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Tuesday, May 1, 2012
Xtreme Chess Champion Crowned in Dramatic Television Show Final
Chess blog for latest chess news and chess trivia (c) Alexandra Kosteniuk, 2012
Hi everyone,
You've been following the Extreme 'X Chess' super videos right? The final and fourth episode in the series has been released. In the energy-charged finals, we had Justus Williams of National High School Championship team IS 318 take on Stanford student Elliott Liu. The 'X Chess' Championships are an eight-player single-elimination knockout made for television.
Just is 13, while Liu is 22. Both players defy the traditional image of chess players. Justus is the top board on the powerhouse Brooklyn middle school IS 318, and was just featured on the Rachel Maddow show, and the New York Times. Elliott is a fun-loving college senior who attends music festivals like Coachella on the weekends while maintaining both a strong international chess ranking and a demanding schedule at Stanford University.
The fourth and final episode crowns the first-ever Extreme “X Chess” Champion, who takes home a cash prize, the title and an automatic bid into the second season of X Chess. Co-creator and director Daniel Meirom talked about potential second season of the Extreme Chess Championships, “It will be even more exciting as fans learn more about the personalities behind the game as well as key strategies from beautiful checkmates to running your opponent out of time.”
The Extreme Chess Championships is a made for TV competition that showcases the drama of chess and the rush of checkmate. The pace in this single elimination knockout competition, also known as X Chess, is much closer to basketball than golf—each player has less than 20 minutes to complete all his or her moves. The show aims to heighten the awareness of chess and to prove that intellectual pursuits can create thrilling television.
The Extreme Chess Championships is created by filmmaker Daniel Meirom, US Chess League founder and International Master Greg Shahade and author and two-time US Women’s Champion Jennifer Shahade. X Chess is hosted by model and actress Kacie Marie. Jeopardy! Champion Jonathan Corbblah, who has appeared on ESPN, Cash Cab and Who Wants to Be a Millionaire, provides accessible commentary with Jennifer Shahade. The event was hosted at Chess-In-The-Schools, a New York non-profit.
Chess blog for latest chess news and chess trivia (c) Alexandra Kosteniuk, 2012
Hi everyone,
Here's the super-exciting third semifinal episode of Extreme 'X Chess' Championships. Two of the youngest African-American chessmasters in history - Kassa Korley and Justus Williams - face off while popular Stanford student Elliott Liu contests a wild sacrificial game against poker player Alex Barnett.
Justus Williams broke Kassa’s own record for the youngest African-American master in history and has since been featured in the New York Times. Justus is also one of five players featured in the documentary Brooklyn Castle, which just premiered at the South by SouthWest film festival.
The second semifinals match features poker player Alex Barnett and the popular Stanford student Elliott Liu. This game was the most exciting yet in X Chess, featuring a flurry of “sacrifices”, when a player gives up some of his or her most valuable pieces in order to execute checkmate.
The Extreme Chess Championships is a made for TV competition that showcases the drama of chess and the rush of checkmate. The pace in this single elimination knockout competition, also known as X Chess, is much closer to basketball than golf—each player has less than 20 minutes to complete all his or her moves. The show aims to heighten the awareness of chess and to prove that intellectual pursuits can create thrilling television.
The Extreme Chess Championships is created by filmmaker Daniel Meirom, US Chess League founder and International Master Greg Shahade and author and two-time US Women’s Champion Jennifer Shahade. X Chess is hosted by model and actress Kacie Marie. Jeopardy! Champion Jonathan Corbblah, who has appeared on ESPN, Cash Cab and Who Wants to Be a Millionaire, provides accessible commentary with Jennifer Shahade. The event was hosted at Chess-In-The-Schools, a New York non-profit.
Cool Xtreme Chess Championships on TV! Must watch video
Chess blog for latest chess news and chess trivia (c) alexandra Kosteniuk, 2012
Hi everyone,
How about some cool chess news for the weekend? The second episode of the Extreme "X Chess" Championships, featuring a double header Battle of the Sexes is now live!
We thank our friend Jennifer Shahade (writer, entrepreneur and gamesplayer, two-time American Women’s Chess Champion and the editor of Chess Life Online at uschess.org/clo) for sending us this video.
Sixteen-year-old chessmaster Alena Kats faces poker player & chess champ Alex Barnett while law student & ballerina Alisa Melekhina plays an intense match vs. Stanford senior Elliott Liu. The X Chess Champs is an eight-player single-elimination knockout made for TV chess tournament by Jennifer Shahade, Daniel Meirom and Greg Shahade. Stay posted on the Xtreme Chess Championships on twitter, facebook and subscribe to the youtube channel.
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12th Women's World Chess Champion
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