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Rochelle Ballantyne
R Ballantyne 
Photo courtesy of Grant Cornett.  

Number of games in database: 1
Years covered: 2008
Last FIDE rating: 1955 (1923 rapid)
Highest rating achieved in database: 1957


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ROCHELLE BALLANTYNE
(born Aug-30-1995, 29 years old) United States of America

[what is this?]
Rochelle Ballantyne, from Brooklyn, New York, was featured in the 2012 chess documentary, Brooklyn Castle. The movie tells the stories of five members of the chess team at a below-the-poverty-line inner city junior high school that has won more national championships than any other in America. Rochelle no longer attends I.S. 318 Middle School (the movie finished filming in 2010) but she still continues to play and strives to reach her goal of becoming the first African-American female master.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1800266/
http://everythinggl.com/2012/10/che...

Wikipedia article: Rochelle Ballantyne


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 page 1 of 1; one game  PGN Download 
Game  ResultMoves YearEvent/LocaleOpening
1. Kasparov vs R Ballantyne 1-0442008Harlem simulD02 Queen's Pawn Game

Kibitzer's Corner
Sep-07-09  TheMacMan: well its about time they put her in the database lol, i hope they put more of her games up shes a rising star
Sep-08-09  walker: https://webcast.chessclub.com/blog/...
Feb-20-13  solskytz: Shouldn't the bio be updated? I thought there was already an African-American chess master (I think I saw a news article about that several months back)
Feb-20-13
Premium Chessgames Member
  perfidious: <solskytz> Won't be long before this young lady attains her goal-she's now almost 2100 US.
Feb-20-13  fisayo123: She's cute.
Feb-20-13  solskytz: <Perfidious> That's encouraging. I really liked the way she played against Kasparov
Oct-22-15  Caissanist: Sadly, she seems to have hit the wall about the time the movie came out, even though she continues to play actively in tournaments around the country. Her rating now is no higher than it was three years ago.
Sep-11-22  grasser: Never even hit an Expert Rating and yet has a Wiki Page. That is degrading to all of us who have devoted our lives to playing good Chess.
Sep-11-22
Premium Chessgames Member
  perfidious: If that is truly a bother, go to Wikipedia and propose it as an AfD (Article for Deletion) on the grounds of non-notability.

Rochelle has made something of her life and that is a pleasure to see, with chess having receded into the background. I wish her continued success, with or without a Wiki page.

Sep-11-22  grasser: Me too. Why did no one at the Marshall CC help her? I was there for Alex Katz at age 6. He is now USCF 2500. Rochelle turned me down when I offered to Teach her at an ICA Tournament in NJ. The last thing I want to see is this Star become one of those perpetual 1900 Lifelong Rated Players.
Nov-21-23  Caissanist: Eleven years on, she's still getting media coverage from her supposed "quest to become the first female master", even though her rating hasn't budged in the meantime. However, she seems to have been more successful off the board then on, coming from a poor background she now works as a corporate lawyer, good for her! Story from the Today show: https://news.yahoo.com/meet-lawyer-... .
Nov-21-23  Caissanist: Interesting comment from the above story: she says she never feels more at peace than when playing chess. To me that seems pretty unusual among serious players, especially young ones. It's probably a healthy attitude overall (certainly better than the stress I always experienced when playing tournaments) but perhaps not the best for improving your rating.

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