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Springfield Chess Club hosts our third ICA Tour Event

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Written by Jacob Plotnick - Editor in Chief Jacob Plotnick - Editor in Chief

Created: 18 April 2025 18 April 2025

Springfield Chess Club hosts our third ICA Tour Event

On March 29, 2025, the Springfield Chess Club hosted the Springfield March Checkmate Open, third in our ICA tour series. The Springfield Chess Club has a long history dating back to an early printed reference found in the Sangamo Journal in 1835, just 14 years after Springfield was founded and four years before it became the state capital. The current chess club formed in 1929 will be celebrating their centennial anniversary in just four short years.

The Illinois Chess Association is happy to congratulate David Long on running the event which consisted of 34 players in a four round event of Game 60 with a five second delay.

Entering the last round there was a three-way tie with a perfect 3 points: Maddox Todd, Brooks Sonethongkham and Andres Luca Maldonado. Maddox defeated Brooks to win with a perfect 4 points whilst Andrew was defeated by James Healy, who entered the final round with 2.5 points. 

A complete rating report can be found at the US Chess Website. Linked here are the 2025 Illinois Chess Tour Prizes. Here is a list of all 2025 Illinois Chess Association Tour Schedule. Once again, we are happy to congratulate everybody who participated and gave it their best in this tournament and to congratulate David Long on running the tournament so smoothly. 

Greater Peoria Chess Foundation (GPCF) 60 years and running

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Written by Jacob Plotnick - Editor in Chief Jacob Plotnick - Editor in Chief

Created: 21 February 2025 21 February 2025

The Greater Peoria Chess Foundation (GPCF) has been at the forefront of the chess scene in Peoria for over 60 years. Though, the official nonprofit organization as we know it today was established in 1996 after merging with the Greater Peoria Chess Federation. The GPCF’s mission is rooted in the intrinsic understanding of the power of chess to develop many important life skills – logical thinking, problem-solving, and self-confidence, to name a few.

They achieve this by striving to make chess accessible to the public, especially young players, via incorporation into local school systems. They make a point to invest into programs which support students in their academic and personal growth, rather than simply chess and nothing more. Through scholarship opportunities, talented youth programs are offered scholarships to help them access various chess opportunities – the largest example is several youth players being able to play in the Supernationals in just a few months. Further, the foundation helps integrate chess into school to further enrich students' lives through chess.

Beyond the basic educational initiatives, the GPCF organizes numerous tournaments throughout the year. The most impressive of which is the Bradley Summer Open, which is one of, if not the longest-running college chess tournaments in the United States. This event draws in players from all over the country and cements Peoria in the national chess scene. Adding onto this prestigious event, the GPCF coordinates many other local events which make it possible for players of all ages and experience to get involved.

Through six decades of tireless work, the GPCF has cemented chess as a vibrant and unending part of the local Peoria culture. Their commitment to provide resources and create an amazing space for players of all ages is an ongoing effort that has no end in sight. By fostering an environment which values community, intellectual growth, and education, the GPCF helps guarantee that chess will remain an enduring and accessible sport for all those that want to.

Finally, I’d like to thank Emily Dawson for meeting with me to provide all of this information. Emily is the current secretary for the GPCF and an amazing asset to the team. Though she only joined the chess community when her son started playing chess back more than 10 years ago, she’s been of vital importance to the chess scene in Peoria ever since; helping to coordinate and run tournaments. She is truly an embodiment of the fact that it’s never too late to start whatever you aspire towards.

Once again, make sure to pay attention towards the Greater Peoria Chess Federation, and give them a visit if you’re ever in the neighborhood.

2025 Bradley Winter Open – Second ICA Tour event 2025

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Written by Jacob Plotnick - Editor / Staff Reporter Jacob Plotnick - Editor / Staff Reporter

Created: 09 February 2025 09 February 2025

2025 Bradley Winter Open – Second ICA Tour event 2025

The Illinois Chess Association is happy to congratulate Patick Cohen from the Greater Peoria Chess Foundation for running our second ICA tour event for 2025, the Bradley Winter Open. This event was held on February 1, 2025 in Peoria, Illinois. 

The tournament had one section with 20 participants, which contained four rounds of game 80 with a 5 second delay.

Courtesy of Greater Peoria Chess Foundation

There was a very exciting last round with David Long and Mahendra Lavanur leading with a perfect 3 points and six players tied with 2 points going into the final round: Joshua Long, Sean Keiya Pepper, Kavin Sivagnanam, Nathan Pulley, Tony Seghetti and Kyle Churchill. David and Mahendra drew to finish tied in first place with 3.5 points out of four games. At the same time, two players with 3 points. 

