ChessKid Battle of the Americas!
Update: Team USA wins! The final score was 8-4. Interestingly, all 12 kids on both teams scored at least a half point to help their teams. In the opening round, USA had two wins and four draws. In the second round, all four USA players that drew in the opening round ended up winning, meaning that every player from Speyer Legacy School (which comprised Team USA) won a game!The full replay video is here. Oh, and this also means that Ivette has to make FunMasterMike chilaquiles (his request!).
Are you ready for the upcoming Battle of Americas!? Finally we get to see who is the best squad of ChessKids from the Western hemisphere.
This Saturday, October 24th, at 9am PDT we will have a 6v6 team battle between team USA and team Latin America (LATAM). For the match each kid will play two games, one as white and one as black, against their opponent. The time control of the games will be 15+5. At the end of the games the points of each team will be added up to determine the winner! In the event of a tie whichever team scores the most points playing with the black pieces will win.
Team Latin America
Team Latin America was chosen with help by ChessKid’s Director of Espanol, WIM Ivette Garcia. Five countries had internal competitions to choose their representatives. A special 6th representative was chosen for the battle of the first board.
The players on team Latin America are:
1. Ferran Riera Fregoso of Mexico
2. Julian Bejarano Irahola of Bolivia
3. Miguel Alejandro López Serpas of Honduras
4. Manuel Eduardo Cruz Roque of Nicaragua
5. Sthephano Jeffrey David Carcasi of Peru
6. Santiago Zacarias Rodríguez of Mexico
Good luck to team Latin America!
Team USA
Team USA is being represented by the Speyer Legacy School of New York City. There is no mystery why Speyer is a chess powerhouse. Every kid at their school gets a ChessKid membership! Check out this article if you too would like to provide a ChessKid membership to all of the kids at your school!
The players on team USA are:
1. Sam Nemiroff
2. Lucas Yang
3. Lev Shangin
4. Lukas Hertel
5. Daisy Yuen;
6. NM Brewington Hardaway (you know him as BrewMaster!)
Good luck to team USA!
Top Board Showdown
Both teams are sporting a very strong first board! NM Brewington Hardaway, FIDE 1907, will be facing off against Mexico’s Santiago Zacarias Rodríguez, FIDE 1869.
Santiago Zacarias Rodríguez at an over-the-board tournament. Photo: FIDE.
Brewington Hardaway, representing USA at the World Cadet Championship. Photo: courtesy of Hardaway family.
Commentary
ChessKid will be providing commentary for the event in both English and Spanish!
Spanish Commentary will be provided by WIM Ivette Garcia and WIM Gaby Vargas. You can watch at: chess.com/es/tv and twitch.tv/chesskidespanol
English Commentary will be provided by FM Mike Klein and Speyer’s coach, Expert Fritz Gaspard at: Chess.com/TV and ChessKid Youtube.
Tune in at Saturday, October 24th, at 9am PDT to root for your favorite team!
High Stakes Wager
There is a lot at stake for this match! Not only will the winning team have bragging rights but FM Mike and WIM Ivette have placed a friendly wager on the match results. If team Latin America wins FM Mike will have to cook a Mexican dish of WIM Ivette's choice and show the results on the air. If team USA wins WIM Ivette will need to cook a Mexican dish of FM Mike's choice and mail it to him!