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2006
US Championship
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Dlugy & Lenderman
Get AF4C Wildcard Berths |
SEATTLE, January
30, 2006 – The stated mission of America's Foundation for Chess (AF4C)
is to use their wild card spots in the US Championship to help promote the
development of exceptionally promising junior players. Last year, they
selected Salvijus Bercys, who is the #1 US rated player aged 16.
Running Bercys a close second is New York's Alex Lenderman (USCF rating
2427), who throughout 2005 continually dominated the junior scene in the US
with a number of impressive performances.
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Lenderman
gained IM norms at the Hungary 'First Saturday' tournament, scoring
10/13, and at Foxwoods 2005, scoring 6/9. At the 2005 World Open,
Alex, scoring 6/9, gaining his third and final IM norm, though narrowly
missed out on tiebreak for a direct qualifying spot for the US
Championship.
Alex then went
from the World Open to the world stage with an unbeaten score of 9/11 to
take the U16 title at the 2005 World Youth Chess Championship in
Belfort, France, becoming in the process the first American to bring
home gold since Tal Shaked captured the World Junior title in 1997.
On the January
2006 FIDE rating list, Alex Lenderman has an ELO rating of 2431 that
ranks him as 62nd in the United States and he thus becomes our first
wild card selection for the 2006 US Chess Championship. |
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Last year, the
AF4C also offered a wild card spot to one of the top names in the game, Gata
Kamsky, who used his berth in the US Championship to stage a dramatic
comeback onto the world stage. Our second wild card selection this
year again goes to a famous player making a comeback - GM Max Dlugy, a
player who made headline news throughout 2005, though perhaps not for what
he'd have liked it for!
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Max is a
former World Junior Champion. He went on to become one of the US's
leading players winning the World Open twice and National Open three
times. Not content with just playing, he also offered his services
directly to US Chess in a leading administrative role by becoming, at
age 24, the youngest president in the history of the USCF, serving from
1990-1993.
He retired
from full-time chess in the mid-nineties, going on to use his strategic
skills for a successful career on Wall Street as a securities trader for
Bankers Trust – a job he applied for after the company advertised
directly for chess players. Along with some fellow investors,
Dlugy then sought a bigger challenge in his former homeland by buying
shares in Russian factories and bringing to them much-needed American
management techniques. He became chairman of the Solikamsk
Magnesium Works in the Perm region of Russia, which innocently led to
him becoming embroiled in an alleged $9 million fraud brought by
disgruntled business partners. |
To the shock of
many chess fans and his fellow players, Max languished in a Russian prison
for nine months, protesting his innocence. On a point of principle, he
even turned down the chance of an early release by refusing to plead guilty
to a minor charge. Common sense prevailed though, and when the case
came to trial he was completely exonerated by the judge.
Thankfully, Max
was released from prison just before Christmas and was reunited with his
wife, Marina, and two children, Michelle, 16, and Matthew, 13, back home in
Fort Lee, New Jersey. Whilst in prison, Max sought solace - amongst
other activities and pursuits - through playing chess, where he once again
rediscovered his joy for the game and now seeks to return to top-level play.
The chairman of
the selection committee was AF4C co-founder and board member, Dr. Jim
Roberts, and committee members were AF4C president Erik Anderson and chess
journalist John Henderson. The committee would like to thank numerous
US championship players and others in the chess community for their input
into these decisions. This will be the fifth year that AF4C has hosted
the annual tournament and its second year doing so in conjunction with the
NTC Foundation in San Diego.
In addition to the championship games,
there will be other exciting chess events as part of
Chess Fest 2006.
For more information about the U.S. Chess Championships or the events
surrounding the 2006 games, please visit www.uschesschampionship.com,
or see further coverage here at Chessville.
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 America’s
Foundation for Chess
Founded on the hope of making chess a subject
taught in every school in the United States, AF4C,
www.af4c.org a nonprofit
organization, is committed to making chess a larger part of America's
cultural fabric — accessible in schools and in popular culture. AF4C
hopes to elevate the profile of chess in America so that it will soon
become a regular part of every child's classroom experience.
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