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Were off to an energetic start for the National Middle School (K-8) Championship this weekend in Grapevine, Texas. With nearly 900 competitors from 38 states convening in the Lone Star State, US Chess staff and volunteers have been busy getting the boards and clocks set for Round 1 today at 1 p.m. CT.

The K-8 kicked off Thursday with the exciting preliminary Bughouse and Blitz tournaments.

Like the High School Championship earlier this month, we crowned co-champs in the Bughouse tournament. From a field of 14 teams, top prizes went to the teams of Advait Nair & Akshat Suresh from Florida, and Alexander Bianchi & Logan Shafer from Texas, with scores of 8.0/10.0.

The evenings Blitz tournament was not without its own drama. With a field of 135 players that included 8th-grader Brian Tay, 2021 Virginia State Scholastic Champion and 2019 National K-12 second place finisher, as well as 5th-grader Ethan Guo who placed second in the 2022 California K-5 Championship last month, the competition was sure to be fierce and it was!

For the top 22 players in the field, no one took a loss until round 3 and only two draws appeared prior to that. Blitz co-champion Vaseegaran Nandhakumar, a 7th grader from Kansas, looked to make a perfect run until drawing third-place finisher Eric Liu in the final round, finishing with 11/12. This last round draw allowed Ethan Guo, who drew Akshat Suresh in round 4, to climb back to a first-place tie with Nandhakumar, following two straight wins. Brian Tay finished with 9.5/12, though having taken a loss against Nandhakumar in round 5, gave a strong performance with wins on the rest of his pairings.

Round 1 of the National Middle School (K-8) Championship begins today with opening ceremonies at 12:45 p.m. and first moves at 1 p.m. sharp. From the field, some other players to keep an eye on include:

Extra-Curriculars at the K-8

In addition to the competition in the main playing hall, this National Event will feature appearances from GM Julio Sadorra, head coach for the University of Texas at Dallas (UTD) chess program and three-time Texas state champion, who hosted a simul this morning, will take on all comers for some fun, casual blitz, and give two special lectures with Q&A for those in attendance.

The US Chess Girls Club will be in full effect with events throughout the weekend with WGM Sabina Foisor, WIM Emily Nguyen, and WIM Dr. Alexey Root. Theyll be on hand for lectures, game reviews, and more. All female players with their coaches and families are welcome to join.

Watch Rounds 5, 6, and 7 Live on Twitch

US Chess will be broadcasting live commentary and analysis from our Twitch channel for rounds 5 through 7. First broadcasts begin at 8 p.m. ET, 7 p.m. CT on Saturday with special guest commentators WGM Sabina Foisor and WIM Emily Nguyen, who will provide insights and connect all the critical moves for the top boards. Give us a follow, subscribe, and watch live atwww.twitch.tv/USChess.

Quick Links:

More here:
Big Blitz and Bughouse Performances at the 2022 National K-8 Championship - uschess.org

Every chess player hopes for the opportunity to play a grandmaster some day, and some even dream of defeating one.

The odds on both counts are not especially good. While hundreds of millions of people play chess in person or online, the world chess federation has bestowed the official grandmaster title on fewer than 2,000 players. Canada has just eight active grandmasters.

In pre-pandemic times, the best chance to play a grandmaster might have come in the opening round of a Swiss-system open. Today, its possible to find a game in an online blitz tournament or to challenge a grandmaster during a streaming display.

The other path to playing an elite player is during a simultaneous exhibition, where the grandmaster takes on multiple players at once. Even then, its hard for the average player to make much headway.

My moment in the limelight came in 1997, when I played veteran Israeli grandmaster Leonid Gofshtein in a simultaneous exhibition. He only had eight challengers that day, a small number as some exhibits can include dozens of players.

Somehow I managed to win the game, in just 29 moves. It was a fun moment, but I resisted the urge to turn professional after that.

29. h5, and Black will win material on e4..

Read more here:
Defeating a grandmaster is every chess player's dream - The Globe and Mail

The Herald

Takudzwa Chitsiga Sports Reporter

THE Zimbabwe Chess Federation, in conjunction with Minerva Risk Advisors, will today host the biggest chess competition on the local chess calendar The Minerva Zimbabwe Open Chess Tournament at Joina City in the capital.

