Vinay Bhat
| Vinay Bhat | |
|---|---|
 |
|
| Full name | Vinay Subrahmanya Bhat |
| Country |  United States |
| Born | June 4, 1984 Santa Clara, CA, United States |
| Title | Grandmaster |
| FIDE rating | 2511 (March 2012) (FIDE), 2606 (USCF) |
| Peak rating | 2549 (FIDE), 2606 (USCF) |
Vinay Bhat (born June 4, 1984) is an American chess Grandmaster. Bhat earned his third Grandmaster norm in July 2007 at the age of 23,[1] though he did not obtain the Grandmaster title immediately due to rating requirements. Bhat ultimately earned the Grandmaster title in October 2008.[2] As of the 2010 US Chess Championship in Saint Louis, Bhat was ranked #16 in the US. [3]
Contents |
[edit] Chess career
[edit] Junior years
Bhat first learned to play chess at the age of 6. His mother taught him and his older brother, Harish (now a professor at UC Merced system) how to play. The two brothers started playing in the Kolty Chess Club in Campbell every Thursday night. Bhat spent his early years studying the games of Morphy and Capablanca as a part of the Blue Knights.[4] "That was my steady diet," Bhat said.[5]
At 10 years and 176 days old, Bhat became the youngest national master, breaking the record previously held by Jordy Mont-Reynaud (10 years and 294 days),[6] Stuart Rachels (11 years and 10 months),[7] and before that by Bobby Fischer (age 13). Since then, his record has been broken three times, by California players Hikaru Nakamura, Nicholas Nip, and Samuel Sevian. In 1998, Bhat contributed to "Whiz Kids Teach Chess" (ISBN 1580420079) with Eric Schiller.
At the age of 15 years and 10 months, Bhat became an International Master, at the time the youngest ever in U.S. history; this record was later surpassed by Hikaru Nakamura and is presently held by Ray Robson.[8][9]
[edit] Notable Junior Tournament Results and Awards
- 1992 California Primary School (K-3) State Champion (Tied with Jordy Mont-Reynaud)[10]
- Tied for second at the Under-12 World Youth Championships in 1995 (won by Etienne Bacrot) [11]
- Winner of the 1996 Laura Aspis Prize for the top-ranked American chess player under the age of 13 [12]
- Tied for second at the Under-12 World Youth Rapid Chess Championships in 1996 (won by Kamil Mitoń)
- Bronze medal winner at the Under-12 World Youth Championships in 1996 (won by Kamil Mitoń)
- Tied for third at the Under-14 World Youth Championships in 1998 (won by Bu Xiangzhi) [13]
- Tied for first at US Cadet (Under-16) Championships in 1998 (with Dmitri Shneider)
- Gold medal (clear first place) at the Under-14 Pan-American Championships in Brazil in 1998
- Four-time California High School (K-12) State Champion [10]
- Three-time winner of the Neil Falconer Award for top-ranked CA junior chessplayer from 2000 - 2002 [14]
- Tied for first in the High School Division of the CEA Nationals (with Harutyan Akopyan) in 2000 [15]
[edit] Later chess career
After taking an extended break from chess, Bhat began to play regularly again in 2008. On April 22, 2008, it was announced that Vinay was awarded the 2008 Samford Fellowship. This fellowship was created to "identify and assist the best American chessmasters under the age of twenty-five by providing top-level coaching, strong competition and access to study materials."[16]
Bhat was awarded with the title of International Grandmaster in October 2008 when he crossed 2500 FIDE, with his three Grandmaster norms coming from Qingdao (China, 2002), Balaguer (Spain, 2006), and Balaguer (Spain, 2007). [17]
[edit] Other Notable Tournament Results
- Clear first place at the 2005 Michael Frannett Memorial in California [18]
- Tied for first at the 2007 International Open of Balaguer in Spain (with Aleksander Delchev) [19]
- Tied for first at the 2009 International Open of San Sebastian in Spain (with 4 others) [20]
- Tied for first at the 2009 SPICE Cup in Texas (with Eugene Perelshteyn and Ben Finegold) [21]
