News
Mike Zacate to Receive USCF Award
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- Written by Maret Thorpe Maret Thorpe
- Created: 18 April 2011 18 April 2011
The USCF executive board has selected Illinois native Mike Zacate to receive the USCF Outstanding Career Achievement award. Zacate has been active at all levels of Illinois chess since 1967. Thanks to his efforts, chess was added as an official sport in the Illinois State High School Association in 1974, and Zacate served as Chair of the IHSA Advisory Committee on Chess until 2010. He recently worked to help the Illinois Elementary School Association establish its first elementary chess championship.
Zacate has also been active in the Illinois Chess Association, serving as Illinois Chess Bulletin editor in the early 70s, and as ICA President. He was one of the first people to become a USCF National Tournament Director. He has served as a USCF delegate on several occasions and worked on the USCF Rules Committee on revisions to the USCF rulebook.
The award will be presented at the US Open Awards Banquet in Orlando, Florida.
Former local chess prodigy says chess skills helped him succeed in business
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- Created: 06 April 2011 06 April 2011
Former teenage chess prodigy IM Josh Manion was well known among Chicago area chess players during the height of his chess playing days in the early 1990s. While he rolled up his chessboard many years ago after enrolling as a student at the prestigious Massachusetts Institute of Technology, he considers the skills he honed over the board key to his successful entrepreneurial career. Manion, who grew up in Wisconsin, also found true love through chess. He is married to to former Illinois junior high chess champion Julie Oberweis, who he met a a chess tournament. Read my full story from the April 2011 Chess Life, courtesy of the United States Chess Federation.
IM Young Ties for First at Missouri Open
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- Written by Maret Thorpe Maret Thorpe
- Created: 28 March 2011 28 March 2011
Chicago-based International Master (IM) Angelo Young and seven-time Illinois State Champion made another milestone when he finished in a tie for first to seventh places in the 2011 Mid-America Open Chess Tournament last March 18 to 20 at the Crowne Plaza Hotel St.Louis-Clayton in Missouri, USA. Angelo Young, next in line in the long list of talented US IMs hoping to become a GM in the future finished with 4 points on three wins and two draw in the annual prestigious tournament. Also with 4 points are Grandmasters (GMs) Sergey Kudrin and Benjamin Finegold, IM Ronald Burnett, Fide Master (FM) Andrew Karklins, Conrad Holt and Jialin Ding."I would like to dedicate this win to my all my students and chess friends " said Young, owner and manager of Touch Move Chess Center in Chicago, Ilinois. "I hope my success in the international competition will somehow inspire my students to follow in my footsteps."
Last year, IM Young spearheaded Pinoy of Chicago to bag the championship trophy at the United States Amateur Team-North Championship, held at the Crowne Plaza Hotel in Milwaukee. The team comsisted of Filipinos with IM Young leading on board one: FM Camilo Pangan, NM Florentino Inumerable, Experts Rene Ancheta and Virgillio Forro and Manager Ethelbert Gazmen, and they garnered a total of 4.5 points over games.
Santarius Wins Blitz, Angelo Young Wins State Title
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- Written by Maret Thorpe Maret Thorpe
- Created: 21 February 2011 21 February 2011
NM Erik Santarius won the ICA Blitz Championship with an excellent 9-1 score against very tough competition. As Erik is a Wisconsin resident, the second-place finisher, IM Angelo Young, adds the title of 2011 Illinois Blitz Champion to his five "slow" titles. Anglelo scored 7½-2½. Two-time US Game/30 champion Michael Auger, NM Eric Rosen, NM Atulya Shetty, and Matthew Wilber tied for third with 7-3.
Class prizes went to: Zhaozhi Li (U2000), Jeremy Van Hatten (U1800), Robert Lewis (U1400) and Leo Vilker (U1600). The Illinois State Blitz Championship was held on Saturday, February 19, during the two-day US Amateur Team-North event in Northbrook.
US Amateur Team Tournament Returns to Chicago Area
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- Written by Maret Thorpe Maret Thorpe
- Created: 13 January 2011 13 January 2011
The U. S. Amateur Team (USAT) North, a popular USCF national event, is returning to the Chicago area for the first time since 2005. The USCF invited veteran organizers Tim Just and Glenn Panner to run the event, which will be held February 18-20 at the Crowne Plaza in Northbrook, Illinois. The event includes a Scholastic Team side event on Saturday, as well as ICA’s 2011 Illinois Blitz Championship on Saturday night.