Kayden William Troff
Encyclopedia
Kayden William Troff is a Utah
chess
player who won the silver medal in the 12/under section at the World Youth Chess Championships in Greece in 2010. He won gold at the 2009 North American Youth Championship for under age 12 in Mazatlán
. He also became a FIDE Candidate Master in Mazatlán. At 11, he was also the highest-rated chess tournament player in Utah.http://main.uschess.org/datapage/top-players2.php?state=UT&limit=&players=M¤t=L He won the 2010 Utah Open, the state's oldest and most prestigious tournament for all ages. Kayden became a National Master
at the American Open in November 2009, at age 11.
Kayden first demonstrated chess ability at the age of three; he had learned to play by watching his father (Daniel Troff) teach and play against his brothers. When Troff turned six, his father decided to have him tutored by Grandmaster Igor Ivanov
, who was impressed with how well Kayden played.
He first won a Utah State Elementary Championship at the age of six and he has won first place in his grade in the Utah State Elementary Championship every year thereafter. In December 2007, at age eight, Troff was named to the United States Chess Federation
's 2008 All America Chess Team and at age 10, he was named to the 2010 All America Chess Team, an honor described as "one of the highest national honors attainable by a young chess player". On December 14, 2008, he won second place at the fifth-grade level at the National K-12 Championships.
On January 24, 2009, Troff won the Utah Speed Chess Championship at age ten, becoming the youngest player to win that event, and by a huge margin. In that event he went 2-0 against Jeff Phillips, who was at the time Utah's only chess master and also the Utah player with the highest quick chess rating.
On March 14, 2009, Troff won the Utah G/60 Championship (where each player has one hour to complete the whole game), also becoming the youngest player ever to win that event, by far. At this event he defeated the #1 seed, 73-year-old Hans Morrow, the oldest player in the tournament. After this win, the tournament director dubbed Kayden "Utah's Mozart of Chess."
Troff scored 11th/12th in the World Chess Live Junior Grand Prix (2008). He has won some of the prestigious WCL online quick-rated tournaments, and beat International Grandmaster Alex Lenderman in two of their USCF rated online encounters. Lenderman, who was age 19 at the time, was the top rated player in the United States under age 21 (both regular and quick ratings).
In September 2009 Kayden made it to the first-board of the prestigious Southern California Open tournament in the last round, where he was defeated by GM Melikset Khachiyan
, who won the event and later became Kayden's coach. Kayden's other loss in the tournament was to GM Alejandro Ramirez, who also tied for first. Kayden defeated all his other opponents in the tournament, including an International Master and two masters, earning a performance rating of 2491. number and date foramaThat was his second impressive tournament performance in two months, following on a 2453 performance rating at the sixth Utah Expert Series. Kayden also defeated an International Master in the Western States Open in Reno in October 2009, along with several master level players. He won his third over-the-board game against an IM by defeating Jack Peters, the chess columnist for the Los Angeles Times, in a California tournament in May 2010.
Kayden's quick rating was the highest of all US players under the age of 13 according to the Top 100 rating list published by the USCF from June 2009 through October 2010.http://main.uschess.org/component/option,com_top_players/Itemid,371?op=list&month=0906&f=13Q&h=Top%20Quick%20Under%20Age%2013 For two months in 2009 Kayden was the highest USCF standard rated active tournament player in Utah. In May 2010 he defeated Harold Stevens, Utah's then-highest rated player, in a match, winning all three games. In the Fall of 2010, Kayden played a series of 29-minute mini-matches and quick tournaments with the highest-rated players in the Salt Lake City area to prepare himself for the World Youth Championships in Greece. His score against Utah's toughest opponents was 25-0, catapulting his quick rating to the #1 position for all US chess players under age 16. In October 2010 he won the Utah Open tournament, the oldest, largest and most prestigious adult chess event in the state, with a perfect 4-0 score.
