North American Youth Chess Championship (NAYCC) results!
Players from B.C. scored well at the recent North American Youth Chess Championship (NAYCC), held August 14-18 in Toronto. Divided into twelve sections by age (two-year age groups, under 18, 16, 14, 12, 10, and 8) and gender, such competitions occur both nationally and internationally; this event was restricted to players from the North American continent, and included entrants from Canada, the United States, Mexico, Haiti, and Costa Rica.
A dozen B.C. players were among the record-breaking 354 participants, and four placed within the top five in their respective sections: Alexandra Botez (second, girls U18), Kevin Low (third, U8), John Doknjas (fourth, U14), and Jason Cao (fifth, U18). Most of these are seasoned competitors: Botez won a gold medal at the NAYCC back in 2007, Cao was the U10 World Champion in 2010 (he is the current Canadian U14 Champion, but chose the stiffer competition of the U18 section at the NAYCC), and Doknjas was the National Grade 7 Champion last year. The youngest is Kevin Low, a student at the Vancouver Chess School, who was the National Grade 1 Champion in 2012. These and others are training hard as they prepare to represent Canada at the upcoming World Youth Championships, to be held in the United Arab Emirates over the Christmas holidays.
