A Child Shall Lead Them at the CalChess Scholastics
Posted by fpawn on Monday, April 30 @ 13:39:01 CDT
By NM Michael Aigner
Pins, skewers, forks and smothered mates were featured at the 32nd Annual CalChess State Scholastic Championships held on April 28-29 at the San Mateo County Expo Center. A total of over 1100 players and an even larger number of parents, family members, coaches, directors and volunteers descended on the fairgrounds next to the Bay Meadows race track to play the royal game. Considering the size of the event, the tournament ran smoothly with most of the rounds beginning within minutes of the scheduled time. The winners in each of 11 sections ranging from Kindergarten to the incredibly difficult High School Varsity were awarded trophies with the title of State Champion.
The High School Varsity section made history for California and perhaps for the entire nation. In a field of two teenage masters and six experts, a fifth grader took the top honors at 5.5 out of 6. Of course, Daniel Naroditsky, ranked #1 in the nation for age 11, is already experienced to being first in chess. On the second day of the tournament, he faced three of the five players tied for second place: reigning National High School Champion Michael Zhong, Saratoga High School captain David Chock and finally National Master Sam Shankland. Perhaps this was Daniel’s first of maybe many more High School state championship trophies.
Here is the full story.
What a kid! He’s awesome!
Daniel Naroditsky is a genius and he was in a zone. The sad part now is that the Denker Tournament is restricted to high school kids, meaning that Daniel cannot represent California. (If Daniel was a girl, he could play in the Polgar Tournament despite his age.) I think the Denker rule was put in place to protect smaller states with few strong players, but California is not a small state. In fact, Daniel had to go through a murderer’s row on his way to victory, including beating the reigning US High School Champion Michael Zhong.
It was hilarious to see the trophy presentation. The top 3 in the High School Varsity section were asked to pose for photographs. Here we had two 6-footers Sam Shankland (2nd) and David Chock (3rd) with a 4-footer Daniel Naroditsky standing in the middle. Daniel’s trophy was taller than he was! Sam and David were looking for the nearest exit rather than admit they’re inferior to an elementary school kid.
Michael Aigner
Polgar’s link to video about the Russian kid David Paravyan:
http://susanpolgar.blogspot.com/2007/05/checkmate-lessons-from-chess-whiz-kid.html
I would like to thank Michael Aigner for his wonderful articles. Good luck in the US Championship!
Best wishes,
Susan Polgar
I keep saying watch out for the young kids. Now the young high school kids I always have to look out for got their come uppance from a “young kid” to them.
Awesome. About time those 15 year old kids found out what it is like to lose to a young kid.
LOL.
Incredible. 5th grade. Susan keep your eye on this kid. He just might win again.
Elementary school kid won the high school. Not even the middle school. haha.
I agree with Michael Aigner they should allow this kid to play in the Denker Tournament of Champions. It is the ONLY fair thing to do.
If the Russian said the Russian equivalent of j’adube then he should have been OK. He did say he wanted to adjust but just not understood by his opponent. However, he could be warned not to do it again. I think that is nit picking. Did this happen before the game even began. What else about this happening do you know any details. Seems a bit harsh to me.
Mike always gives the best reports. Spot on Mike.
Maybe you are right about the russian j’adube, but I would have to know more details. On the surface is sounds harsh.
To me he did say j’adube just in a different language. I doubt the rules say it must be in english or french and no other language. Certainly russian language is allowed in russia. would an american get bonked because he said it in english at a russian tournament?????
It was only in a division K to grade 3. I say give the little kid a break. Who is the better chess player should win.
Even Kasparov touched a piece without saying j’adube against judit polgar and got away with it. Come on Mike you can report what happens but please do not agree with the decision without giving us more details.
“Sam and David were looking for the nearest exit rather than admit they’re inferior to an elementary school kid.”
This is a long way from proof of ‘inferiority’.
Michael,
I was wrong. Apparently the school only brought this kid in for one week from Moscow to play the tournament and then go home. I think that is cheating. If this is true then the Moscow kid should not have been allowed to even play.
Let’s learn to play fair. If we can not play fair when it is only a game then how can we play fair when it is International Oil, WMD, World Global Warming etc. real problems.
It is now interesting that in the video the reporter said the kid knew all the English he needed. Well the reporter was wrong. He needed to know the correct English for j’adoube.
To anonymous who wrote: “Apparently the school only brought this kid in for one week from Moscow to play the tournament and then go home. I think that is cheating. “
I don’t think this is cheating if it is an open tournament and you can be from Mars and play.
I would imagine that a tournament director in scholastics would have some flexibility to decide if the player really meant to adjust based on what he said. Can you imagine a kid losing a scholastic game because he mangled the pronounciation of “j’adoube”.
Jad oh you Be!