LtoR: Director Tom Brownscombe, Tyler B. Hughes, 1st; Gregory Young, 2nd; Daniel Yeager, 3rd; Edward Lu, 4th; and President Marck R. Cobb
Conrad Holt Wins 2008 Cadet
Director Tom Brownscombe with 2nd Place Winner Darwin Yang and 1st Place Winner Conrad Holt
Cadet Winners - Andrew Shvartsman, 4th, Darwin Yang, 2nd, Conrad Holt, 1st - Not Shown Deepak Aaron 3rd
Tyler B Hughes and Conrad Holt Win U.S. Junior and U.S. Cadet Championships
Each year the U.S. Chess Federation invites the top chess players under 19 years-old to compete for the title of U.S. Junior Chess Champion. Those in the group under 16 are invited compete for the U.S. Cadet Chess Champion. Conrad Holt, 14, from Wichita outscored 11 year-old Darwin Yang of Plano, Texas, and five other young chess masters from throughout the U.S. to win the 2008 U.S. Cadet Championship. In addition to the top chess title for U.S. players under 16, Holt also won a full four-year scholarship to the University of Maryland, valued at $69,500.00. “When Richard Tuhrim (NY) offered me a draw in the final game, I was really happy,” said Holt. Holt is the first Kansan to win the prestigious title.
The U.S. Cadet Championship and the U.S. Junior Championship were held concurrently at the Anatoly Karpov Chess School. Tyler B. Hughes, 17, from Wheat Ridge, Colorado narrowly edged out Gregory Young from San Francisco, California to win the U.S. Junior Championship. Hughes, in addition to his title, won the right to represent the United States at the World Junior Chess Championships at Gaziantep, Turkey on August 2-16, 2008.
“Conrad Holt’s progress in the past four years is absolutely amazing,” said Tom Brownscombe, director of the Karpov Chess School. Brownscombe should know, because Brownscombe played Holt in last year’s Kansas State Chess Championship. “Conrad was a tough competitor,” said Brownscombe.
Holt started on the chess circuit four years ago when his dad, Keith, saw an article about the 2004 Junior Open that was held in Lindsborg, so he entered Conrad in his first tournament. “I knew then that I wanted to play in a lot more tournaments,” said Conrad.
Holt attributes his meteoric rise to the Internet. Holt began playing chess on the Internet through ICC, an international chess club where thousands of players from throughout the world are online at any given moment. “I played probably three or four hours a day when I could,” said Holt. “Probably five to six hours each day on weekends.” Holt came to national prominence when he won the title of National High School Blitz Champion earlier this year in Atlanta, Georgia. In Blitz, each player has only five minutes to complete the entire game. “I think all those chess skills I learned on the Internet helped me win these titles,” said Holt.
Conrad Holt and Tyler B. Hughes had played each other many times on the Internet. They also share another passion that neither knew about until this current championship; they both enjoy playing the piano. Tyler Hughes was playing in a tournament in Chicago when the invitation letter to play for the Junior Championship arrived at his home in Colorado. “My mom told me on the phone that a letter came from the Karpov Chess School and it might be important. She opened and read it to me and I could hardly believe it,” said Hughes. Hughes learned the moves of the game from his father, who later hired chess Master Brian Wall to work with his 9 years-old son. By the time Tyler Hughes was 12, he was working with Russian Grandmaster Peter Kiriakov. Although Hughes had spent long hours studying chess, he seemed somewhat surprised by how events unfolded. “It’s amazing,” said Hughes, “I didn’t expect to be invited to this tournament and I certainly didn’t expect to be invited to the World Junior Championships in Turkey,” said Hughes.
Tyler Hughes and his younger sister Autumn, who are both home schooled, enjoy joking with each other. “She likes to make fun of me and my chess,” said Tyler. “She will pick up one of my chess books, pace the floor and read aloud from it, like it was some great novel.” Autumn has won her share of titles as well, but not in chess. She won the title of Colorado Geography Bee Champion in 2006 and 2007, and went on to represent Colorado at the National Geography Bees in Washington, D.C.
Other players in the Cadet tournament included Deepak Aaron, Grenville, New York; Andrew Shvartsman, Medford, New Jersey; Alex Markovitz, Cincinnati, Ohio; Patrick Tae, Oak Ridge, Tennessee; Darwin Yang, Plano, Texas; and Richard Tuhrim, New York, New York.
