Josh Colas continues to rise!
Dec 14th, 2008 by Daaim Shabazz
Joshua Colas may not be a household name to the chess world now, but all indications seem to say that one day he will be one of the brightest stars in U.S. chess. Already touting a 1922 rating at age 10, he is rated #3 in his age group. Josh just competed in the K-12 Championships being held in Florida and scored 6/7 for 2nd-3rd place.
His father Guy Colas is probably rearranging the trophy case and he is building up a sizeable collection in his short career. Kayin Barclay, a former scholastic standout, noticed this game from Colas.
.jpg "Triple Exclam: The Life and Games of Emory Tate, Chess Warrior")
Great finish, though black has to try 30…h4. I wish Mr. Josh Colas continued success. Congratulations to the Colas family as well! It is good to see the support.
Best,
Kimani A. Stancil
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I like the constant hammer blows… one after the other. Josh is very talented! Shortly after meeting him three years ago, I showed him one of my games (a sharp encounter) and he saw most of the attacking ideas. I knew then that I was looking at a future star. He’s arrived! If Haiti needs another player for the next Olympiad, he may be it!
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Daaim, The Colas family is indeed doing well, Josh and his father recently played in the National Chess Congress in Philly where Guy Colas went undefeated in the U1600 section! I was fortunate enough to tie for first in the U2000 section. Some of Josh’s games were quite interesting.He’s got a nice little speed chess games,too. Great reporting from Dresden!
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So young and so talented. It is also important to note that Josh tied for 1st in the blitz trmt held at the Nationals . He also scored 4/6 in the Open section of chess-in-the-schools tournament held in central park, New York this past Summer; defeating a strong expert along the way.
There is a YouTube posting of that game under: chess/Joshukid–check it out!!
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Say no more. Here it is! I’m not sure if this is the video because there were two. However, the other had no view of the board.
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Yes, that’s it. That’s Shawn Martinez he is playing. Arguably the strongest expert in brooklyn. He is a product of I.S. 318/ Madison H.S. chess team ( winners of the Nationals a few years ago with the likes of Alex Lenderman and Sal Bercys).
Daaim, you are certainly on top of your game- having posted the YouTube game so quickly 🙂
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[…] New York Times ran an article on the success of the local schools and mentioned that P.S. 116 won the 1st-grade championship; Hunter Elementary won the 2nd grade championship; Horace Mann won both the 4th- and 5th-grade championships; I.S. 318 swept the 6th-8th grades. Josh Colas starred for New York’s Mamaroneck Avenue School and scored 6/7 in the 5th grade section. Mamaroneck came in 2nd behind Horace Mann. […]
A fine game, and my congratulations to Josh for his overall performance to date.
Not sure what Black was thinking when he marooned his QB with 11. … Bh3, and 16. … d5 completely surrenders the dark-square play (and the game, really) to White. Josh did an excellent job of hammering home his advantage after that.
One more note: In my time observing top juniors, I’ve come to believe that a decent junior player has a rating equal to 100x his/her age. I refer to players whose rating exceeds that formula by 100+ points as a “100”, by 200+ points as a “200”, etc. This is useful because a strong, active junior should be able to gain at least 100 points a year, and the higher the “x00”, the better this player’s chances of reaching titled status.
Josh Colas, as of the time of Dr. Shabazz’s original post, appears to be a “1900”. This is, quite frankly, ridiculously strong. I hope to hear a lot more about this young man in the years to come.
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Josh featured in a local newspaper in an article by Keith Eddings.
Source: http://www.lohud.com/article/20090111/NEWS02/901110338
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Update on Josh Colas from father Guy Colas…
Hi Daaim,
Here’s a quick update on Josh.
Just before he played in the SuperNationals, on 2/26/09 he defeated IM Jay Bonin (2391) in G/30 and on 3/19/09, he drew GM Michael Rhode (2564), G/30 at the Marshall Chess Club. He played up at the SuperNationals in the K-6 Section and got 5/7, with one lost. He went 11/12 to earn third place in the Blitz tournament, also in the k-6 Section. Josh is currently rated 1915 and 1965 unofficially. Take care.
Guy Colas
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That’s great news. Congratulations!!
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