Illinois Shines at the National Junior High Tournament!

The 2018 National Junior High Chess Championship was held April 5-8, 2018 in Atlanta, Georgia.

Twenty-two players from Illinois participated in this event.

In the Bughouse event, Warren Junior Scholar Aydin Turgut teamed up with former Warren Junior Scholar, now Maryland resident, Jason Daniels to win the event. Thirty-two teams participated and the Turgut-Daniels team bested them all with 10 points, one point ahead of the nearest competing team.

In the Blitz event, Aydin Turgut once again came away with first place with 11.5 points. He was a full point ahead of the second place winner from Georgia. Seven other Illinois players also competed in the blitz event.

In the main event, many Illinois players came away with awards.

In the 300 player K-8 Championship section, the competition was stiff but 6 Illinois players came away with scores that qualified for trophies. Warren Junior Scholar Aydin Turgut took 2nd place, bringing home his 3rd trophy of the event. WJS Shreyas Reddy tied for 6th and came away with the 11th place trophy on tiebreaks. WJS Nicholas Ladan also tied for 6th and came away with 14th place on tiebreaks. Scholars Aria Hoesley and Patrick Rao both tied for 21st, and were 27th and 30th place, respectively, on tiebreaks. William Tan won a 2nd place class trophy for ratings 1300-1399.

In the 133 player K-9 Championship section, WJS Ricky Wang tied for 2nd and won 6th place on tiebreaks with a score of 6 out of 7.

In the 162 player K-9 U1250 section, Rising Star Layla Rodriguez tied for 4th place and won the 7th place trophy on tiebreaks. Linda Pham tied for 12th place and won the 25th place trophy on tiebreaks.

In the 230 player K-8 U1000 section, Tamya Fultz tied for 20th place and won 23rd place on tiebreaks.

In the 286 player K-8 U750 section, Breanna Shaw tied for 20th place and won 27th place on tiebreaks.

Layla Rodriquez and her coach Adam Geisler from Bateman Elementary also won top “Coach/Player” team in the “Friends and Family” competition!

The Earle Stem Elementary School team competing in the U750 section brought home the only Illinois school team trophy from the event. Breanna Shaw anchored the team with 5/7 points, supported by Taahir Levi, Gavin Harry and Christina Williams, all with 3 points.

Congratulations to everyone who participated!