Michigan's Posthuma 4.0/4 at March 26 Chicago Event

 

58 players faced off in four rounds at the Chicago Chess Club Pre-Opening Plus Score March 26.

Claiming top honors, Joshua Posthuma managed to win all four of his matches against players rated at least 100 points less. The Michigan junior raised his rating to the masterful 2200 mark for the first time in his life.

A trio of Hugo Padilla, Camilo Pangan and Bill Brock all tied for second place with 3.5/4 scores. Padilla and Pangan are US Chess Masters and Brock is an Expert.

The four-round Swiss-paired event featured Game/65 time controls with 5-second delay.

Adam Chambers achieved the top score for players rated Under 2000 with 3.0/4. Experts Ilan Meerovich and Nikhil Kalghatgi achieved similar 3.0 scores. Chambers raised his rating 31 points to 1739, upsetting a Class A player in the final round. 

Megan Chen advanced her rating 120 points to 1059 with draws against two Class C players and a Class B player.

Hui Wang enhanced his rating 107 points to 1151 with an upset over a Class C player rated 456 points higher in pre-event ratings. Not content with that first round accomplishment, Hui followed it up with a draw against a Class B player!

Kindergartner Aren Emrikian raised his rating 89 points surpassing 1400 for the first time in his young career. He defeated a Class C player and drew a Class B player to achieve a 2.5/4 score.

Others with strong rating improvements: Daniel Zhang: 70, Eric Starkman: 69, Charlie Wiley: 69, Nathan Sobery: 60, James Webb: 55.

Keith Ammann directed the tournament which was also held in conjunction with a rated beginners event.