K. K. Karanja

Last updated
Kangugi wa Karanja
Full nameKangugi wa Karanja
CountryUnited States / Kenya
BornNovember 23, 1973 (1973-11-23) (age 50)
New York, U.S.
TitleUSCF National Master

Kangugi "K. K." Karanja (born November 23, 1973) is an American chess player and former chess prodigy. He became a US Chess Federation Candidate Master at the age of 10. [1]

Contents

Career

Championships and awards

In 1985 at the age of 11, he won the National Elementary Chess Championship with a perfect 7–0 score (seven wins and no losses), becoming the first African-American to win a national scholastic title and the second African-American to win a national chess championship (Frank Street Jr. was the first, winning the 1965 US Amateur Championship). [2] [ citation needed ]

In 1985, Karanja also received the Laura Aspis Prize, granted annually to the top USCF-rated player under the age of 13. [3] Karanja qualified as the United States representative for the 1986 World Under-14 Chess Championship in San Juan, Puerto Rico. [4]

In 1987, Karanja was selected to the inaugural All-America Chess Team, which recognizes the top 0.1-0.2 percent of chess players age 18 years and younger. [5] Karanja also qualified for the 1987 U.S. Cadet Championship where only the top eight players under age 16 are invited to compete. [6]

Other events and achievements

In 1988, Karanja was selected to participate in a simultaneous exhibition held by Grandmaster and World Champion Garry Kasparov in New York, during Kasparov's first visit to America. [7] Of the 59 players to compete against Kasparov, only Karanja and fellow prodigy Josh Waitzkin held Kasparov to draws (the other 57 players lost). [8] [9]

In 1989, at the age of 15 years and 7 months, Karanja became a chess master, becoming the second youngest African-American at the time to achieve that feat behind Howard Daniels (15 years, 4 months). [1] He subsequently attended Carleton College. [6]

A sample of Karanja's ability is evidenced in the following game from the 1987 United States Cadet Chess Championship. [10]

Retirement

Karanja retired from tournament play in 1990 with a rating of 2193. Karanja has written one book on chess and while living in Kenya was active in promoting chess. [1]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Anatoly Karpov</span> Russian chess grandmaster (born 1951)

Anatoly Yevgenyevich Karpov is a Russian and former Soviet chess grandmaster, former World Chess Champion, ⁣and politician. He was the 12th World Chess Champion from 1975 to 1985, a three-time FIDE World Champion, twice World Chess champion as a member of the USSR team, and a six-time winner of Chess Olympiads as a member of the USSR team. The International Association of Chess Press awarded him nine Chess Oscars.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Joshua Waitzkin</span> American chess player, martial arts competitor, and author

Joshua Waitzkin is an American former chess player, martial arts world champion, and author. As a child, he was recognized as a prodigy, and won the U.S. Junior Chess championship in 1993 and 1994. The film Searching for Bobby Fischer is based on his early life.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Nigel Short</span> English chess grandmaster (born 1965)

Nigel David Short is an English chess grandmaster, columnist, coach and commentator who has been the FIDE Director for Chess Development since September 2022. Short earned the title of grandmaster at the age of 19 and was ranked third in the world by FIDE from July 1988 to July 1989. In 1993, he became the first English player to play a World Chess Championship match, when he qualified to play Garry Kasparov in the PCA world championship in London, where Kasparov won 12½ to 7½.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Teimour Radjabov</span> Azerbaijani chess grandmaster (born 1987)

Teimour Boris oghlu Radjabov is an Azerbaijani chess grandmaster.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Joel Benjamin</span> American chess grandmaster

Joel Lawrence Benjamin is an American chess player who holds the FIDE title of Grandmaster (GM). In 1998, he was voted "Grandmaster of the Year" by the U.S. Chess Federation.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Fast chess</span> Chess variant with little move time allowed

Fast chess, also known as speed chess, is a type of chess in which each player is given less time to consider their moves than classical chess time controls allow. Fast chess is subdivided, by decreasing time controls, into rapid chess, blitz chess, and bullet chess. Armageddon chess is a particular variation of fast chess in which different rules apply for each of the two players.

