2015 ChessKid Online National Championship, Rounds 1-3
Chess.com's scholastic extension, ChessKid.com, is hosting the Fourth Annual ChessKid Online National Invitational Championship (CONIC) this weekend.
Thirty of the best ChessKids in the U.S. are competing in five sections for an official USCF national championship. All players are competing in five-game round robins, with sections based on age: 6 and Under; 8 and Under; 10 and Under; 12 and Under; and Girls 13 and Under.
Time controls are 90+30 and the winner of each section receives $300 in scholarship money for private lessons with grandmasters. All players receive one-year diamond memberships to Chess.com, one-year gold memberships to ChessKid.com, and lots of Chess.com/ChessKid.com gear.
You can read the full preview article here, which includes the chess biographies and backgrounds of all the players.
A reminder that rounds four and five will both be broadcast on Chess.com/TV (with IM Danny Rensch for both rounds and in round four also with this author). Round four will be Sunday, June 7 at 8 a.m. Pacific and round five will be later that day at 2 p.m. Pacific.
After three rounds, here are the standings for each section and a few games of the players. All five sections have a lone leader, with three players still sitting on perfect scores. You can also click on the name of each player to see their "standard time control" archive. The three most recent games at the 90+30 time control are their first three games from CONIC.
6 and Under
Dimitar Mardov 3.0
Sriram Krishnakumar 2.5
Ronit Chandra 1.5
Brian Huang 1.0
Erick Zhao, Grayson Cooke 0.5
12 and Under
Ben Li 2.5
Annie Wang, Rayan Taghizadeh 2.0
David Peng 1.5
Advait Patel, Andrew Titus 0.5
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- Email: Mike@chess.com
- Phone: 1 (800) 318-2827
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Mike Klein began playing chess at the age of four in Charlotte, NC. In 1986, he lost to Josh Waitzkin at the National Championship featured in the movie "Searching for Bobby Fischer." A year later, Mike became the youngest member of the very first All-America Chess Team, and was on the team a total of eight times. In 1988, he won the K-3 National Championship, and eventually became North Carolina's youngest-ever master. In 1996, he won clear first for under-2250 players in the top section of the World Open. Mike has taught chess full-time for a dozen years in New York City and Charlotte, with his students and teams winning many national championships. He now works at Chess.com as a Senior Journalist and at ChessKid.com as the Chief Chess Officer. In 2012, 2015, and 2018, he was awarded Chess Journalist of the Year by the Chess Journalists of America. He has also previously won other awards from the CJA such as Best Tournament Report, and also several writing awards for mainstream newspapers. His chess writing and personal travels have now brought him to more than 85 countries.
