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Saturday, June 21, 2014
U.S. Junior Chess Championship Begins: Colas, Williams score Big Upsets
Hello chess friends, a premium chess event has begun in the US - It's the US Junior Chess Championship 2014. The event is being held in Saint Louis. Already on the first day, where all games were decided, two huge upsets took place.
Joshua Colas and Justus Williams each scored huge upset victories in round 1 of the 2014 U.S. Junior Closed Championship.
Second seed IM Sam Sevian lost to FM Justus Williams rated 150+ points below him. Also winning the first round was FM Josh Colas, who notched a 150+ point upset over IM Luke Harmon-Vellotti. In another upset, FM Michael Bodek beat NM Matthew Larson.GM Kayden Troff and IM Jeffrey Xiong won their games.
Each round of the 2014 U.S. Junior Closed will see its first move daily at 1:00 p.m. local, beginning Friday through June 29, with a rest day on Wednesday. The tournament will be streamed live on www.uschesschamps.com, with commentary, analysis and player interviews by GM Ben Finegold and FM Aviv Friedman.
Read a detailed report by Brian Jerauld at the official website. From Alexandra Kosteniuk's
Alexandra Kosteniuk's Chess Blog for Daily Chess News and Trivia (c) 2013
Hi everyone,
Justus Williams has come a long from being the soft-spoken boy with the long dreadlock mane. The last five years have been a whirlwind for the 15-year old from the Bronx, New York. He is now a slender, clean-cut, bespeckled high school sophomore at Bronx School of Science and Technology who has already traveled to several countries and has even starred in the documentary “Brooklyn Castle".
Williams draws inspiration from a number of figures including GM Maurice Ashley and Lebron James, both champions with interesting stories. While Justus has not met Lebron James yet, he has rubbed shoulders with celebrities in Hollywood who were inspired by his OWN story! However, Justus seems to be very mellow about all that he has experienced. The determination that boils inside of him is disguised by his demeanor which makes makes him quite an enigmatic figure.
Justus has tasted national fame, but the accolades keep coming. Today, Justus won the U.S. Cadet Championship, a tournament featuring the top eight players under 16 years of age. Amongst the eight master-level players, he showed the most poise in his demeanor and in his play. His triumph occurred after he lost his first-round game to Michael Brown of California. After three consecutive draws, he won his last three games including a win over his friend and fellow scholastic star Josh Colas. Ironically, he would be tied with Brown on 4.5/6 and the two would play a tiebreaker with a college scholarship at stake.
In this finale, Justus was able to apply just enough pressure with black and his opponent ultimately collapsed in a heap. With this victory, he would win a scholarship to the University of Maryland at Baltimore (UMBC) and earn his name on the roll of Cadet champions.
With his photogenic smile and growing resume, he is certain to get more college offers and travel opportunities. However he would also like to see how far he can go in chess. His mother Latisha Ballard-Williams has always had the confidence in what chess could do for her son. She is like many chess parents who realize that chess is more than a leisure activity, but a path for realizing one’s hidden potential. Justus is becoming a case study before our eyes. (Text: Daaim Shabazz/The Chess Drum Photo: Latisha Ballard)
Cool Chess Stars from Brooklyn Castle Movie Walk the Red Carpet in LA
Chess blog for latest chess news and chess trivia (c) Alexandra Kosteniuk, 2012
Hi everyone,
Photo: Brian Schulz
Three stars of the highly acclaimed documentary, Brooklyn Castle, walked the red carpet last week at the 44th NAACP Image Awards in LA. Brooklyn Castle, the story of IS 318, the Championship chess team was nominated for the Best Documentary award. Pobo "Pobama" Efekoro, Rochelle Ballantyne and National Master Justus Williams flew from NY to LA for the star-studded ceremony, according to a nice report at the USCF website.
"To walk on the red carpet with Rochelle and Justus was exhilarating," Pobo said, "We were experiencing the the vibe of what it was like to be in Los Angeles, to be a movie star. And its something that the three of us will cherish."Meeting the rapper Common was a highlight. Rochelle, who aims to be the first female African-American chess master in history, said, "I respect him so much not only for his lyrics but for all he does in society." According to Pobo, upon introducing themselves, Common asked if they knew a guy named Maurice. "Our eyes lit up. 'You mean (Grandmaster) Maurice Ashley!?' He nodded. That was a very cool moment." Justus wore a tailored Kenneth Cole suit picked out by his grandmother and mom. Rochelle said her mom chose her gold dress. Originally Pobo wanted to look "extravagant" but "my mom along with my coworkers decided I should dress formally. I had a dark brand new suit and a gray, black, and blue striped tie. I think it worked out." Rochelle, who will be attending Stanford in the Fall, said: "LA is so beautiful, I feel like I was born to live in California."
Find more photos from the event at this USCF gallery and read all previous Chess Blog posts on Brooklyn Castle here.
Meeting Youngest African-American Chess Master Justus Williams
Chess blog for latest chess news and chess trivia (c) Alexandra Kosteniuk, 2012
Hello everyone,
This is a nice interview with teenager Justus Williams from Bronx who has become the youngest African-American chess player to be awarded the title of Chess Master in the United States.
Williams sat down with the Norwood News at IS 318, the Brooklyn middle school he attends, which boasts a nationally ranked chess team, to talk about his past tournament in Brazil, his favorite chess piece, and his secrets to match preparation.
Speaking about chess preparation, he says, "I look at my opponents’ past games, see what they’re good at and see what openings they had trouble with. I would build a database for them, and try to get the best position, so I felt that I had a good edge." He says he started playing chess at P.S. 70 (in the Bronx) with the Bronx Bomber chess team. "I didn’t really know how to play, but my mom was just pushing me to do it. I moved to IS 318 (in Brooklyn) in 2009, because it would be a good chess team, and I felt that I should be challenged. I’m glad now that there are more people into chess than just me. Now, playing [with my classmates] is a challenge. I will probably win, but it’s challenging. I used to not study a lot, but now I’ve gotten more serious about chess and I’m trying to study an hour a day, like reading books and looking at top games. I used to just play in tournaments and think that it was helping me but it really wasn’t."
Find out more about this talented chess teenager here.
Chess blog for latest chess news and chess trivia (c) Alexandra Kosteniuk, 2012
Hi everyone,
Three prodigies - Joshua Colas, Justus Williams and James Black Jr - are already well-known in the American chess world! They are the youngest chess masters in America at present. Students of the after-school program Chess Challenge in D.C. got a rare chance to meet these three youngsters in a simul recently.
"It's like I'm setting up a puzzle for myself, and once I see the board I have to make the best moves as possible," Williams said. Colas has participated in a simul before, and he said playing multiple boards is just an extension of long hours of study. "I play a lot of chess, so I'm used to certain positions," he said. "The moves just come to me." He told the after-school program he studies and reads about the game for hours every day. "It takes hard work. It takes dedication," he said.
In less than an hour, the young masters zipped through each of their competitors, winning every match. "For me, the most important thing is that [the students] get exposure to three young kids that are basically peers," said Jamaal Abdul-Alim, a coach with Chess Challenge.
It's just great to have kids play chess. Read the original story at this link.
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.
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12th Women's World Chess Champion
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