Who says that women can’t play chess well?

Chess Notes
By Harold Dondis and GM Patrick Wolff
August 24, 2009

Turning to national news, who says that women can’t play chess well?

One has difficulty defending that position if the Denker Tournament of High School Champions is any criterion. Abby Marshall of Virginia, who registered 5 consecutive wins against her male opponents and drew her last game with Michael Yang of Minnesota, took 1st place. She is the first female to win this tournament.

In an interview on the USCF’s website, http://www.uschess.org/, she attributed her success to good tactical positions in which she was able to sacrifice pieces against her opponents’ kingside. The Denker Tournament consists of high school champions from each state. This year two females represented their states - Abby from Virginia and Erica Barkell from Idaho. The tournament was founded by the late GM Arnold Denker and is currently strongly supported by his son, Mitchell Denker, a trustee of the US Chess Trust. Abby is a product of Susan Polgar’s All Girls’ Tournaments. These are events for girls 18 and under. She won the All Girls in 2005 and 2006.

Source: Boston Globe