Top Ten U.S. Juniors in Detail

In an insightful article at Chess Life Online, IM Greg Shahade profiles each of the top ten juniors from the December 2006 USCF rating list. He is blunt in his appraisals, identifying which players he feels are likely to continue developing and which are in danger of stagnating. Greg writes:

"What would be considered a success for our juniors? Any American player that achieves the GM title should be extremely proud. Very few young American players in the past decade have been able to earn the GM title--The good news is that there are a multitude of players on this list whom I believe will earn the title and help to end our relative drought. The bad news is that while most of these players have the potential to be a Grandmaster, they are very unlikely to be one of the top players in the world."

He covers the following players, in what is expected to be a bi-monthly column at Chess Life Online:

1. GM Hikaru Nakamura
   
2. IM Josh Friedel
   
3. IM Lev Milman
   
4. FM Salvijus Bercys
   
5. FM Robert Hess
   
6. IM-elect John Bartholomew
   
7. IM Alex Lenderman
   
8. FM Igor Schneider
   
9. FM Joel Banawa
   
10. NM Mackenzie Molner

In his "Others to Watch" segment, Shahade also discusses the highly talented players FM Ray Robson, Marc Tyler Arnold and WFM Tatev Abrahamyan.