Ames 11-year-old rising in national chess rankings
By BOB ZIENTARA
The Tribune
9:01 AM CDT, June 2, 2008
AMES, Iowa
It was late on a sunny May afternoon, and there was plenty of lively conversation at the Downtown Deli.
But upstairs, where Peter Karagianis owns and operates the Iowa Chess Center, a different kind of conversation was about to start.
Karagianis was preparing for his weekly lesson with 11-year-old Kushan Tyagi, a fifth-grade student from Fellows Elementary School.
After playing for only three years, Tyagi finished sixth at the recent National Scholastic Championships in Pennsylvania, and is now the 24th-ranked player in his age group in the United States, according to Karagianis.
“He just won a tournament at Iowa State University, and he even beat a player who’s been participating for more than 20 years,” Karagianis said.
“He used an opening that I taught him.” Karagianis tried to put Tyagi’s accomplishments in perspective.
“I am a National Master, ranked in the top 0.7 percent of all players, and the highest I ever scored when I was a scholastic player was 44th,” Karagianis said.
“To say that Kushan is doing well would be an understatement.” In this day’s lesson, Karagianis planned to re-create some of the opening moves and explore their outcomes with Tyagi.
Here is the full story.
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Is Pete the guy who used to play in the RR event organized by NA Chess and Goichberg in Chicago?