News
Turgut Becomes Illinois' 12th USCF-Active FIDE Master
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- Written by Bill Feldman Bill Feldman
- Created: 08 August 2014 08 August 2014
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.
Illinois Finishes Strong at 2014 US Open
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- Written by Bill Feldman Bill Feldman
- Created: 04 August 2014 04 August 2014
GM Conrad Holt defeated IM Michale Mulyar in a blitz playoff game to claim the 2014 US Open Championship, topping a field of six players with 7.5 scores.
Only one player in the event was able to score against both Holt and Mulyar: Illinois' Dmitry Gurevich. GM Gurevich drew GM Holt in the seventh round and IM Mulyar in the fifth round, finishing with 7.0 points, in a 9-way tie for 7th (8th on tiebreaks).
Illinois also saw four players compile 6.5/9 scores, all finishing strong. David Peng, FM Sam Schmakel, Bill Brock and Duncan Shepherd all tied for 16th place out of 384 multi-round competitors.
FM Sam Schmakel Co-Runner Up in 2014 US Open Blitz; Grandmaster Gurevich Co-Leader Through 7 Rounds in Open
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- Written by Bill Feldman Bill Feldman
- Created: 02 August 2014 02 August 2014
FM Sam Schmakel won 11 of his 14 matches in the all-ages Blitz event at the 2014 US Open in Orlando. With this result, he was part of a four-way tie for 2nd among 114 entrants. Florida GM Julio Becerra was the clear winner with 12/14.
Shreya Mangalam was the only other Illinois entrant, scoring a very respectable 7.5, despite being paired against the eventual champion in the first round. Talk about the luck of the parings! Shreya finished in a tie for 44th place and may have posted the top female score as this reporter quickly examined the Blitz results.
Through seven rounds of the main event, Shreya is currently tied for second in the Mixed Doubles, with 7.5 points, one point off the leaders, Jennifer Skidmore and Harvey Zhu. Shreya is paired with Leon Wilson.
Illinois Sends Ten Top 10 Finishers to 2014 World Open in VA, Kochemirovskiy Wins Under 1600 Co-Championship, Chicago Kelly's Jungo Undefeated, U1400 Co-Runner Up
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- Written by Bill Feldman Bill Feldman
- Created: 13 July 2014 13 July 2014
The Land of Lincoln was well-represented in the Continental Chess Association's World Open, completed July 6 in Arlington, Virginia. Over 1100 players competed in the nine-round event. Crosstables can be viewed here.
Top 10 finishers included Alexey Kochemirovskiy tying for the championship in the U1600, Mark Jungo tying for 2nd in the U1400 and IM Angelo Young tying for third in the Under 2400.
Max Haugh-Ewald tied for third in the U1600 and Sam Zschack tied for fourth place in the U1400. Ishaar Ganesan tied for 8th in the U1600, Brent Young also tied for 8th in the U1200. Jon Winick tied for 9th in the U1800 while Karthikeyan Pounraj tied for 10th in the U2000.
Former ICA President Produces Long-Awaited 6th Edition
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- Written by Bill Feldman Bill Feldman
- Created: 28 July 2014 28 July 2014
Tournament Directors -- and players alike -- can finally enjoy an updated USCF rulebook after more than a decade.
The Sixth Edition of the USCF's "Official Rules of Chess" was recently released in Kindle format and is scheduled to be published in old-fashioned print August 5.
Long-time organizer and National Tournament Director Tim Just served as the Editor for the Sixth Edition after co-editing its predecessor in 2003.