Three rounds into the Pan American Championships (Dec.26-30,Washington, D.C)favorites University of Texas at Dallas (UTD) and University of Maryland Baltimore Country (UMBC) are leading. 12/30 UPDATE: UTD has prevailed in the Pan-ams, with the A and B teams tying for first. Full report coming soon.
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H.Rumph

Joel shares his thoughts on opponents who stray from the board too often and bonds with a longtime fan over a stunning draw from 1872.

E-mail your own questions to Joel!

It's no secret that a handful of chessplayers have flocked to poker in recent years, attracted by large prizes and the possibility of instant fame. CLO presents our top ten reasons to stick with the royal game.
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Precocious writer and chessplayer Jonathan Hilton explores how GM Aleksander Wojtkiewicz (1963-2006) won in a series "How Wojo Won." In this part, Hilton focuses on the closed lines of the Catalan, a pet variation of Wojt's. He explains the most typical pawn structures, and analyzes six Wojtkiewicz Catalan games.
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The President of the North Carolina Chess Association, Randy Wheeless shares a story about how much joy a few chess sets gave to Namibian schoolchildren. In the spirit of the Holidays, Randy points out: "Some small effort on your part could have an enormous effect on someone else's life."
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Photo Jacob Okada

IM Justin Sarkar is on top of his game. He followed up a win in King's Island with a stellar result at the National Chess Congress. The best was yet to come though- In December 2006, Justin won his first GM norm at the Marshall Chess Club Championship. In a fascinating interview, Jerry and Justin converse on rating inflation, parental pressure and autism.
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H. Rumph

Most USCF players enjoy the security of a rating floor, but in this week's Ask GM Joel column, Joel advises a former master frustrated by his floor. (Not a sandbagger!) E-mail your own questions to Joel!

Photo Jacob Okada

Chess Life Online editor Jennifer Shahade wishes readers Happy Holidays in her latest blog entry. She also describes a recent trip to D.C, a future trip to Israel and introduces a new CLO feature, interactive polls, with our question of the week: "What's your dream Holiday gift?"
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Daniel Ludwig swept the 11th grade section.

The Grade School Nationals(December 8-10, Orlando) report by Elizabeth Vicary includes tidbits of wisdom from coaches Sunil Weermantry and David MacEnulty, exciting games by 11th grade sweeper Daniel Ludwig and 9th grade co-champ Shunsaku Uesugi and lots of pictures. Also enclosed is a photo gallery by Betsy Dynako!
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Joel Benjamin is in the top ten for the first time in over two years.

In this month's list rating points mysteriously appear and vanish, showing us which GMs were naughty or nice in belatedly rated International events. CLO columnist Joel Benjamin joins the Top Ten for the first time since April 2004.
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CLO problem columnist Dr. Dowd subtitles his December series, "Moving on To Meredith", in reference to Merediths, problems with 12 pieces or less. Take a break from Holiday shopping to enjoy and attempt to solve eight stunners, along with four bonus queries. E-mail your solutions to drdowd@uschess.org.
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H.Rumph

This week, Joel Benjamin answers two questions on chess promotion. He explores how we might elevate the popularity of chess to the level of poker or even ballroom dancing. In another question, Joel reveals when chess promotion can become painful: blindfold chess variants.

GM Alexander Onischuk reports from the President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo Cup (Nov.16-24), where his Olympic teammate Varuzhan Akobian also played. Alex presents us with the event's game highlights, photos, and tells us what it was like to play chess with the President of the Phillipines.
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The 2006 Grade Nationals is held at the luxurious Disney's Coronado resort in Orlando.

Update: Access complete results and check on Friday morning for the full story! The Grade Nationals, split up into 13 different sections based on grade, kicked off today in a luxurious Orlando result. Elizabeth Vicary reports on the blitz tournament and previews the tournament favorites.
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The cover of David Bronstein's instructional, personal book, (co-written with Tom Furtsenberg) invites readers to become Bronstein's apprentice.

David Bronstein (1924-2006) was a World Championship contender and an acclaimed chess artist. He died Tuesday,December 5th,2006 in Minsk, Belarus of unknown causes. Bronstein was a pioneer in attack, writing and time control. He will be sorely missed.
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Photo Jacob Okada

Four spots are available in the upcoming elections for the USCF executive board, the governing body of the USCF. Candidates petitions and filing fees are due by Jan.10,2007. Read the full story for details on how you can get involved!
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