News

Congratulations to Reece Thompson, Sanjay Ghatti and Anand Srinivasan who won their sections in the GA Scholastic State Championship Invitational at Emory this weekend.

Georgia players Daniel Gurevich and Damir Studen competed in the Bay Area International January 2-8, 2014. Daniel scored 5.5/9 (+4,-2,=3) and won $1000 for first U2300 (FIDE ratings were used here). Damir scored 4/9 (+1,-2,=6). For a pgn game file, complete final standings, and photos by Inga Gurevich click on this link:

http://sfinternationalchess.org/

Here is the Georgia top 100 list for January.  (and top scholastic players)
Top gainers for the month were Jeremy Stephens Nodine and Raghurama Bukkarayasamudram, co-winners of the 2013 Georgia Class A Championship. With four wins and one loss, Nodine improved 193 points, from 1775P to 1968P. Bukkarayasamudram defeated Nodine but drew games with Nathan Wu and Shanmukha Meruga to tie for first with 4 points. His rating increased 143 points, from 1717 to 1860.
Other interesting news is shown below:

GEORGIA CHESS top 100
Five Years Ago and Today
Number of Players  Jan-09 (first number) Jan-14 (2nd number)

Local player Drew Justice competes in the World Youth Chess Championships - you can follow this family's chess adventure in Dubai and Drew's performance via their blog:

Congratulations to Grant Oen, Frank Johnson & Robert Nolan who tied for first in the Championship section (Grant won in tiebreaks); Kavin Jayavel Kumaresan and Michael Fu who tied for first in the U1600 section and Girish Senthilkumar who won first with a perfect score in the U1000 section at the Emory Campus Series VI on Saturday.

Comparisons between Georgia chess in August 2007 and December 2013:

Number of players rated 2200 or higher: 5 vs 13
Average rating of top 100 players: 1896 vs 1942
Median rating of top 100 players: 1870.5 vs 1891.5

Here are the final standings in tiebreak order for the 2013 Georgia Class Championships.

Local resident and K-1 National Champion (SuperNationals 2013), Drew Justice will be competing in the World Youth Chess Championships in Al Ain, UAE this December.  Drew is the youngest of 4 in a super star chess family.  We wish him all our best, and happy holidays from afar. The GCA recently awarded Drew a $500 stipend to attend this prestigious event.  If you would like to help support Drew's family or other local players please contact scholarships@georgiachess.org.  Go Drew!

Congratulations to Carlos Perdomo who placed 1st in the Emory Blitz tournament's Premier Section and Otto Robinson who placed first in the U1600 section.  

Congratulations to local high school student Reece Thompson who tied for 1st place in the Susan Polgar World Open in Chicago Nov 1-3.  GM Susan Polgar offered Reece Thompson a $14,000 per year scholarship for a total of $56,000 to Webster University in St. Louis, MO.