Today starts the four-day North America Youth Chess Championship for top players in North America held in Tarrytown, N.Y. The event represents one of three major scholastic chess tournaments held in the U.S. annually, and it ranks second in importance after the World Youth chess contest and before the U.S. Chess Federation National Elementary Championship – which any U.S. player can participate in regardless of rating, says David Lu of Greenwich, father of a chess champion son, Max Lu, who is finishing up second grade at Whitby.