US Girls Closed Set for New Hampshire, July 17-21
By Nita Patel   
July 10, 2014
MANCHESTER, NH, 7 July 2014 - The University of New Hampshire at Manchester and Relyea Chess will host the first ever United States Girls Junior Closed Championship, July 17 through July 21. Concurrent with the championship the New Hampshire Chess Association will host a 2-hours "Basics of Chess" classroom for young girls and boys within the Manchester community.

The US Girls Junior Closed Championship is a prestigious, nine-round tournament that will have ten of the top-rated girls (under age 20) in the United States. The winner will be recognized internationally as the US Girls Closed Champion by the United States Chess Federation, will receive a $2,000 cash prize and will be awarded a $10,000 scholarship to the University of New Hampshire.   

In 1966, the United States Chess Federation started the US Junior Closed Championship, which provides the winner a seat into the US Championship. This year, F. Alex Relyea, FIDE arbiter and Associate National Tournament Director based in Bedford, NH, decided that an equally prestigious event for girls should exist.   

The first girls vying for the US Girls Closed Champion title include Maggie Feng (Women Candidate Master), Apurva Virkud (Women Candidate Master), Jennifer Yu (Women FIDE Master), Akshita Gorti (Women FIDE Master), Becca Lampman, Claudia Munoz (Women Candidate Master), Alexandra, Wiener, Carissa Yip (special wild-card invitation as highest ranked girl in New England), Alice Dong, and Kimberly Ding (Women FIDE Master).  

The opening ceremony will be at 8:00am on Thursday, July 17 in room 323 at the University of New Hampshire at Manchester campus, 400 Commercial Street, Manchester, NH. All games are free and open for public viewing. Spectators are invited to attend. Details can be found at www.relyeachess.com.   

The "Basics of Chess" short course will be held from 1-3pm EDT on Friday, 18 July in the University of New Hampshire auditorium. The course will be led by NH Chess Association scholastics coordinators, Vince Bradley, Eugene Tappen and Nita Patel.   

Relyea Chess is dedicated to bringing high quality, specialty chess tournaments to New England. For example, Relyea Chess hosted a first-ever 26-person round robin blitz tournament, directed the prestigious New England Open multiple times and organized a unique FIDE, invitational, round robin. Relyea Chess is a private organization affiliated with the United States Chess Federation.   

Contact: 
Nita Patel 
Relyea Chess, Publicity 
[email protected]