Here are the players that finished with at least two out of four points:

Linked here is the US rating report. Following these links, you can view the full results instead of the abbreviated standings above. Linked here are the 2025 Illinois Chess Tour Prizes. Here is a list of all 2025 Illinois Chess Association Tour Schedule. Once again, we are happy to congratulate everybody who participated and gave it their best in this tournament and to congratulate Patrick Cohen for running the tournament so smoothly. 

Tim Just Winter Open XLI – First ICA Tour event 2025

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Written by Jacob Plotnick - Editor / Staff Reporter Jacob Plotnick - Editor / Staff Reporter

Created: 15 January 2025 15 January 2025

Tim Just Winter Open XLI – First ICA Tour event 2025

The Illinois Chess Association is happy to congratulate Bill Buklis from King Registration and Dan Wilson from Wilson Chess for impressively running our first ICA tour event of 2025, the 26th Tim Just Winter Open. The event was held from January 3 to January 5, 2025 in Schaumburg, Illinois. During the tournament, there was a scholastic side tournament on January 4, 2025; which can be found here.

The tournament had six sections: Major, Under 2100, Under 1900, Under 1700, Under 1500, and Under 1300. In total, there were nearly 300 participants, 63 of which were ICA members. The tournament consisted of five rounds of game 90 with a 30 second increment.

Picture Courtesy of Wilson Chess

Master 

We had a very exciting last round where FM Ochirbat Lkhagvajamts was leading  with a perfect 4 points and four players tied in second with 3.5 points going into the final round: IM Augusto Cesar Campos, GM Praveen Balakrishnan, CM Anjaneya Sripathy Rao, and John Abraham. John took a bye in the last round, leaving him a total of 4 points for the event. Meanwhile, Augusto won giving him 4.5 points tying Ochirbat who drew Praveen giving the Master co-champion title to  Augusto and Ochirbat with 4.5 points. Praveen and John ended up tied for third with 4 points. 

Here are the players that finished with at least three and a half points:

Under 2100

We had an undefeated player, Srivatsan Sekar, with a perfect 5 out of 5 wins. Michael H Li was also undefeated after taking a half point bye in the first round, ending up with 4.5 points. Steven Napoli ended up alone in third place with 4 out of 5 points. There was a 7-player tie with 3.5 points. 

Here are the players that finished with at least three and a half points:

Under 1900

There was a two-way tie for first place with 3.5 out of 4 points going into the last round, making for an exciting finish with three other players having a total of 3 points. Chad Beasley and Amarjargal Ganbaatar played each other for the U1900 title. Chad won the game for a total of 4.5 points. Amarjarga ended up in an 8-way tie for second with 3.5 points. The other 7 players are listed below with 3.5 points.

Here are the players that finished with at least three and a half points:

Under 1700

There were two players going into the last round with 3.5 points. Ojas Sahoo and Evan Y Jin. Since Ojas drew Evan in round 4, they did not play each other. Instead, Ojas ended up defeating Junho Par to take the title with 4.5 points.  We had three players ending up with 4 points coming into a tie for second place. The three players were Joshua Flores, Emil Sadyktov and Junho Park.

Here are the players that finished with at least three and a half points:

Under 1500

Going into the last round Henry Byrne Thomas was the only undefeated player with 4 out 4 points. He defeated Tecumseh Griffin to end up undefeated with 5 points. Meanwhile, Robert Gavin Decicco won his last game to finish outright in second place with 4.5 points.

Here are the players that finished with at least three and a half points:

Under 1300

Shaun Stubenvoll won the U1300 title with a perfect score of 5 out of 5 games. At the same time, Saboor Khan, who came in second, had an outstanding achievement considering he was unrated starting the event. We had another outstanding tournament by Connor Chung who also came into the event unrated ended up with 4 points. We also want to recognize the following players who came into the event unrated to enjoy our first ICA tour event of 2025: Ravi Ranjan, Andrew Block, Ian Sornson, Bud Harrison, Kayleb Sims, Max Grouper and Shorya Mehta.

Here are the players that finished with at least three and a half points:

Linked here is a complete cross-table for the event, courtesy of King Registration, and linked here is the US rating report. Following these links, you can view the full results across any sections instead of the abbreviated standings above. Linked here is a recap with many pictures and cross tables courtesy of Wilson Chess for the event. Once again, we are happy to congratulate everybody who participated and gave it their best in this tournament and to congratulate Bill Buklis along with King Registration and Dan Wilson from Wilson Chess for running the tournament so smoothly. We also want to thank the 63 Illinois Chess Association members that came out and supported our first ICA tour event for 2025.