Padilla Is U2300 Co-Champion at North American Open

741 competed in the 25th North American Open completed December 30, 2015, in Las Vegas. Illinois-registered players made certain the Land of Lincoln was well-represented in the seven-section Continental Chess Association event. US Chess crosstables have posted.

In the Under 2300, Peruvian Hugo Padilla compiled one of four 5.5/7 scores to tie for top honors. Padilla recently won the prestigious Chicago Latino Championship but has not played much rated chess, with two Chicago Opens spanning 7 years: 2008 and 2015.

In an eight-way tie for fifth place, Angel Angelov finished a half-point back with 5.0.

Also in that section, Spencer Lehman posted four draws and two wins to tally 4.0. Rishi Narayana and Ricky Wang posted 1.5's and Sedrick Prude notched one point.

In the nine-round Open Section, Nikola Mitkov compiled a 5.0 score with two wins and a draw in four rounds played. Jacob Furfine played all nine rounds to earn the same score with four wins and two draws includling one against 2486-rated Denys Shmelov of Massachusetts.

Alex Bian finished with two points with a win and two draws, one against 2476-rated Istvan Sipos of Texas.

In the Under 2100 competition, Elchonon Daitchman went undefeated with four wins and three draws, participating in an eight-way tie for second place with 5.5/7. Daitchman who boosted his rating 134 rating points to 2037 played in the 2015 Illinois Open and has played in multiple Chicago Opens over the years.

The winner of the section -- Samrug Narayanan of Minnesota -- finished with 6.5, a full point ahead of the pack. [Editor's note: a couple years back this reporter was asked to play an extra rated game against young Narayanan at a CCA event in Wheeling, a game which I managed to eek out a win. Due to unfortunate circumstances, the game was never reported to the USCF. Suffice to say, all of Mr. Narayanan's subsequent success has no doubt has come from that experience while my rating is more or less still the same. Enough said.]

Janyl Tilenbaeva was 2.5 in the U2100.

In the U1900, Hector Hernandez went 4.0, Novica Kecojevic was 3.0, Jon Winick 3.0, and Arthur Xu 2.0.

Isaac Adams posted a 4.5 in the U1700 tying for 17th place. Isaac began the tournament with three straight wins.

Donald Groshong and Alex Zhao both posted 2.5's, with Alex once again crossing 1500. Alex had first surpassed 1500 winning the K-1 National Championship in Tennessee in May.

In the U1500, Ajay Balaraman tied for sixth place at 5.0. He raised his rating 71 points to 1496. Ajay entered the junior high section of the 2015 Illinois K-8 Championships last March rated 1212 -- so it's been quite a year. He also held his own in Class C competition at the recent 2015 Illinois Class.

In U1250 competition, provisionally-rated Ronald Logan tied for third place with five others thanks to his 5.5/7.

Thanks to all who represented Illinois on this national stage!

Top Illinois Placers at 2015 North American Open
Section	Open	U2300	U2100	U1900	U1700	U1500	U1250
Top Illinois Finisher(s)	N. Mitkov, J. Furfine	Hugo Padilla	Elchonon Daitchman	Hector Hernandez	Isaac Adams	Ajay Balaraman	Ronald Logan
Score	5.0/9	5.5/7	5.5/7	4.0/7	4.5/7	5.0/7	5.5/7
Place	Tie-30th	Tie-1st	Tie-2nd	Tie-36th	Tie-17th	Tied-6th	Tie-3rd
Entrants	107	92	138	134	115	79	94