Kayden's ambition is to become a Grandmaster, which will require a 2500 FIDE rating as well as three Grandmaster level performances (norms) in international tournaments. He earned his first International Master (IM) Norm at the 5th Metropolitan Chess FIDE Invitational tournament in Los Angeles in May, 2011, winning every game he played against titled IMs. Kayden is the current Utah Open Champion, Utah Junior High Champion, and has been the Elementary Champion several times.
Kayden lives in West Jordan, Utah
with his parents, Kim and Daniel, little sister Brynndi, and brothers Jeremy and Zachary, both of whom also play chess at a high level for their age group. In 2007, at age 16, Jeremy shared first place at the prestigious Salt Lake City Open. He also won the 2009 Utah State High School championship tournament. The Troff family runs a popular "TNT" Chess Camp in the Salt Lake City area, along with their family friend Scott Treiman, who won the 2009 Utah State Junior High School championship tournament.
In October 2010, Troff won the silver medal in Greece, with 9 out of 11 points, losing only to the champion, Wei Yi, and drawing with Wang Yi Ye, Wei Yi's teammate, from China, and Ghosh Diptayan of India. Kayden finished second in his age group in the world.
:
Tony Chen – Kayden Troff
Expert Series #2, 28.03.2009
Queen's Pawn [D00]
1.d4 d5 2.Nc3 Nf6 3.f3 c5 4.e4 e6 5.Be3 cxd4 6.Qxd4 Nc6 7.Bb5 Bd7 8.Bxc6. 8.Qd2 a6 9.exd5 axb5 10.dxc6 Bxc6 11.Qxd8+ Rxd8 with Black slightly better.
8...bxc6 9.exd5 exd5 10.0–0–0 Be7 11.Bg5. 11.Qd3 0–0–/+.
11...0–0 12.h4 12.Nge2 Re8–/+.
12...Re8–+ 13.g4 13.Qd2 Qb6–+.
13...c5 14.Qf4? Better is 14.Qd2 d4 15.Bxf6 Bxf6 16.Ne4–+.
14...d4 15.Bxf6 Bxf6 15...gxf6?! 16.Nd5 Bb5 17.Qf5–/+.
16.Ne4 Be5 17.Qd2 Qb8 17...Qb6!? keeps an even firmer grip 18.Ne2–+.
18.Ne2 d3? With this move Black loses his initiative; better is 18...Qb6–+ and Black can look forward to a comfortable game.
19.cxd3 Black is slightly better.
19…Bb5 19...Qb6 20.f4 Bd4 21.g5.
20.f4 20.Qc2!? has some apparent merit.
20...Bxd3!–/+ Demolishes the pawn shield.
21.N4c3 Bxe2 22.Nxe2 Bxb2+! 23.Qxb2 Qxb2+ 24.Kxb2 Rxe2+ 25.Ka1 Re4 26.Rhf1 Rc8 27.Rd7 a5 28.Kb2 c4 29.Kc3 Re3+ 30.Kd2 30.Kc2 h6–/+
30...Rh3 Black intends c3 (30...Ra3 31.Re1 h5–+).
31.Rc1? Better is 31.h5–/+.
31...h6–+ 32.a4 32.Rg1 c3+ 33.Kc1–+.
32...c3+ 33.Ke2 Rc4 34.Rd3 34.Kf2 otherwise it's curtains at once 34...Rxf4+ 35.Kg2 Rxh4 36.Rxc3–+.
34...Re4+ 0–1 35.Kf2 Rxd3–+.
The next game features Troff's victory over Vetoshko Volodymyr in the 2010 World Youth Championships. Troff went on to take second, essentially making him second in the world for his age.
GM John Fedorowicz
annotated this game in more detail. These annotations can be found on the USCF website.
Vetoshko Volodymyr - Kayden Troff
WYCC Open U12 Portos Carras, 10.29.2010
Sicilian Defense [B20]
1.e4 c5 2.b4 cxb4 3.a3 d5 4.exd5 Qxd5 5.Nf3 e6 6.Bb2 Nf6 7.c4 bxc3 e.p.
