By Alan Kanter / Chronicle contributor
Crossville will host the 2009 U.S. Cadet Championship from Tuesday, July 7 through Friday, July 10. Cumberland County Bank is joining together with the Cumberland County Chess Club and the U.S. Chess Federation to honor the eight qualified candidates as they vie for the title of cadet champion.
Along with the title is $500 plus a four-year, fixed dollar incoming tuition scholarship to the University of Maryland at Baltimore County (current value $69,760 for out-of-state, $34,832 in state).
Second place is $300 plus a four-year University of Academic Service Scholarship to Tennessee Technological University (current value $20,000). Third place will get $200. Everyone will receive plaques.
The eight players for the Cadet championship have been selected and have confirmed their attendance.
The players are Victor C. Chen (2306, New Jersey); Christian T. Tanaka (2237, California); Michael Yang (2221, Minnesota); Rohan Agarwal (2215, California); Deepak Aaron (2185, New York); Andrew Ng (2169, New Jersey); Jarod M. Pamatmat (2165, Texas) and Matthew D. Dahl (2157, Minnesota).
The opening ceremony for the round robin tournament is Monday, July 6, at 7 p.m. There will be two rounds Tuesday through Friday, 9 a.m. and 4 p.m., and at 9 a.m. on Friday.
The U.S. Cadet Championship is a national invitational championship chess tournament for the top eight players in the United States under age 16. Last year's champion was Conrad Holt from Kansas.
(Alan Kantor can be reached at 787-1234, ext. 128 or e-mail him at akantor@uschess.org.)
