Turgut Becomes Illinois' 12th USCF-Active FIDE Master

Dr. Tansel Turgut spends a lot of time these days as the proud poppa to his son Aydin, the third-rated 9-year old in the country -- and at times this year -- number one in his national age group.

But the Decatur-area interventional cardiologist has demonstrated this year he is not quite ready to hand over the reigns to Aydin as the family's best chess player.

After two recent co-championships in midwest events, the senior Turgut has been awarded the title of FIDE Master.

Turgut had the higher tiebreak in a two-way tie for top honors at the just-completed Chicago Class. He was co-champion with four others in April's Bill Wright Open held in St. Louis. 

He scored 4.0/5 finishing in a six-way tie for second place in the 2014 Tim Just Winter Open and he was a half-point from the championship in the 50th Greater Peoria Open, winding up in a three-way tie for third, again tallying 4.0/5.

All tolled, he has scored 24.5/34 in USCF regular-rated matches in 2014... which represents a remarkable 72% of the possible points in his over the board tournaments.

Dr. Turgut, who also excels at correspondence chess, becomes Illinois' twelfth FIDE Master (FM) with current USCF experience in the past year. The Prairie state also hosts three current Women's FM's, four International Masters, four Women's IM's, seven Grandmasters and one Women's GM.  

Earlier this year, Sam Schmakel earned his own FIDE Master title. Schmakel is also the defending Illinois Champion, a title he earned through winning the 2013 Illinois Open. Alex Bian earned the FM title in 2013, Adarsh Jayakumar earned his in 2012 and Eric Rosen earned his FM status in 2011.

Turkish-born, Turgut is considered a grandmaster in correspondence chess, ranking in the top 25 in the world, and it is believed, he would be number one if he were registered as American with FIDE. He says he retains his Turkish membership so as to have eligibility for the Olympiad. He is currently playing in the 27th World Correspondence Chess Championship Finals.

Moving to the US in 1992, he won the Louisiana State Champion in 1997 and the Michigan State Champion in 1998. 

 

Midwest State-by-State Counts of FIDE-Titled Players with Recent USCF Activity
								Active Total		Population (in millions)
	FM	IM	GM		WFM	WIM	WGM
IL	12	4	7		3	4	1	31		12.882
IN	3	0	0		0	0	1	23		6.571
WI	4	0	1		0	0	0			5.743
IA	0	0	0		0	0	0			3.090
MN	4	1	0		1	0	0			5.379
MI	7	0	0		0	0	1			9.896
										30.679
MO	3	4	7		0	1	1	16		6.022