8.Nxc3 Qd8 9.Ne5 Be7 10.Bb5+ Nbd7 11.0-0 0-0 12.d4 Nb6 13.Re1 Nbd5 14.Bd3 Bd7 15.Ne4 Nxe4 16.Bxe4 Bc6 17.Qc2 g6 18.Nxc6 bxc6 19.Qxc6 Rb8 20.Qc2 Bf6 21.Rab1 Qa5 22.g3 Rfc8 23.Qe2 Rb3! 24.h4 Rcb8 25.Rec1 Qb6 26.Ba1 Rxb1 27.Rxb1 Qxb1+ 28.Bxb1 Rxb1+ 29.Kg2 Rxa1 30.Qb2 Rd1, and black went on to win easily. 0-1
Source: US Chess Federation Tournament Database http://www.uschess.org/msa/MbrDtlTnmtHst.php?12939342
Utah
Utah is a state in the Western United States. It was the 45th state to join the Union, on January 4, 1896. Approximately 80% of Utah's 2,763,885 people live along the Wasatch Front, centering on Salt Lake City. This leaves vast expanses of the state nearly uninhabited, making the population the...
chess
Chess
Chess is a two-player board game played on a chessboard, a square-checkered board with 64 squares arranged in an eight-by-eight grid. It is one of the world's most popular games, played by millions of people worldwide at home, in clubs, online, by correspondence, and in tournaments.Each player...
player who won the silver medal in the 12/under section at the World Youth Chess Championships in Greece in 2010. He won gold at the 2009 North American Youth Championship for under age 12 in Mazatlán
Mazatlán
Mazatlán is a city in the Mexican state of Sinaloa; the surrounding municipio for which the city serves as the municipal seat is Mazatlán Municipality. It is located at on the Pacific coast, across from the southernmost tip of the Baja California peninsula.Mazatlán is a Nahuatl word meaning...
. He also became a FIDE Candidate Master in Mazatlán. At 11, he was also the highest-rated chess tournament player in Utah.http://main.uschess.org/datapage/top-players2.php?state=UT&limit=&players=M¤t=L He won the 2010 Utah Open, the state's oldest and most prestigious tournament for all ages. Kayden became a National Master
Chess master
A chess master is a chess player of such skill that he/she can usually beat chess experts, who themselves typically prevail against most amateurs. Among chess players, the term is often abbreviated to master, the meaning being clear from context....
at the American Open in November 2009, at age 11.
Kayden first demonstrated chess ability at the age of three; he had learned to play by watching his father (Daniel Troff) teach and play against his brothers. When Troff turned six, his father decided to have him tutored by Grandmaster Igor Ivanov
Igor Vasilyevich Ivanov
Igor Vasilyevich Ivanov was a Russian Grandmaster of chess and a concert pianist.- Early life :He was born in 1947 in Leningrad, USSR, and learned chess at age five. He studied music intensively as a youth, specializing in piano, and was very talented...
, who was impressed with how well Kayden played.
He first won a Utah State Elementary Championship at the age of six and he has won first place in his grade in the Utah State Elementary Championship every year thereafter. In December 2007, at age eight, Troff was named to the United States Chess Federation
United States Chess Federation
The United States Chess Federation is a non-profit organization, the governing chess organization within the United States, and one of the federations of the FIDE. The USCF was founded in 1939 from the merger of two regional chess organizations, and grew gradually until 1972, when membership...
's 2008 All America Chess Team and at age 10, he was named to the 2010 All America Chess Team, an honor described as "one of the highest national honors attainable by a young chess player". On December 14, 2008, he won second place at the fifth-grade level at the National K-12 Championships.
On January 24, 2009, Troff won the Utah Speed Chess Championship at age ten, becoming the youngest player to win that event, and by a huge margin. In that event he went 2-0 against Jeff Phillips, who was at the time Utah's only chess master and also the Utah player with the highest quick chess rating.
