August 17, 2019
WGM Jennifer Yu Simul
WGM Jennifer Yu, current Champion of the US Chess Women’s Championship, conducted a FREE 23 board Simul to begin the US Open in Orlando, Florida on Saturday, August 3. Participants were players from the Denker, Barber and Haring National Girls Tournament of Champions (Haring NGTOC) with up to seven participants from each of the three events. There was a special guest participant: Minnie Mouse. All the participants and parents had their pictures taken with the lady from the “Mouse House.” There were no wins. Because of the high ratings of the players there were 9 draws. One was to Minnie Mouse who was coached by WGM Jennifer Shahade. Minnie had to leave early because she had a lunch date with Mickey at the Cheese Factory. Congratulations to the following players: Best Game-Hayes Goodman (RI) and Longest Game-Cindy Jie (FL).
Game Analysis and a Meet and Greet
The Texas Tech University (TTU) students, WIM Iryna Andrenko, a graduate in Horticulture Science, GM Andrii Baryshpolets, graduate in Agricultural & Applied Economics Ph.D. and Jennifer Yu were available for game analysis and a Meet and Greet party for players. WGM Jennifer Shahade, 2 time US Women’s Champion and US Chess Women’s Director was also on hand to meet the players and help with game analysis.
2019 GM Denker Results
Congratulations to IM Bryce Tiglon (WA), rated 2454 who scored 5/6 for a tie for First Place. He received the $5,000 College/University Scholarship to the school of his choice on tie-break. The scholarship was provided by the US Chess Trust. The other Co-Champions were IM Ben Li (MI) and WIM Emily Nguyen (TX). There was a three way tie for 4th Place involving NM Rithwik Mathur (WI), NM Dex Webster (LA) and NM Forest Chen (TN) with a score of 4.5/6. There was a field of 3 IMs, 4 FMs, 3CMs and 14 NMs.
WCM Sheena Zeng (KS) was the winner of the $500 Ursula Foster Memorial Chess Scholarship for best result under the age of 16.
Further details can be found here: https://www.denkerchess.com/wp-content/uploads/2019-Denker-Standings.pdf See also the US Chess story: https://new.uschess.org/news/invitational-winners-2019-orlando/
Florida, SoCal and New York Tie for First in Team Competition
Congratulations to Florida on their First Place tie-break finish (13/18) with a team average of 2138. Southern California matched their point total (13/18), but lost on the second tie-break with a team average of 2243. New York was also in the hunt with a point total (13/18) and a team average 2268. The Florida state team was composed of their Denker representative, Ryan Hamley (4/6), Barber representative, NM Raghav Venkat (4.5/6), and Haring NGTOC representative, Tianhui (Cindy) Jie (4.5/6). The Southern California state team was composed of their Denker representative, CM Brandon Xia (4/6), Barber representative, CM Robert Shlyakhtenko (5/6) and their Haring NGTOC representative, Julia Sevilla (4/6). The New York state team was composed of their Denker representative, NM Max Jiahua Li (3/6), Barber representative, NM Gus Huston (4.5/6) and their Haring NGTOC representative, WFM Martha Samadashvili (5.5).
State Team winners in the Under Sections: (Under 2100) Texas. In the (Under 1900) it was Utah and in the (Under 1600) section was New Hampshire. Complete results can be found at:
https://www.denkerchess.com/wp-content/uploads/2018-State-Team-Standings.pdf