Rebecca Harris

Rebecca Harris (born 13 June 1989), is an Australian junior chess champion who achieved the Women’s FIDE Master (WFM) title at the Oceania Zonal in Fiji in May 2007. [cite web|url=http://www.auschess.org.au/newsletter/issue/404.html|title=Issue No. 404|publisher=Australian Chess Federation Newsletter|date=2007-06-01|accessdate=2008-07-07] Her current FIDE rating as of July 1, 2008 is 1875. [cite web|url=http://ratings.fide.com/card.phtml?event=3207005|title=Rebecca Harris|publisher=FIDE card|accessdate=2008-07-02]

Biography

Harris was born in Sydney, Australia on 13 June 1989 and graduated from Blue Mountains Grammar School in December of 2006. She is currently a 2nd year student at university studying psychology. Harris is the older sister of 16 year old Benjamin Harris (born 18 March 1992) who also completes is various chess tournaments, the best of which was at the World Youth and Doebarl Cup, where he clocked an average rating of 2250.cite web|url=http://www.chessbase.com/newsdetail.asp?newsid=4356|title=The Aussies are coming – in chess|publisher=Chessbase News|date=January 2008|accessdate=2008-07-07]

Rebecca started competing in chess at ten years of age, she was trained by International Masters Gary Lane and now shares her knowledge by teaching chess in schools within the Sydney district. She subsequently won the Australian National Under-16s Championship aged 13 [cite news|url=http://www.penrithpress.com.au/article/2007/05/31/2660_news.html|title=Plotting her next move|publisher=Penrith Press|date=2007-05-31|accessdate=2008-07-07] as well as the Australian National Under-18s Championship aged 16. [cite news|url=http://www.nswjcl.org.au/News/news_archives.htm|title=NSW Girls Championships 2005|publisher=NSW News|date=2005-09-30|accessdate=2008-07-07]

In 2002 she competed in the 8th World Youth Under 16 Chess Olympiad in Kuala Lumpar. [ [http://www.olimpbase.org/2002ch/2002fa01.html 8th World Youth U16 Chess Olympiad: Kuala Lumpur 2002 Olimpbase.org] ]

In 2007 she was one of seven Australian players to compete in the Commonwealth Chess Championship in New Delhi.

As outlined in the article 'The Aussies are coming', "At first glance the 18-year-old would appear as glamour model, with her stylish attire. But she is a very serious chess player. Based at Sydney, Rebecca has been playing chess for eight years, with her best performance in the Youth Olympiad at Kualalumpur in 2002. A student of pyschology, she has taken chess lessons from IM Gary Lane. She normally plays seven to eight tournaments but admits that this event is very strong. Besides chess her love is jazz dancing."

Chess — Titles and Championships

*2007 - Member of the Australian Chess Federation
*1999 - 2006 Member of NSW Junior Chess League
*2007 Australian Representative at Oceania Zonal
*2007 Australian Representative at Oceania Zonal
*Achieved a WFM Title at the Oceania Zonal (Women’s FIDE Master)
*2006 Awarded Gold Colours in Chess at Blue Mountains Grammar
*2005 Australian U18 Girls Champion
*2005 NSW U18 Girls Champion
*2003 Australian U16 Girls Champion
*2002 Australian Representative at U16 Chess Olympiad

References

External links

* [http://www.auschess.org.au/newsletter/issue/404.html Australian Chess Federation Issue newsletter No. 404, June 1, 2007]
*http://www.nswjcl.org.au/News/news_archives.htm ( [http://www.fijichess.com/default2.asp?active_page_id=133 Oceania Zonal 2007] )
* [http://www.auschess.org.au/newsletter/issue/413.html Australian Chess Federation Issue newsletter No. 403, February 10, 2008]
* [http://www.auschess.org.au/bulletins/acfb337.htm Australian Chess Federation newsletter No. 337, October 5, 2005]
* [http://users.bigpond.net.au/newcastle_chess/index.htm Newcastle District Chess Association]
* [http://www.mingarachess.info/MalcolmsOriginal/Mingweb/mingaramajor02.htm Mingara May Major]