Walter Harris | |
---|---|
Country | United States |
Born | Harlem, New York | September 28, 1941
Title | National Master |
Walter Harris is an American chess player.
Harris was the first African-American chess player to earn the USCF title of National Master. [1] He had a remarkable 5th-place finish in the 1959 U.S. Junior Open. At that tournament, he was unable to rent a room at the tournament's hotel (Sheraton-Fontenelle Hotel) due to racial segregation. Despite his and Anthony Saidy's protests, the hotel managers were adamant, forcing Harris to go to another hotel for accommodations. [2]
Harris, along with Kenneth Clayton and Frank Street Jr., have been regarded as pioneers of African-Americans in chess in the 1960s. [3]
Harris studied physics at University of California, Los Angeles, [2] [4] and was a career physicist. [5]
The United States Chess Federation is the governing body for chess competition in the United States and represents the U.S. in FIDE, the World Chess Federation. US Chess administers the official national rating system, awards national titles, sanctions over twenty national championships annually, and publishes two magazines: Chess Life and Chess Life for Kids. The USCF was founded and incorporated in Illinois in 1939, from the merger of two older chess organizations. It is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization headquartered in St. Louis, Missouri. Its membership as of 2020 as COVID hit was 97,000; as of July 2022 it is 85,000.
Yuriy Kuzubov is a Ukrainian chess grandmaster and Ukrainian champion of 2014. He completed his final grandmaster norm at the age of 14 years, 7 months, 12 days in 2004.
Emory Andrew Tate Jr. was an American chess international master. He was the father of the Internet influencer Andrew Tate.
Kenneth Roger Clayton was an American chess master. He won US Amateur Chess Championship in 1963. He attended Harvard University. His picture was on the cover of the June 1963 issue of Chess Life magazine.
Amon Simutowe is a Zambian chess grandmaster. He is the first grandmaster from sub-Saharan Africa and the third black chess grandmaster in history, after Maurice Ashley and Pontus Carlsson. He holds a Bachelor of Science in Economics and Finance from the University of Texas at Dallas and a Master of Science in Economics for Development from the University of Oxford.
Robert Lee Hess is an American chess player who received the FIDE title of Grandmaster (GM) in 2009. In May 2012, his FIDE rating was 2635, fifth in the United States. Hess is a commentator for Chess.com, covering events such as the World Chess Championship and Candidates Tournament. He also streams chess content on his Twitch channel GMHess, which has 73,000+ followers.
Kangugi "K. K." Karanja is a chess prodigy. He became a US Chess Federation Candidate Master at the age of 10.
A chess rating system is a system used in chess to estimate the strength of a player, based on their performance versus other players. They are used by organizations such as FIDE, the US Chess Federation, International Correspondence Chess Federation, and the English Chess Federation. Most of the systems are used to recalculate ratings after a tournament or match but some are used to recalculate ratings after individual games. Popular online chess sites such as chess.com, Lichess, and Internet Chess Club also implement rating systems. In almost all systems, a higher number indicates a stronger player. In general, players' ratings go up if they perform better than expected and down if they perform worse than expected. The magnitude of the change depends on the rating of their opponents. The Elo rating system is currently the most widely used.
Robert Gwaze is a Zimbabwean chess player. He is a former student at Prince Edward School, in Harare. At age 15, he was a Zimbabwe National Chess Champion at both junior and senior levels.
Awonder Liang is an American chess prodigy. He is 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.
Sunil Weeramantry is a Sri Lankan-born American chess player, trainer and chess author known for being the trainer of his stepson Hikaru Nakamura.
Frank Street Jr. is an American chess player who won the U.S. Amateur Championship in 1965. He was a member of the Takoma Park Chess Club, which included fellow members Larry Kaufman and Larry Guilden. In the 1960s, Street, along with National Masters Walter Harris and Ken Clayton, set the stage for the harnessing of Black talent in the Washington, D.C., area.
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.
The chess events at the 2003 All-Africa Games were held from 5 to 17 October at the Nicon Hilton Hotel in Abuja. This was the first time chess was contested at the All-Africa Games. The four events were men's and women's team competitions at rapid time controls, and men's and women's individual competitions at blitz time controls. Teams played matches on four boards: each team consisted of a minimum of four players and up to two optional reserve players. In the team competitions, medals were awarded to the teams scoring the highest number of board points, as well as to individual players with the best performances on each board in terms of win percentage.
Justus Williams is an American chess player who holds the title of International Master (IM).
Joshua Colas is an American chess player who holds the title of FIDE International Master (Elect).
Kassa Korley is an American-born Danish chess player who holds the title of International Master (IM).
Daniel Jere is a Zambian chess player.
Providence Oatlhotse is a Botswana chess player. He is the highest-rated player of his country.
James A. Black Jr. is an American chess player.