(Crossville, TN) The 2006 U.S. Junior Open attracted 216 players to the Marriott Dallas/Addison Quorum from July 21-23, 2006.  The 2006 U.S. Junior Invitational and 2006 U.S. Cadet were held in the same location (see press releases #39 and #40) from July 15^th through the 21^st and the Junior Open completed the week of chess competition.  This annual tournament is open to any player under age 21 and this year offered three separate sections by age.

In the Under Age 21 section, in tiebreak order, Peter Yeh (2172), from Texas, Ryan Milisits (2190), from Pennsylvania, and Deepyaman Datta (2102), from Texas (who also competed in the 2006 U.S. Cadet) all tied for first with 5 points and are co-champions in this year’s event.  They finished at the top of the 48-player field. 

With a clear first place finish in the 73-player field of the Under Age 15 section, Gauri Shankar (2003), from Illinois, finished with 5-1/2 points.  He only gave up one draw but that was good enough to finish ahead of the following players from Texas all of whom had 5 points:  Karthik Ramachandran (1859), Adarsh Jayakumar (1798), Jason Jia (1757), and Anjali Datta (1874). 

Another clear first victory occurred in the Under Age 11 section.  Dylan Scott James (1644), from Texas, piled up 5-1/2 points to finish ahead of fellow Texans, all right behind with 5 points:  Jeffery Hung (1598), Jonathan C. Chin (1707), Grant Powell (1526), Steven Chen (1354), Eileen Dai (1564), Eric Chen (1418), and Caroline Zhu (1549).  95 players participated in this section.   

The traditional Open Bughouse Tournament was won by Jeffrey DeJesus (1991), of Texas, and Ryan Milisits winning all five of their games as they smashed through the opposition.  Bughouse is a chess variant where teams of two play against each other and pieces that are captured go to their partner.  The action is exciting to watch and bughouse events continue to increase in popularity.  

The 2006 Junior Open was organized by Luis Salinas and directed by Francisco Guadalupe.

 The United States Chess Federation (USCF), founded in 1939, serves as the governing body for chess in the United States and is now headquartered in Crossville, Tennessee. USCF is devoted to extending the role of chess in American society. It promotes the study and knowledge of the game of chess, for its own sake as an art and enjoyment, and as a means for the improvement of society. The USCF is a not-for-profit membership organization with over 80,000 members.

For additional information on the USCF see: http://www.uschess.org.