Grand Prix Age Categories: The Leaders Revealed

Left: IM Alex Lenderman. Right: GM Alejandro Ramirez, Central American chess prodigy and UTD chess blogger. Ramirez photo credit: Betsy Dynako. Check out chess photographer Betsy Dynako's new artistic photo gallery.

Grand Prix Age Categories: Who's Winning?

Last week we checked in on the race to defeat higher-rated players and win Junior Grand Prix Points. Following along that same vein, we're now out to see who's winning the five separate Grand Prix age categories. These young stars are competing in "the real thing"--that is, they are chalking up Grand Prix Points in strong Open sections across the country. This week, we'll take a look at two of the five age category competitions. Here's a rundown of how things stand right now.

Category I: Players Born 1985-1987

The first place spot is being held by IM Kirill Kuderinov of Kazakhstan, who is currently #15 in the overall GP. With 90.114 Grand Prix Points, Kuderinov is a hop, skip, and a jump ahead of the second-place contestant in this age category, GM Hikaru Nakamura. "Naka" trails behind with 66.714 GPP.

Kuderinov won the bulk of his GPP stash at the 2008 Chicago Class Championships last June. (In fact, all of Kuderinov's Grand Prix Points have come from Illinois tournaments!) The Kazakhstani IM was born in 1987, putting him toward the younger end of this age class. Third place in the 1985-1987 category is held by the famous GM-elect Josh Friedel, who has seen a great leap in potential this year thanks to hard work on and off the board.

Category II: Players Born 1988-1990

No surprises here: IM Alex Lenderman holds a substantial lead with 139.267 GPP. Those of you who are long-time readers of the WCL Newsletter may remember that Lenderman was our very first KibBlitzer.

But what can we say about the current runner-up, GM Alejandro Ramirez? Well, according to Chess Today, Ramirez was the first-ever Central American Grandmaster. Ramirez became an IM at the age of 13 and a GM at 15. Now, however, he's a student at the University of Texas at Dallas, where he is majoring in Arts & Technology. But the coolest thing about GM Alejandro Ramirez is that he is a chess blogger. Really, the UTD chess blog is amazing--you should check it out. Ramirez, who has 91 GPP, is definitely in the running for some larger Grand Prix money if he can crack the GP Top 10 List.

Finally, in a distant third place is Maxx Coleman of Kansas with 41 GPP. Some of you may remember back when Coleman was featured in the WCL Newsletter last August. And, believe it or not, we've already had Maxx on the KibBlitz! Coleman won the US Junior Open this year on tiebreaks, thus earning himself a slot to the US Junior Closed for 2009.

So what Grand Prix prizes are these top juniors going after? Well, obviously Lenderman and some of the others are in the running for the overall prizes. Obviously, getting a share of that Top 10 money is a priority for Lenderman, considering that there are $12,000 in prizes at stake. However, there is also an additional $4,000 worth of merchandise being awarded to boot--much of which goes to the winners of the junior categories. First prize in each age category is worth $250; second nets $150; and third nets $100. May the best juniors win!

Kiblitzing with FM Daniel Yeager!

Who won 7-0 in the National High School Championship this year? Daniel Yeager. Who won the Denker with an undefeated score? Daniel Yeager. Who is the strongest scholastic chess player in the United States? Well, we thought for sure it was FM Daniel Yeager, a Pennsylvania resident and a Philadelphia Eagles fan. But then, in his celebrated laconic manner, he told us otherwise.

In this week's Kibblitz, we ask Daniel some of our most in-depth questions yet. Daniel, however, considers his words as carefully as he considers his chess moves: he sticks to the essentials, parsing the chaos and providing direct, to-the-point answers. In fact, he's the only Kibblitzer so far to successfully answer all 10 questions in under 100 words! Don't believe me? Check it out now!

Chess.FM Update

I have always been one to think GM Larry Christiansen's video lecture titles somewhat odd, but surely this week's "Onischuk's Texas BBQ Tactics and Technique = Victory" takes the cake for the strangest name yet. So why did Christiansen's video have this strange name? And what does chess have to do with a Texas Bar-B-Que? Well, to be honest, I really haven't the slightest idea. But you can find out for yourself by watching the video now. As an added bonus, Christiansen has thrown in analysis of a "well-played" 1-minute bullet game for some slapstick fun surprise at the end.