- As of the 2011 United States Chess League (USCL) season, Bhat has the fifth highest performance rating in the history of the league (minimum 20 games) and is fifth in the all-time MVP rankings. [22][23]
- Bhat also has the second longest undefeated streak in the league (14 matches across three seasons), with Alex Lenderman holding the current record [24][25]
- Along with Julio Becerra Rivero, Bhat is the only player to have multiple wins in the US Chess League against the highest-ranked US player Hikaru Nakamura [26]
[edit] Chess strategy and style
Bhat is known to prefer the following openings:[27]
| With the white pieces | With the black pieces |
|---|---|
| Sicilian (20) - B23 B52 B51 B27 B30 | Semi-Slav (9) - D43 D45 D48 |
| Queen's Pawn Game (4) - A45 | French Tarrasch (7) - C06 C05 C03 |
| Ruy Lopez (4) - C69 C68 C64 | Queen's Gambit Declined (5) - D30 D31 |
Bhat has studied with GM Gregory Kaidanov.[28]
[edit] Education
Bhat graduated from Lynbrook High School in San Jose, CA, in 2002. While at Lynbrook, he played on his school's chess team, , leading it to victory in local state and high-school competitions. [29]
Instead of focusing solely on chess, Bhat chose to continue his education and received a B.S. in Statistics and Political Economy from the University of California, Berkeley in 2006.[30] In 2004, while an undergraduate, Bhat co-founded the East Bay Chess Club.[4]
[edit] Career outside of chess
Until receiving the Samford Fellowship, Bhat was employed at Cornerstone Research, an economic consulting firm headquartered in Menlo Park, CA.[31]
After two-and-a-half years of professional chess play, Bhat began working full-time again in December 2010. He currently works at Vinyl Interactive, where he is currently the Senior Data Scientist [32]
[edit] Personal
Bhat currently resides south of San Francisco in Silicon Valley.
Bhat plays poker casually and has won a local tournament.[33] He enjoys listening to hip-hop and Indian music and cites J-Live, Gift of Gab, Wu-Tang Clan, and Nas as among his favorite artists. Bhat has expressed that he found GZA's 2005 album GrandMasters particularly interesting for its references to chess.[5]
In his recreational time, Bhat enjoys playing tennis.
[edit] References
- ^ Shahade, Jennifer. "Vinay Bhat gets 3rd Norm in Spain." United States Chess Federation, 2007.
- ^ Grandmaster Vinay Bhat
- ^ 2010 US Chess Championship
- ^ a b East Bay Chess Club - About Vinay
- ^ a b Personal interview, conducted Aug. 31, 2007
- ^ "Jordy Mont-Reynaud's record of becoming a master at the youngest age (ten years, 209 days) has been broken by Vinay Bhat (ten years, 176 days) of San Jose, California." Chess Life, July 1995, p. 8.
- ^ Stuart Rachels. jamesrachels.org. Retrieved on 2009-06-26.
- ^ East Bay Chess Club - About Vinay
- ^ The Nakamura Brothers
- ^ a b Calchess.org
- ^ 365Chess Tournament Results
- ^ Leal, Carolyn, "Chess whiz wins coveted Aspis award." Mercury News, 1996
- ^ The Week in Chess 209
- ^ Mechanics' Institute Newsletter 518
- ^ CalNorth Youth Chess News
- ^ 2008 Samford Fellowship Press Release
- ^ FIDE Title Application - Vinay Bhat
- ^ The Week in Chess 535
- ^ The Week in Chess 664
- ^ The Week in Chess 754
- ^ 2009 SPICE Cup Chess Festival Results and Games
- ^ Mechanics' Institute Newsletter 557
- ^ USCL Historical Player Stats
- ^ USCL - Vinay Bhat Player Page
- ^ USCL - Alex Lenderman Player Page
- ^ USCL - Hikaru Nakamura Player Page
- ^ No Archiving Spiders Allowed
- ^ CALCHESS.org - The Northern California Chess Association
- ^ CalNorth Youth Chess News
- ^ EBCC - About Us: Vinay Bhat
- ^ Cornerstone Research
- ^ LinkedIn Profile - Vinay Bhat
- ^ Personal interview with Lisa Leung (co-worker of Vinay Bhat), August 28, 2007.
[edit] External links
- Vinay Bhat at USChessLeague.com
- "Whiz Kids Teach Chess," ISBN 1580420079
- Vinay Bhat's blog
- Vinay S Bhat player profile at ChessGames.com
| Achievements | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by Jordy Mont-Reynaud |
Youngest ever United States chessmaster 1995-1998 |
Succeeded by Hikaru Nakamura |
