News
Illinois Makes a Splash at 2024 US Chess Invitationals
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- Written by Jacob Plotnick - Editor / Staff Reporter Jacob Plotnick - Editor / Staff Reporter
- Created: 02 August 2024 02 August 2024
Just over two months ago, in late May of this year, the Illinois Chess Association ran our Youth and Senior Invitationals – used to determine the strongest player in their respective age section to represent Illinois in the US Open Championship Invitationals. The five players representing Illinois are pictured below: Larry Cohen (Irwin-Senior), Rebecca Corez (Haring-Girls), Avi Kaplan (Denker-High School), Anjaneya Rao (Barber-Grades 6-8) and Aiden Li (Rockefeller-Grades K-5).
From left to right: Rebecca, Larry, Aiden, Anjaneya, and Avi.
In the combined state team category, there was a four-way tie for first between Connecticut, Texas, Illinois, and Arizona. Based on tiebreaks, Illinois was awarded third place. Each player played a total of six games in their respective tournaments, their individual results are below:
Rebecca Cortez scored 3.5 points.
Avi Kaplan scored 5.0 points and finished as co-champion
Anjaneya Rao scored 5.5 points and finished as champion
Aiden Li scored 4.0 points
Larry Cohen scored 3.0 points
Below are the results of all of the teams who tied for first:
Place Code Name Score TBrk[M] TBrk[S] TBrk[C]
1 1-4 CT CT (2167.0) 21.0 72 110.5 78.5
IM Maximillian Lu (2479) 4.5
Jasmine Su (2241) 4.5
Lilianna Gao (1931) 4.5
Lacey Wang (1961) 4.5
Mikhail Koganov (2223) 3.0
2 TX TX (2177.8) 21.0 70 104.5 75
IM Eric Chang Liu (2446) 5.0
FM Sharvesh R Deviprasath (2540) 5.0
Ellery Zhang (1821) 4.0
Oscar Yihang Zhang (1997) 3.5
Scott Alan Elliott (2085) 3.5
3 IL IL (2074.4) 21.0 69 102 75
Anjaneya Sripathy Rao (2205) 5.5
Avi Harrison Kaplan (2319) 5.0
Aiden Linyuan Li (2024) 4.0
Rebecca Cortez (1824) 3.5
Lawrence S Cohen (2000) 3.0
4 AZ AZ (2166.6) 21.0 66 98 73
IM Sandeep Sethuraman (2479) 5.0
Roshan Sethuraman (2223) 4.5
Aishwarya Lakshmi Ganapathy (1844) 4.0
Sharvesh Arul (1959) 4.0
FM Robby Adamson (2328) 3.5
Click here to view the results of all teams who competed.
To help cover fees to travel to the tournament, all scholastic representatives received a $250 travel stipend from the Illinois Chess Association. In addition, Anjaneya Rao received a $5000 scholarship and Avi Kaplan received a $3000 scholarship to the colleges of their choice for their performance in their sections.
The Illinois Chess Association would like to congratulate all of our players for their amazing performance at the Championship Invitationals and extend our greatest appreciation for representing our state at such a great level.
Jeff Smith recognized as TD of year for 2024 by US Chess
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- Written by Jacob Plotnick - Editor / Staff Reporter Jacob Plotnick - Editor / Staff Reporter
- Created: 02 August 2024 02 August 2024
The most memorable part of any chess tournament is a powerful tactic during your game or talking with friends after your games, but none of that would be possible without the careful orchestration and management from tournament directors. These individuals play a vital role in ensuring that tournaments run smoothly, fairly, and efficiently – making them indispensable to the success of any event. Due to their supreme importance, every year at the US Open, one tournament director is awarded the designation as the Tournament Director of the Year.
With that, the Illinois Chess Association would like to congratulate one of our own TD’s – Jeff Smith – who received this prestigious award at the US Open this year. Jeff has worked in over 750 sections across the country since 2005. Beginning in 2007, where he worked the Illinois All Grade, Jeff has been a major part of Illinois Chess. Since 2009 Jeff has worked at many national events, the first of which was the Supernationals of that same year. Just in 2018, Jeff finally became a National Tournament Director. More recently, you may have seen him working at many IHSA and IESA tournaments.
On a personal note, Jeff is an amazing person and an excellent addition to the Illinois and US chess communities, as well as chess as a whole. The ICA is proud to say that this excellent director is one of our own and we are deeply proud of him for receiving this award. This award is well deserved and best of luck to Jeff as he continues to help our great community into the future.
