Rochelle Ballantyne (born 1995) is an American chess player. She is best known for appearing in the 2012 documentary ''

Brooklyn Castle ''Brooklyn Castle'' (2012) is a documentary film about Intermediate School 318, an inner-city public school in Brooklyn, New York. Where an after-school chess program, having both dedicated educators and a supportive community, has triumphed over ...

''. Her USCF rating is 1988, putting her in the 99th percentile of American junior players. Her

FIDE rating The Elo rating system is a method for calculating the relative skill levels of players in zero-sum games such as chess or esports. It is named after its creator Arpad Elo, a Hungarian-American chess master and physics professor. The Elo system wa ...

is 1912, with her highest rating achieved being 1954 in January 2012. According to the USCF's rating system, she is currently an "Expert" or "Candidate Master."

Biography

Raised in New York City, Rochelle Ballantyne learned to play chess through the Chess-in-the-Schools (CIS) program at PS 139 in Brooklyn. She continued with CIS in Middle School- she graduated from Intermediate School 318 (IS 318) and later,

Brooklyn Technical High School Brooklyn Technical High School, commonly called Brooklyn Tech and administratively designated High School 430, is a public specialized high school in New York City that specializes in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics. It is on ...

. Throughout her high school years at Brooklyn Tech, Rochelle was part of the Chess-in-the-Schools College Bound Program and she received special coaching from grandmaster instructors and academic tutoring and mentoring. During her freshman year (9th grade) at Brooklyn Tech, she won the 2012 All-Girls National Chess Championships, and was consequently awarded a full college scholarship to the

University of Texas at Dallas The University of Texas at Dallas (UTD or UT Dallas) is a public research university in Richardson, Texas, United States. It is the northernmost institution of the University of Texas System. It was initially founded in 1961 as a private res ...

; her story was featured in ''

''. She later received a full scholarship to

Stanford University Leland Stanford Junior University, commonly referred to as Stanford University, is a Private university, private research university in Stanford, California, United States. It was founded in 1885 by railroad magnate Leland Stanford (the eighth ...

, which she graduated from in 2017. She received an MA in education policy from

Columbia University Columbia University in the City of New York, commonly referred to as Columbia University, is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in New York City. Established in 1754 as King's College on the grounds of Trinity Churc ...

in 2020. In fall 2020 she began law school at

New York University Law School The New York University School of Law (NYU Law) is the law school of New York University, a private research university in New York City. Established in 1835, it was the first law school established in New York City and is the oldest survivin ...

, fully funded by the AnBryce Scholarship.

Chess

In 2008, at the age of 13, Ballantyne played against

Garry Kasparov Garry Kimovich Kasparov (born Garik Kimovich Weinstein on 13 April 1963) is a Russian Grandmaster (chess), chess grandmaster, former World Chess Champion (1985–2000), political activist and writer. His peak FIDE chess Elo rating system, ra ...

in a game known as "Harlem Shake" in which Kasparov played and beat 19 opponents simultaneously.

In media

Ballantyne has appeared as herself in media. *''Brooklyn Castle'' (2012) * ''Melissa Harris-Perry'' (2012) *''

The Jeff Probst Show ''The Jeff Probst Show'' is an American Broadcast syndication, syndicated talk show hosted by ''Survivor (American TV series), Survivor'' host Jeff Probst, who also served as an executive producer. This was his first television talk foray, which ...

'' (2013) * ''Harry'' (2017)

References

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Ballantyne, Rochelle American female chess players American chess players 1995 births Living people African-American chess players 21st-century African-American sportswomen 21st-century African-American women Stanford University alumni Columbia University alumni 21st-century American sportswomen Chess players from New York City