The US$10 000 four-day event will run until Monday and has attracted several top players from the Southern African region.

The Minerva Zimbabwe Open Chess Tournament comes just after the conclusion of another national chess competition, the Zimbabwe Easter Open Tournament.

Over 100 local and international participants confirmed their availability for this prestigious event in which the overall winner will walk away US$1 000.

The first edition of the tournament was held in December last year.

Emerald Mushore and Linda Shaba are the defending champions and are expected to be at their best if they are to successfully defend their titles from the invading chess masters from the region.

Zimbabwes highest ranked chess master, International Master Rodwell Makoto, is expected to grace the occasion.

The countrys top rated player in the mens section, Makoto, who is based in South Africa, is expected to lead the local players in this tournament.

The Zimbabwe Chess Federation president, Collin Tongowona, said they are expecting a huge turn out and strong competition.

We are anticipating a very competitive and very exciting chess battles. We havent had a prospect of such an event in the post Covid-19 era. A competition of Minerva Zim Opens magnitude requires international participants to help boost the competitions standards.

We are grateful to Minerva Risk Advisors for the support they continue to render to chess. With such partnerships, chess has a bright future, said Tongowona.

See more here:
Minerva Zim Open Chess tourney begins today - The Herald

SIR - Like everyone else, I feel very sad for the people of Ukraine following the invasion of their country by Vladimir Putin's Russia.

There is no doubt that Putin has waged an illegal war on a sovereign nation and his army have committed war crimes against the people of Ukraine. I agree wholeheartedly with the EU, US and UK efforts to assist Ukraine, with defensive weapons being donated in order to defend themselves against the tyrant, Putin.

Unfortunately, I now fear that Ukraine is being used as a pawn in the longer chess game that involves a regime change in Russia. The allied nations now appear to be upping the ante in order to assist Ukraine in not only defending themselves but now also pushing back and taking the war to Putin.

It`s beginning to look very much like we have effectively declared war with Putin on behalf of Ukraine without the need to become involved in a war on the ground, and the losers in the end will be Ukraine themselves.

Once again, the west appears to be declaring themselves as world Police in order to force other nations to do their bidding. Can we do nothing without a deeper ulterior motive?

Colin Durkin, Moffat Close, Bradford

Excerpt from:
Reader letter: 'Ukraine is a pawn in the longer chess game' - Telegraph and Argus

The Dallas Cowboys did draft Emmitt Smith with the #17 pick so its possible that owner Jerry Jones might capture lightning in a bottle once again. His latest comments suggest hes either playing checkers or 4D chess, or hes being deliberately vague to confuse other teams.

Jerry Jones has owned the Dallas Cowboys for 33 years which means hes overseen 32 or 33 NFL Drafts. And its been 27 years since Dallas won a Super Bowl. So either Jerry doesnt put too much stock in the NFL Draft for stocking up a team or they just havent been able to get it right since they drafted Troy Aikman at #1 overall in 1989.

The Cowboys are expected to address their major needs with their early NFL Draft picks. They currently hold the #24 pick in the 1st round, #56 in the 2nd Round, and #88 in the 3rd Round. After that Dem Boyz have the 129th, 155th, 167th, 176th, 178th, and 193rd picks to try and fix their woes. Mel Kiper Jr. (I know, I know) has them drafting these three with their first three picks: 24. EDGE Arnold Ebiketie, PSU, 56. RT Abraham Lucas, WSU, and 88. WR Bo Melton, Rutgers.

Edge rusher, right tackle, and wide receiver. Jerry Jones on the other hand suggests the team will stay fluid or nimble or pliable or whatever

The replies to that tweet reveal the eternal pessimism that I respect so much from Cowboys fans.

As an unbiased outsider, Id actually really, truly love to know how much input Jerry Jones has on NFL Draft picks in the moment. He says theyll exercise flexibility and that they should be contrarians but are they just hollow words from a guy who has no actual control at the moment because the decisions were made ahead of time or is he gonna hop in there and be like GO GET HIM and pull a total wild card off the board?

For anyone who wants to read more about those Mel Kiper Jr. Mock Draft picks (I know, I know, Mel is irrelevant) just hit that tweet above!

Read more from the original source:
Jerry Jones Is Either Playing Checkers Or 4D Chess Based On Comments - BroBible