High School Team Victorious in Romania
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- Written by Jacob Plotnick - Editor / Staff Reporter Jacob Plotnick - Editor / Staff Reporter
- Created: 10 July 2024 10 July 2024
Congratulations to the Waubonsie Valley chess team for their victory in the The International School Chess Festival last week from July 2nd to July 6th. Waubonsie Valley sent five players – Anjaneya Rao, Aryan Shrigadi, Arnav Karthikeyan, RIa Raj, and Christan Cheng – as well as their coaches Dr. Mikhail Korenman and Robyn Whitlock.
Nineteen teams, representing seven countries competed at the Festival. Waubonsie went a perfect 8-0 in the tournament, the only team to do so. The team from Israel came in a close second with 7 points followed by Ukraine with 6 points. Here is the final ranking after 8 rounds(for specific information pertaining to each team click on their respective name).
|
Rk. |
SNo |
Team |
Games |
+ |
= |
- |
TB1 |
TB2 |
TB3 |
TB4 |
|
1 |
1 |
8 |
8 |
0 |
0 |
16 |
0,00 |
31 |
123 |
|
|
2 |
2 |
8 |
7 |
0 |
1 |
14 |
0,00 |
25 |
135 |
|
|
3 |
4 |
8 |
6 |
0 |
2 |
12 |
0,00 |
21,5 |
136 |
|
|
4 |
5 |
8 |
5 |
0 |
3 |
10 |
0,00 |
19 |
141 |
|
|
5 |
15 |
8 |
4 |
0 |
4 |
8 |
0,00 |
17,5 |
108,5 |
|
|
6 |
7 |
8 |
4 |
0 |
4 |
8 |
0,00 |
16,5 |
142,5 |
|
|
7 |
11 |
8 |
4 |
0 |
4 |
8 |
0,00 |
16 |
142 |
|
|
8 |
12 |
7 |
3 |
0 |
4 |
8 |
0,00 |
16 |
109 |
|
|
9 |
9 |
8 |
4 |
0 |
4 |
8 |
0,00 |
15 |
143,5 |
|
|
10 |
18 |
6 |
2 |
2 |
2 |
7 |
0,00 |
16 |
88 |
|
|
11 |
10 |
8 |
3 |
1 |
4 |
7 |
0,00 |
13,5 |
117,5 |
|
|
12 |
14 |
7 |
1 |
3 |
3 |
7 |
0,00 |
13,5 |
99 |
|
|
13 |
8 |
4 |
3 |
0 |
1 |
7 |
0,00 |
12 |
73,5 |
|
|
14 |
13 |
7 |
2 |
0 |
5 |
6 |
0,00 |
12 |
105 |
|
|
15 |
6 |
8 |
1 |
4 |
3 |
6 |
0,00 |
10 |
112 |
|
|
16 |
16 |
7 |
1 |
2 |
4 |
6 |
0,00 |
10 |
110 |
|
|
17 |
17 |
7 |
1 |
1 |
5 |
5 |
0,00 |
9,5 |
83,5 |
|
|
18 |
3 |
4 |
0 |
4 |
0 |
5 |
0,00 |
9 |
62,5 |
|
|
19 |
19 |
7 |
0 |
1 |
6 |
3 |
0,00 |
6 |
92 |
On July 4th, the day off the competition, the team participated in Bucharest at the Torch Ceremony for the 100th anniversary of FIDE. It was the first experience for WVHS to play in Europe and the team enjoyed the trip. Dr. Korenman greatly appreciated the families who traveled with students to participate in the event. Pictured below is the WVHS team with FIDE Executive Director GM Victor Bologan.
2024 Illinois Senior State Championship
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- Written by Jacob Plotnick - Editor / Staff Reporter Jacob Plotnick - Editor / Staff Reporter
- Created: 21 June 2024 21 June 2024
The 2024 Illinois State Senior Championship was run at the same time as our Youth Invitational in Park Ridge early last month. This tournament had some of the best seniors(50+) in the state of Illinois compete for the opportunity to represent Illinois in the Erwin Tournament at the US Open later this year.
We had two separate sections, Reserve and Open, while only the winner of the Open would move onto the Erwin.
Reserve Section
The Reserve section only had eight players. Entering the final round Kevin McAlister was alone in first place with 2.5 out of 3 points. By winning his last game Kevin McAlister won the Reserve section undisputed.
