Agoura chess champ heads to world contest

AMERICAN CHESS QUEEN- Simone Liao, shown here at the recent SP National Girls Championship in Corpus Christi, Texas, will travel to Antalya, Turkey to play in the World Youth Championship in the fall. Simone, an 8-year-old from Agoura Hills, is a student at Willow Elementary School.

Simone Liao, an 8-year-old from Agoura Hills, has qualified to play as a member of the U.S. National Youth Chess Team in the upcoming 2007 World Youth Chess Championship. The championship will be this fall in Antalya, Turkey.

Simone, a student at Willow Elementary School, has learned chess and competed in various levels of tournaments for a year and half. Since late 2006, she has appeared on U.S. Chess Federation's bi-monthly Top U.S. Players Lists for her age group.

In last month's 2007 Super States Chess Tournament, the largest scholastic chess tournament in California, Simone was the champion of lower elementary division.

The championship, organized annually by World Chess Federation, is an international chess tournament for children under the age of 19.

Young chess players are selected based on their competitive chess performance and accomplishments. Simone Liao is one of the youngest players to have been selected.