Williams takes on U.S. Masters
Justus Williams recently scored a respectable 5.5/9 at the U.S. Masters. As the only scholastic player and of African descent, he was certainly getting some attention. He had a performance rating of 2184 and defeated a couple of Masters. His mother gave The Chess Drum the following message:
He got off with a rough start losing rds 1 and 2. After calling me and begging me to allow him to re-enter, he went on to have a pretty good result. At one point he was tied for first place and at the end of the tournament he finished with 4th place and the u2300 prize which was fantastic considering the strength of the opponents.
This is one of Justus’ strongest performances to date. The Scholastic All-American will compete in the World Youth Championships later in the year.
https://main.uschess.org/assets/msa_joomla/XtblMain.php?201003212171-13534356
Great result…congratulations to Justus Williams.
Just in…Justus Williams is the 2010 National Elementary Champion! He finished 1st on tiebreaks in a four-way tie for 1st with 6/7. James Black (reigning National 6th grade champion who also won the National Elementary Blitz title) finished 7th on tiebreaks with 5.5/7; Josh Colas (reigning National Youth Action co-champion) finished 16th on tiebreaks (5/7).
Williams becomes the 12th African-American to win a national championship, and the first to win the National Elementary Championship since K.K. Karanja went 7-0 in 1985.
Congrats!!!
Daaim,
The title James Black won was the national 6th grade championship (6th graders only), not the national elementary championship (which is K-6). There is a difference between the two titles, FYI 🙂 (although James won the blitz in both tournaments).
I’m glad that the new “big three” (Josh Colas, Justus Williams, James Black) now have won one national title each…looking forward to their continued progress!
I know, Daaim…I’m well aware of the records for national championships by African-Americans (both including and not including blitz titles)…I’ve held them both for quite a while ;). Looking forward to seeing my records fall in the near future…I’m proud of the big three and hope to continue watching their progress.
Hello Daaim. I’ve been tracking these records down for nearly three decades, so I’m pretty familiar with them. Anyone who is concerned with the accuracy of my data can be assured that it was compiled with the same attention to detail and precision that I apply in the operating room (you know, my day job :)).
Winning a national title is a special (and rare) feat, which is why it is not difficult to compile lists of winners — particularly in the 70s and 80s when there were only the National Elementary, Junior High, High School, US Junior Open and US Junior Closed scholastic titles. And no, Howard Daniels never won a national title.
I am very happy with the new generation of players — I only hope that they are demonstrating the same aptitude in the classroom as they are on the chessboard — chess is a phenomenal training ground for even bigger challenges in life. I hope that someday I won’t be the only African-American with national chess championships and an Ivy League education.