 2015: 3/21, 3/28, 4/11, 4/25, 5/2, 5/9, 5/16, 5/23, 6/6, 6/13

Tactics Workshop

Time: Thursday 7:00 - 8:00pm
Suggested rating: 500-1200

Steps Method Overview
Steps Classes
Tactics Corner
Scholastic Tournaments

See newsletter.

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Andover girl is youngest US female chess master

The Boy’s Gambit: Inside the world of Nihal Sarin, a chess champion at the age of 10

Your Move, Grandmaster. (To the U.S., Please.)

Carissa Yip: Youngest Female Master Ever!

Wesley So: Life at the top (2/2)

March 2015 Newsletter

Coach Andy

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