TheMechanics Institute will gather the top U16 players in the country for the 2020 U.S. Cadet National Championship onChess.comthis weekend, Sept. 25-27.

TheCadet Championship is aneight-player invitational event comprised of the six highest USCF-rated players under the age of 16, the 2020K-8Barber Champion, and an organizer wildcard.Considering the accessibility to players who do not have the obstacle of travel for this online event, this may be one of the strongest fields ever assembled in the championships history, anda lot of action is expected.Here is the field for this year:

IM Justin Wang 2540

IM Christopher Yoo 2540

IM Andrew Zhang Hong 2533

FM Robert Shlyakhtenko 2459 (Barber Champion)

IM Arthur Guo 2446

FM Maximillian Lu 2431

FM Christopher Shen 2424

NM Ruiyang Yan 2242 (Organizer Wildcard)

The tournament will be round-robin format with seven rounds, with one gameto beplayed on Friday, three gamesonSaturday, and thefinalthree rounds on Sunday. All games will be played with a time control of G/70 +10.No playoff will happen inthe event of afirst-placetie, but instead tiebreak scores will determine the prize distribution.

First place will collect $7,000 in prizes,including a $6,000 collegiate scholarshipjointly supported by US Chess and Dewain Barber. Barber, the Dean of Scholastic Chess in the U.S., has also made available one-year US Chess membership extensions for each of the participants.

Fair play in the event is a top priority for both the organizer and US Chess.Players will be monitored live,where every player will have two cameras on them, andgameswillalso be analyzed by grandmasters, chess.com experts and Dr. Ken Reganfrom the University of Buffalo. Directing the eventwill be NTD JohnMcCumiskey, who will oversee the overall decisions and executions.

The Mechanics Institute will provide live commentary of the action every day through itsTwitch channel.Main commentators will be the Institutes grandmaster-in-residence and three-time U.S. Champion GM Nick deFirmian, along withMechanics legend FM Paul Whiteheadand chessdirector Abel Talamantez.Special guest commentatorsare expectedthroughout the weekend, including2018 US Champion GM Sam Shankland, two-time US champion GM Patrick Wolff,as well asformer Mechanicschessdirector andcaptain of the US Olympic Team IM John Donaldson.

Event schedule is as follows:

Virtual Opening Ceremony -Friday, Sep 25: 3PM PT / 6ET

Round 1 - Friday, Sep 25: 4PM PT / 7 ET

Round 2- Saturday, Sep 26: 9AM PT / 12ET

Round 3- Saturday, Sep 26: 1PM PT / 4ET

Round 4- Saturday, Sep 26: 4PM PT / 7 ET

Round 5- Sunday, Sep 26: 9AM PT / 12ET

Round 6- Sunday, Sep 26: 1PM PT / 4ET

Round 7- Sunday, Sep 26: 4PM PT / 7 ET

Thisyears eventmarks the 20thanniversary sinceit was last hosted by theMechanics Institute. In 2000, Donaldson directed theCadet Championship fora field thatincluded current GM Josh Friedel and IM Daniel Fernandez. It is a great honor and prestige for the Institute to be able to organize this event in this special year.

For more information, visit the event page.

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Mechanics' to Host U.S. Cadet National Championship this Weekend - uschess.org