King is King at 2017 Elite Open in Naperville

 

With three wins and a final-round draw, Nicholas King won the 2017 Elite Chess Open conducted July 29 in Naperville.

King's 3.5/4 in the Championship section placed him 1/2-point ahead of a three-pack who tied for second place: Zach Coffman, Tom Bareket and Master Tam Nguyen.

The event featured five rated sections, all with four rounds of Game/45 and a five-second delay.  Two non-rated sections -- and a frenzied bughouse competition -- were also offered.

17 of the 84 rated entrants competed in the Championship section.

In the 10-player Under 1600 competition, a three-way tie for first featured Stefan Mueller, Monish Bhasin and Nimrod Bareket, all with 3.0/4. 

Bhasin defeated Mueller who in turn defeated Bareket.

Collegian Bhasin's defeat came at the hands of soon-to-be-second-grader Anshul Shetty who raised his rating above 1300 for the first time. Shetty tied for fifth place with fellow Rising Stars designee Siddhartha Kyaw, Jr after the pair drew in the final round.

Sailesh Jiandani, whose daughter played in one of the non-rated scholastic sections, was perfect in the U1200 in only his third USCF-rated tournament.

Chris MacFadyen was a half-point back in the U1200 to take second place.

Joel Setya was a perfect four-for-four in the U900, raising his rating to 901.

In the Under 600, Nithya Mullapudi won all four of her games to win the top trophy. Miles Diorio -- no known relation to organizer Jeff Diorio -- was 3.5 to take clear second.  Both Nithya and Miles raised their respective ratings over 200 points in the event!

Elite Chess is an ICA-affiliate offering chess training and engaging camps in the western suburbs of Chicago.