Those competing with Tyler Hughes in the 16 to 19 year-old group were Gregory Young, San Francisco, California; Daniel Yeager, Horsham, Pennsylvania; Edward J. Lu, Annandale, Virginia; and Bradley Sawyer, Spring, Texas.
“We are extremely pleased that the United States Chess Federation accepted our bid to bring these championships to Lindsborg,” said chess school President Marck R. Cobb. “We were not only able to secure these championships, but also the U.S. Junior Open Championships that will be held in Lindsborg on July 25th.”
This is the second time that the U.S. Junior and U.S. Cadet Championships were held in Lindsborg. Lindsborg hosted them in 2004. They were held in Florida last year.
The Karpov Chess School will also host two weeklong chess camps on July 13 and July 20, respectively. Grandmaster Var Akobian, winner of the 2007 World Open, will be the chief instructor.
The championships were made by possible with funding from the U.S. Chess Federation, the Kansas Department of Commerce, and the Anatoly Karpov International School of Chess.
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Cadet - Final Standings
2008 Cadet -- Cadet Cross Table, Page 1
No. Name St Rate 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Score
1. Holt, Conrad.................. KS 2109 x W W W W D D 6.0 2. Yang, Darwin.................. TX 2227 L x W D W W W 5.5 3. Aaron, Deepak................. NY 2068 L L x W W W D 4.5 4. Shvartsman, Andrew.......... NJ 2101 L D L x W D W 4.0 5. Markovits, Alex............. .. OH 2099 L L L L x W W 3.0 6. Tuhrim, Richard............ ... NY 2094 D L L D L x W 3.0 7. Tae, Patrick John......... . TN 2180 D L D L L L x 2.0
Final Standings -- 2008 Junior Closed
2008 US Junior Closed -- 2008 US Junior Closed -- Final Standings
Tyler B. Hughes is the 2008 U.S. Junior Closed Chess Champion (tiebreak)
No. Name St Rate 1 2 3 4 5 Final Score
1. Hughes, Tyler B............... CO 2267 xx DW WD WD L- 5.5 2. Young, Gregory................ CA 2213 DL xx WD WD W- 5.5 3. Yeager, Daniel A.............. PA 2363 LD LD xx WD W- 4.5 4. Lu, Edward J.................. VA 2213 LD LD LD xx W- 3.5 5. Sawyer, Bradley J............. TX 2170 W- L- L- L- xx 2.0
Junior & Cadet Players: Daniel Yeager, Horsham, PA; Edward Lu, Annandale, VA; Tyler Hughes, Wheat Ridge, CO; Greg Young, San Francisco, CA; Karpov Director Tom Brownscombe; Deepak Aaron, Greenville, NY; Alex Markovits, Cincinnati, OH; Andrew Shvartsman, Medford, NJ; Asst. TD Ron Pasik; Patrick Tae, Oakridge, TN; Conrad Holt, Wichita, KS (Not All Players Shown)
Deepak Aaron Draws for Pairing
Director Brownscombe Chats with the Greg Young Family
Assistant TD Ron Pasik Signals the Start of the Tournaments
Tyler Hughes vs Edward Lu - Rd 1
Conrad Holt vs Alex Markovits - Rd 1
2008 Junior Closed & Cadet Championships (Bradley Sawyer and Alex Markovits were unavailable.)
Junior Section: Round 1
Daniel Yeager 1 0 Bradley Sawyer Edward J Lu 0 1 Tyler Hughes
Bye: Gregory Young
Cadet Section: Round 1
1/2 Patrick Tae 1/2 Deepak Aaron 0 Alex Markovitz 1 Conrad Holt 1/2 Richard Tuhrim 1/2 Andrew Shvartsman
Conrad Holt has a full point lead over Darwin Yang with 1 round to go.
There
were no games in the Junior tonight because Brad Sawyer had to withdraw
due to illness. There will be 2 junior rounds tomorrow, and the final
junior round will be Wednesday morning.
Round 7 - Junior Closed
Young 1/2 1/2 Yeager Hughes 1/2 1/2 Lu
Young takes a full point lead into the final round, but has to play black against Hughes.