Deep Thought was a computer designed to play chess. Deep Thought was initially developed at Carnegie Mellon University and later at IBM. It was second in the line of chess computers developed by Feng-hsiung Hsu, starting with ChipTest and culminating in Deep Blue. In addition to Hsu, the Deep Thought team included Thomas Anantharaman, Mike Browne, Murray Campbell and Andreas Nowatzyk. Deep Thought became the first computer to beat a grandmaster in a regular tournament game when it beat Bent Larsen in 1988, but was easily defeated in both games of a two-game match with Garry Kasparov in 1989 as well as in a correspondence match with Michael Valvo.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bruce Pandolfini</span> American chess author, teacher, and coach

Bruce Pandolfini is an American chess author, teacher, and coach. A USCF national master, he is generally considered to be America's most experienced chess teacher.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bobby Fischer</span> American chess grandmaster (1943–2008)

Robert James Fischer was an American chess grandmaster and the eleventh World Chess Champion. A chess prodigy, he won his first of a record eight US Championships at the age of 14. In 1964, he won with an 11–0 score, the only perfect score in the history of the tournament. Qualifying for the 1972 World Championship, Fischer swept matches with Mark Taimanov and Bent Larsen by 6–0 scores. After winning another qualifying match against Tigran Petrosian, Fischer won the title match against Boris Spassky of the USSR, in Reykjavík, Iceland. Publicized as a Cold War confrontation between the US and USSR, the match attracted more worldwide interest than any chess championship before or since.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Patrick Wolff</span> American chess grandmaster (born 1968)

Patrick Gideon Wolff is an American chess Grandmaster. He is the son of philosopher Robert Paul Wolff and brother of law professor Tobias Barrington Wolff. Wolff won the United States Chess Championship in 1992 and 1995.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Don Schultz</span> American chess official (1936–2020)

Donald Schultz was a president and a vice-president of the United States Chess Federation (USCF). He was elected vice-president on August 14, 2005. He was defeated by the Susan Polgar-Paul Truong slate when he ran for re-election in July, 2007. He was a rated chess expert.

Tal Shaked is an American chess grandmaster who is best known for winning the World Junior Championship in 1997.

Below is a list of events in chess in 1992, as well as the top ten FIDE rated chess players of that year.

Michael Khodarkovsky is an American chess player and coach. Since 2018, Michael has been elected as vice president of the FIDE Presidential Board.

The Laura Aspis Prize was an award in the game of chess. Beginning in 1980, it was awarded annually to the number one ranked American chess player under the age of 13 by the nonprofit educational foundation Chess-in-the-Schools until 1999.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Susan Polgar</span> Hungarian chess grandmaster (born 1969)

Susan Polgar is a Hungarian-American chess grandmaster. Polgár was Women's World Chess Champion from 1996 to 1999. On FIDE's Elo rating system list of July 1984, at the age of 15, she became the top-ranked female chess player in the world. In 1991, she became the third woman to be awarded the title of Grandmaster by FIDE. She won eleven medals at the Women's Chess Olympiad.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Igor Ivanov (chess player)</span> Canadian chess grandmaster (1947–2005)

Igor Vasilyevich Ivanov was a Russian-born chess grandmaster who defected from the Soviet Union to Canada in 1980. A four-time winner of the Canadian chess championship, he represented Canada at an interzonal tournament for the world chess championship and was a Canadian team member at two Chess Olympiads. He also was a nine-time US Grand Prix chess champion.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Awonder Liang</span> American chess grandmaster (born 2003)

Awonder Liang is an American chess Grandmaster. A chess prodigy in his youth, he was the third-youngest American to qualify for the title of Grandmaster, at the age of 14. Liang was twice world champion in his age category.

Rochelle Ballantyne is an American chess player. She is best known for appearing in the 2012 documentary Brooklyn Castle. Her USCF rating is 1988, putting her in the 99th percentile of American junior players. Her FIDE rating is 1912, with her highest rating achieved being 1954 in January 2012. According to the USCF's rating system, she is currently an "Expert" or "Candidate Master."

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Tanitoluwa Adewumi</span> Nigerian-American chess player (born 2010)

Tanitoluwa Emmanuel "Tani" Adewumi is a Nigerian-American chess player who currently holds the title of FIDE Master (FM). A chess prodigy, he won the 2019 K-3 New York State chess championship at the age of 8 after having played the game for only a year while living with his refugee family in a homeless shelter in Manhattan.

References