Vinay Bhat

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Vinay Bhat
Full name Vinay Subrahmanya Bhat
Country Flag of the United States United States
Born June 4, 1984 (1984-06-04) (age 24)
Santa Clara, CA, United States
Title International Master
FIDE rating 2483 (FIDE), 2465 (USCF)
Peak rating 2483 (FIDE), 2513 (USCF)

Vinay Bhat is an American International Master of chess with three Grandmaster norms (the amount required to become a Grandmaster, though he cannot become a Grandmaster until his FIDE rating officially exceeds 2500). Bhat first earned his third Grandmaster norm in July 2007, at the age of 23.[1]

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[edit] Chess achievements and status

Bhat is the 2007 MVP points leader and has the highest performance rating in the United States Chess League history. He won Game of the Week for the week of September 3rd, 2007. [2]

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." [3]

[edit] Chess strategy and style

Bhat is known to prefer the following openings:[4]

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.[5]

[edit] Early years

Bhat first learned to play chess at the age of 6. His mother taught him and his older brother (now a professor in the Claremont 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.[6] "That was my steady diet," Bhat said.[7]

When he was 10 years old, Bhat became the youngest national master, breaking Bobby Fischer's record by two years. Since then, his record has been broken once, by Hikaru Nakamura. [8] In 1998, Bhat co-wrote "Whiz Kids Teach Chess" (ISBN 1580420079) with Eric Schiller. Bhat was 14 when he wrote the book.[9]

At the age of 16, Bhat became an International Master.[10]

[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.[11]

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.[12] In 2004, while an undergraduate, Bhat co-founded the East Bay Chess Club.[13]

[edit] Career outside of chess

Bhat is currently employed at Cornerstone Research, an economic consulting firm headquartered in Menlo Park, CA.[14]

[edit] Personal

Bhat currently resides south of San Francisco in Silicon Valley.

Bhat plays poker casually and has won a local tournament.[15] 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.[16]

[edit] External links

[edit] References

  1. ^ Shahade, Jennifer. "Vinay Bhat gets 3rd Norm in Spain." United States Chess Federation, 2007.
  2. ^ VinayBhat
  3. ^ 2008 Samford Fellowship Press Release
  4. ^ No Archiving Spiders Allowed
  5. ^ CALCHESS.org - The Northern California Chess Association
  6. ^ East Bay Chess Club - About Vinay
  7. ^ Personal interview, conducted Aug. 31, 2007
  8. ^ CALCHESS.org - The Northern California Chess Association
  9. ^ Buy Whiz Kids Teach Chess by Schiller, Eric & Bhat, Vinay - Dualj.com
  10. ^ East Bay Chess Club - About Vinay
  11. ^ Personal interview, conducted Aug. 31, 2007
  12. ^ EBCC - About Us: Vinay Bhat
  13. ^ East Bay Chess Club - About Vinay
  14. ^ Cornerstone Research
  15. ^ Personal interview with Lisa Leung (co-worker of Vinay Bhat), August 28, 2007.
  16. ^ Personal interview, conducted Aug. 31, 2007