Maryland Chess Association

Watch MD's Top Players Compete in US Chess's National Invitationals Next 2 Weekends: 7/24-26 & 8/1-2

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US Chess's Premier Invitationals Start This Weekend on Chess.com

Super GM Hikaru Nakamura (#2 in the world in 2015) will livestream game analysis on his, US Chess's, & Chess.com's Twitch.tv channels.
  Click on link above for more details.  Scroll down to "How to Watch".

US Chess Brings Historic Events Online to Chess.com

Cheer on MD's players:

Senior (50+):                     GM Larry Kaufman (2311)
Denker (grades 9-12):       NM Andrew Zheng (2297)

Haring (girls, K-12):          Carissa Zheng (1974)
Barber (grades 6-8):         Jayant Maheshwari (2059)

Rockefeller (K-5):              Hanchi Yao (1636)

Blitz starts Friday night at 7 PM.  3 sections: 2200+, 1600-2199, Under 1600.  Analysis by GM Robert Hess.

MD's 2020 Denker, Barber, Rockefeller, Haring, & Senior Representatives IF DETERMINED BY RATING—Updated 4/9

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by John D. Rockefeller V

If MD Chess is unable to run MD’s K-12 state championships (HS, MS, ES, & Girl) and the MD Open by early June because of the pandemic, then Maryland's 2020 Denker (HS), Barber (MS), Rockefeller (ES), Haring (Girl), & Senior (50+) Representative & Alternate Representative will be the 2 players with the highest official & established April (or perhaps May) US Chess rating in those grade, gender, & age categories. If you know of a MD resident and/or student who has a higher April rating than those listed below, then please contact MD Chess as soon as possible at tournaments@mdchess.com.

GM Arnold Denker National Tournament of High-School (9-12) State Champions

• Andrew Zheng (2297)
• Richard Tan (2211)
• Pieter Heesters (2205)
• Jason Daniels (2179)
• Bijan Tahmassebi (2174)
• Benjamin Shoykhet (2101)
• Andrew Diep (2092)
• See Lists of Top Players by Age & Gender

Dewain Barber National Tournament of Middle-School (6-8) State Champions

• Jayant Maheshwari (2059)
• Chen-chen Ye (1972)
• Anish Mariappan (1812)
• Sherock Grigsby (1729)
• Gabriel Joshi (1706)
• Kevin Zimmer (1631)
• Rachana Bhanuprasad (1603)
• See Lists of Top Players by Age & Gender

John D. Rockefeller III National Tournament of Elementary-School (K-5) State Champions

• Hanchi Yao (1636)
• Nitesh Cherukuri (1627)
• Daniel Udovenko (1489)
• Youran Wang (1441)
• Arjun Lakshmanan (1320)
• Aundre Dudley Jr. (1218)
• Destiny Dudley (1164)
• See Lists of Top Players by Age & Gender

WIM Ruth Haring National Tournament of Girls (K-12) State Champions

• Carissa Zheng (1974)
• Meghana Bhanuprasad (1924)
• Saniya Savla (1769)
• Rachana Bhanuprasad (1603)
• Vaishnavi Vaijaeepay (1587)
• Emily Xing (1584)
• Ashley Zhang (1329)
• See Lists of Top Players by Age & Gender

National Tournament of Senior (50+) State Champions

• Shelby Getz (2389)
• William Morrison (2380)
• Lawrence Kaufman (2311)
• Troy Roberts (2236)
• Larry Gilden (2215)
• Allan Savage (2200)
• Philip Collier (2200)
• Boris Zisman (2161)
• Ludivico Silverio (1838)
• See Lists of Top Players by Age & Gender

Click below for more details:

Read more: MD's 2020 Denker, Barber, Rockefeller, Haring, & Senior Representatives IF DETERMINED BY...

2020 High School Senior Online Rapid - June 13

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2020 High School Senior Online Rapid, a free event sponsored by Dewain Barber, the Dean of Scholastic Chess.

Date: Saturday, June 13 at 2:00 p.m. EDT / 11:00 a.m. PDT

Registration deadline: Friday, June 12 at 9:00 p.m. EDT / 6:00 p.m. PDT - No exceptions!

Eligibility: 

* Students with senior student status in the 2019-20 academic year

* Current US Chess membership valid until 6/30/2020  (Click here to join/renew.)

For complete event information (including registration link), see post on Chess Life Online.

2020 Maryland Sweet 16 - Benjamin Shoykhet is Champion!

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by Chris Y Kim

Day 2 of the 2020 Maryland Sweet 16 at the University of Maryland, Baltimore Country (UMBC) exhibited some excitement at the top in addition to extra sunshine courtesy of the Daylight Saving Time change. There were three players undefeated after two rounds, and one player, top-rated Bijan Tahmassebi just 0.5 points behind. In Round 3, co-leaders Benjamin Shoykhet and Shane Jayasundera met with Shoykhet prevailing in a long game.  Bijan Tahmassebi and Ryan He also were paired, and despite being the longest game of the round, Tahmassebi could not escape the draw result. This set up a round 4 matchup with between the top ranked players - Shoykhet and He with He needing a win to capture the title. The two players played a relatively quick draw - leaving Shoykhet with the 2020 Maryland Sweet 16 titile. Shoykhet is the recepient of a tuition scholarship to UMBC.  He has moved from the St. Louis, Missouri area this past summer.  

In tiebreak order, here are the final standings with the USCF ratings:

3.5: Benjamin Shoykhet (2061)

3.0: Ryan He (1941)

2.5: Joseph Tarantin (1917); Bijan Tahmassebi (2176); Andrew Diep (2075); Shane Jayasendera (1983); Chen-Chen Ye (1964); Neel Jay (2087)

2.0: Sean Power (1933)

1.5: Anish Mariappan (1804); Jacob Jones (1906); Gabriel Joshi (1710); Max Mathura (1996)

1.0: Tad Mrozek (1853); Dylan Booth (1890) 

0.5: Ariel Joshi (1847)

MD Chess's Mike Regan Interviewed in Perpetual Chess Podcast

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By day, US Chess Tournament Director Michael Regan is an Observatory Scientist at the Space Telescope Science Institute. By night and weekend, he runs some of the most player-friendly chess tournaments in the United States, primarily in the Maryland/Washington DC area. Michael joins me this week, to share all of his insights and secrets, gained from many years of figuring out to how to improve the player experience at weekend chess tournaments. We talked about everything from hotel booking, to fair play to punctuality to hygiene. This is an important conversation for any active tournament player, so please take a listen. Timestamps and more details can be found below.

Click below to hear the podcast:

Read more: MD Chess's Mike Regan Interviewed in Perpetual Chess Podcast

MD 12th Grader Sahil Sinha Becomes International Master!

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by IM-elect Sahil Sinha

2019 North American Junior (U20) Championship, 2019.06.26-30, IM-elect Sinha (White) vs IM Balakrishnan (Black)

I was looking forward to the 2019 North American Junior (U20) Championship, a prestigious event within the North American continent. Kudos to the Charlotte Chess Center for their amazing efforts in organizing these kinds of tournaments. Prior to this, I happened to have played a few norm tournaments at the Charlotte Chess Center and was just there in the first week of June. Unfortunately, my subpar performance was not sufficient to earn the norm, so I was hoping to make amends and turn in a better performance at this event, which I was competing for the first time and the top 3 finishers would achieve at least an IM norm.

Read more: MD 12th Grader Sahil Sinha Becomes International Master!