On March 14, 2009, Troff won the Utah G/60 Championship (where each player has one hour to complete the whole game), also becoming the youngest player ever to win that event, by far. At this event he defeated the #1 seed, 73-year-old Hans Morrow, the oldest player in the tournament. After this win, the tournament director dubbed Kayden "Utah's Mozart of Chess."
Troff scored 11th/12th in the World Chess Live Junior Grand Prix (2008). He has won some of the prestigious WCL online quick-rated tournaments, and beat International Grandmaster Alex Lenderman in two of their USCF rated online encounters. Lenderman, who was age 19 at the time, was the top rated player in the United States under age 21 (both regular and quick ratings).
In September 2009 Kayden made it to the first-board of the prestigious Southern California Open tournament in the last round, where he was defeated by GM Melikset Khachiyan
Melikset Khachiyan
Melikset Khachiyan is an Armenian-American Grandmaster of chess, originally from Armenia, who now resides in Los Angeles.Khachiyan began playing chess at the age of eight. Two years later he won the Baku Junior Championship. When he was twelve he became a Soviet candidate master. Among his own...
, who won the event and later became Kayden's coach. Kayden's other loss in the tournament was to GM Alejandro Ramirez, who also tied for first. Kayden defeated all his other opponents in the tournament, including an International Master and two masters, earning a performance rating of 2491. number and date foramaThat was his second impressive tournament performance in two months, following on a 2453 performance rating at the sixth Utah Expert Series. Kayden also defeated an International Master in the Western States Open in Reno in October 2009, along with several master level players. He won his third over-the-board game against an IM by defeating Jack Peters, the chess columnist for the Los Angeles Times, in a California tournament in May 2010.
Kayden's quick rating was the highest of all US players under the age of 13 according to the Top 100 rating list published by the USCF from June 2009 through October 2010.http://main.uschess.org/component/option,com_top_players/Itemid,371?op=list&month=0906&f=13Q&h=Top%20Quick%20Under%20Age%2013 For two months in 2009 Kayden was the highest USCF standard rated active tournament player in Utah. In May 2010 he defeated Harold Stevens, Utah's then-highest rated player, in a match, winning all three games. In the Fall of 2010, Kayden played a series of 29-minute mini-matches and quick tournaments with the highest-rated players in the Salt Lake City area to prepare himself for the World Youth Championships in Greece. His score against Utah's toughest opponents was 25-0, catapulting his quick rating to the #1 position for all US chess players under age 16. In October 2010 he won the Utah Open tournament, the oldest, largest and most prestigious adult chess event in the state, with a perfect 4-0 score.
Kayden's ambition is to become a Grandmaster, which will require a 2500 FIDE rating as well as three Grandmaster level performances (norms) in international tournaments. He earned his first International Master (IM) Norm at the 5th Metropolitan Chess FIDE Invitational tournament in Los Angeles in May, 2011, winning every game he played against titled IMs. Kayden is the current Utah Open Champion, Utah Junior High Champion, and has been the Elementary Champion several times.
Kayden lives in West Jordan, Utah
Utah
Utah is a state in the Western United States. It was the 45th state to join the Union, on January 4, 1896. Approximately 80% of Utah's 2,763,885 people live along the Wasatch Front, centering on Salt Lake City. This leaves vast expanses of the state nearly uninhabited, making the population the...
with his parents, Kim and Daniel, little sister Brynndi, and brothers Jeremy and Zachary, both of whom also play chess at a high level for their age group. In 2007, at age 16, Jeremy shared first place at the prestigious Salt Lake City Open. He also won the 2009 Utah State High School championship tournament. The Troff family runs a popular "TNT" Chess Camp in the Salt Lake City area, along with their family friend Scott Treiman, who won the 2009 Utah State Junior High School championship tournament.
In October 2010, Troff won the silver medal in Greece, with 9 out of 11 points, losing only to the champion, Wei Yi, and drawing with Wang Yi Ye, Wei Yi's teammate, from China, and Ghosh Diptayan of India. Kayden finished second in his age group in the world.
Chess games
Here is an interesting game played by Kayden at the Utah Expert series #2, with notes by FritzFritz (chess)
Fritz is a German chess program developed by Frans Morsch and Mathias Feist and published by ChessBase. There is also a version called Deep Fritz that is designed for multiprocessing....
:
Tony Chen – Kayden Troff
Expert Series #2, 28.03.2009
Queen's Pawn [D00]
1.d4 d5 2.Nc3 Nf6 3.f3 c5 4.e4 e6 5.Be3 cxd4 6.Qxd4 Nc6 7.Bb5 Bd7 8.Bxc6. 8.Qd2 a6 9.exd5 axb5 10.dxc6 Bxc6 11.Qxd8+ Rxd8 with Black slightly better.
8...bxc6 9.exd5 exd5 10.0–0–0 Be7 11.Bg5. 11.Qd3 0–0–/+.
11...0–0 12.h4 12.Nge2 Re8–/+.
12...Re8–+ 13.g4 13.Qd2 Qb6–+.
13...c5 14.Qf4? Better is 14.Qd2 d4 15.Bxf6 Bxf6 16.Ne4–+.
14...d4 15.Bxf6 Bxf6 15...gxf6?! 16.Nd5 Bb5 17.Qf5–/+.
16.Ne4 Be5 17.Qd2 Qb8 17...Qb6!? keeps an even firmer grip 18.Ne2–+.
18.Ne2 d3? With this move Black loses his initiative; better is 18...Qb6–+ and Black can look forward to a comfortable game.
19.cxd3 Black is slightly better.
19…Bb5 19...Qb6 20.f4 Bd4 21.g5.
20.f4 20.Qc2!? has some apparent merit.
20...Bxd3!–/+ Demolishes the pawn shield.
21.N4c3 Bxe2 22.Nxe2 Bxb2+! 23.Qxb2 Qxb2+ 24.Kxb2 Rxe2+ 25.Ka1 Re4 26.Rhf1 Rc8 27.Rd7 a5 28.Kb2 c4 29.Kc3 Re3+ 30.Kd2 30.Kc2 h6–/+
30...Rh3 Black intends c3 (30...Ra3 31.Re1 h5–+).
31.Rc1? Better is 31.h5–/+.
31...h6–+ 32.a4 32.Rg1 c3+ 33.Kc1–+.
32...c3+ 33.Ke2 Rc4 34.Rd3 34.Kf2 otherwise it's curtains at once 34...Rxf4+ 35.Kg2 Rxh4 36.Rxc3–+.
34...Re4+ 0–1 35.Kf2 Rxd3–+.
The next game features Troff's victory over Vetoshko Volodymyr in the 2010 World Youth Championships. Troff went on to take second, essentially making him second in the world for his age.
GM John Fedorowicz
John Fedorowicz
John Peter Fedorowicz from the Bronx area of New York is an American International Grandmaster of chess, and a chess writer....
annotated this game in more detail. These annotations can be found on the USCF website.
Vetoshko Volodymyr - Kayden Troff
WYCC Open U12 Portos Carras, 10.29.2010
Sicilian Defense [B20]
1.e4 c5 2.b4 cxb4 3.a3 d5 4.exd5 Qxd5 5.Nf3 e6 6.Bb2 Nf6 7.c4 bxc3 e.p.
En passant
En passant is a move in the board game of chess . It is a special pawn capture which can occur immediately after a player moves a pawn two squares forward from its starting position, and an enemy pawn could have captured it had it moved only one square forward...
8.Nxc3 Qd8 9.Ne5 Be7 10.Bb5+ Nbd7 11.0-0 0-0 12.d4 Nb6 13.Re1 Nbd5 14.Bd3 Bd7 15.Ne4 Nxe4 16.Bxe4 Bc6 17.Qc2 g6 18.Nxc6 bxc6 19.Qxc6 Rb8 20.Qc2 Bf6 21.Rab1 Qa5 22.g3 Rfc8 23.Qe2 Rb3! 24.h4 Rcb8 25.Rec1 Qb6 26.Ba1 Rxb1 27.Rxb1 Qxb1+ 28.Bxb1 Rxb1+ 29.Kg2 Rxa1 30.Qb2 Rd1, and black went on to win easily. 0-1
Chess tournament victories
| Date | Tournament | W | L | D | Norms and *Titles* |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| May 2011 | 5th Metropolitan FIDE Invitational (2nd place) | 6 | 2 | 1 | International Master |
| November 2010 | Utah Master Series #1-3 | 15 | 0 | 0 | *USCF Life Master* |
| October 2010 | World Youth Championship (2nd place, age 12/under) | 8 | 1 | 2 | |
| October 2010 | Utah Open Championship | 4 | 0 | 0 | |
| September 2010 | West Valley CC Quick | 3 | 0 | 0 | |
| September 2010 | World Youth Warm-ups #1-4 | 19 | 0 | 0 | |
| September 2010 | West Valley CC 9-11 Quick | 3 | 0 | 0 | |
| May 2010 | Utah Expert Series 10 | 4 | 1 | 0 | |
| March 2010 | Utah Junior High Championship | 7 | 0 | 0 | |
| February 2010 | West Valley CC Quick | 3 | 0 | 0 | |
| January 2010 | Utah Speed Championship (G/5 2d) | 12 | 2 | 0 | |
| October 2009 | North American Youth Championship (Under age 12) | 6 | 0 | 1 | *FIDE Candidate Master* |
| September 2009 | Utah Team Championship (tie) | 3 | 0 | 1 | |
| August 2009 | Utah Expert Series 6 | 4 | 0 | 1 | |
| June 2009 | Utah Quick Championship | 9 | 1 | 2 | |
| June 2009 | Utah Chess960 Chess960 Chess960 is a chess variant invented and advocated by former World Chess Champion Bobby Fischer, originally announced on June 19, 1996 in Buenos Aires, Argentina. It employs the same board and pieces as standard chess, but the starting position of the pieces is randomized along the players' home... Championship |
4 | 0 | 0 | |
| June 2009 | Utah Bughouse Chess Bughouse chess Bughouse chess is a popular chess variant played on two chessboards by four players in teams of two... Championship |
8 | 0 | 0 | |
| May 2009 | Utah Expert Series 4 | 5 | 1 | 0 | |
| May 2009 | Utah Elementary Championship | 6 | 0 | 0 | |
| April 2009 | Utah Expert Series 3 | 2 | 0 | 0 | |
| March 2009 | Utah Expert Series 2 | 3 | 0 | 0 | |
| March 2009 | Utah Game/60 Championship | 4 | 0 | 1 | |
| March 2009 | World Chess Live Grand Prix Qualifier #35 | 6 | 0 | 1 | |
| February 2009 | World Chess Live Grand Prix Qualifier #33 | 5 | 0 | 2 | |
| January 2009 | Utah Speed Chess Championship | 11 | 2 | 1 | |
| August 2008 | August Plus Score | 4 | 0 | 0 | |
| May 2008 | Utah Elementary Championship | 6 | 0 | 0 | |
| July 2007 | Utah Class B Championship | 2 | 0 | 2 | |
| May 2007 | Utah Elementary Championship | 5 | 0 | 1 | |
| April 2007 | US Chess Live Quick Tournament #13 | 3 | 0 | 1 | |
| October 2006 | US Chess Live Quick Tournament #44 | 4 | 1 | 0 | |
| June 2006 | School's Out! Scholastic | 5 | 0 | 0 | |
| May 2006 | Utah Elementary Championship | 6 | 0 | 0 | |
| February 2006 | Oakwood Tournament | 5 | 0 | 0 | |
| October 2005 | Utah Open (under 1200) | 4 | 1 | 0 | |
| May 2005 | Utah Elementary Championship | 6 | 0 | 0 |