Below is the final cross-tables.
|
# |
Name |
Rd 1 |
Rd 2 |
Rd 3 |
Rd 4 |
Total |
Prize |
|
1 |
McAlister, Kelvin |
W7 (b) |
W3 (w) |
D2 (b) |
W4 (w) |
3.5 |
95.84 |
|
2 |
Stoltz, Robert M |
H--- |
W4 (b) |
D1 (w) |
W7 (w) |
3 |
53.67 |
|
3 |
Hansel, Mark |
W5 (w) |
L1 (b) |
D6 (w) |
W8 (b) |
2.5 |
46 |
|
4 |
Marshall, Kenneth N |
W6 (b) |
L2 (w) |
D5 (b) |
L1 (b) |
1.5 |
|
|
5 |
Rao, Srinivas |
L3 (b) |
W7 (w) |
D4 (w) |
U--- |
1.5 |
40.25 |
|
6 |
Slayton, Stephen North |
L4 (w) |
B--- |
D3 (b) |
U--- |
1.5 |
40.25/Upset1 |
|
7 |
Wishner, Michael |
L1 (w) |
L5 (b) |
W8 (w) |
L2 (b) |
1 |
34.5 |
|
8 |
Lobraco, Michael J |
H--- |
U--- |
L7 (b) |
L3 (w) |
0.5 |
30.67 |
Open Section
FM Camilo Pangen had a perfect score of 3.0 going into the last round. Where he drew Michael Mazock, leaving him as the undisputed first place finisher. Lawrence Cohen also drew his final round to finish in a tie for second. Unfortunately, Camilo was not able to make it to Norfolk to be our state representative. Michael came in second by tie-break. However, since he is not a resident of Illinois, he is not eligible to be our state representative. Lawrence (Larry) Cohen came in third by tie-break. Because both our first and second place finishers were unable to compete in the Erwin, Lawrence was offered and accepted his invitation to represent Illinois in this tournament.
Below is the final cross-table.
|
# |
Name |
Rd 1 |
Rd 2 |
Rd 3 |
Rd 4 |
Total |
Prize |
|
1 |
FM Pangan, Camilo C |
W15 (b) |
W4 (w) |
W5 (b) |
D2 (w) |
3.5 |
172.51 |
|
2 |
Mazock, Michael J |
W9 (b) |
D3 (w) |
W11 (b) |
D1 (b) |
3 |
51.11 |
|
3 |
Cohen, Lawrence S |
W14 (b) |
D2 (b) |
W6 (w) |
D5 (w) |
3 |
51.11 |
|
4 |
Bondar, Leonid |
W10 (w) |
L1 (b) |
W14 (w) |
W7 (b) |
3 |
51.11 |
|
5 |
Sax, Robert David |
W16 (b) |
W13 (w) |
L1 (w) |
D3 (b) |
2.5 |
|
|
6 |
Landfair, Dean |
W11 (b) |
D7 (w) |
L3 (b) |
D8 (w) |
2 |
24.92 |
|
7 |
Lung, Richard Earl |
D8 (w) |
D6 (b) |
W10 (w) |
L4 (w) |
2 |
24.92 |
|
8 |
Viray, Norman Eugenio |
D7 (b) |
D12 (w) |
D13 (b) |
D6 (b) |
2 |
24.92 |
|
9 |
Cohen, Fredric S |
L2 (w) |
L14 (b) |
W16 (w) |
W15 (b) |
2 |
24.92 |
|
10 |
Kosteris, Dimitri |
L4 (b) |
W15 (w) |
L7 (b) |
D11 (w) |
1.5 |
|
|
11 |
Marshall, James A |
L6 (w) |
W16 (b) |
L2 (w) |
D10 (b) |
1.5 |
|
|
12 |
Szpisjak, Steven J |
L13 (w) |
D8 (b) |
L15 (w) |
W14 (b) |
1.5 |
|
|
13 |
Abbott, James |
W12 (b) |
L5 (b) |
D8 (w) |
U--- |
1.5 |
/Upset1 |
|
14 |
Rojas, Venric Tabiliran |
L3 (w) |
W9 (w) |
L4 (b) |
L12 (w) |
1 |
|
|
15 |
Wiewel, Jeff K |
L1 (w) |
L10 (b) |
W12 (b) |
L9 (w) |
1 |
|
|
16 |
Brynjelsen, Sean E |
L5 (w) |
L11 (w) |
L9 (b) |
H--- |
0.5 |
Jack Heller named 2024 Scholar/Chessplayer by the US Chess Federation
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- Written by Jacob Plotnick - Editor / Staff Reporter Jacob Plotnick - Editor / Staff Reporter
- Created: 20 April 2024 20 April 2024
Congratulations to Chicago Public Schools student and ICA Warren Jr. Scholar Jack Heller for being named a 2024 Scholar/Chessplayer by the US Chess Federation and the US Chess Trust. The award recognizes and encourages outstanding high school juniors and seniors who promote a positive image of chess, while excelling in academics and leadership.
Jack volunteers with the Chicago Chess Foundation and traveled to Ghana with it last year to teach chess to children in an impoverished fishing village.
Jack is a senior at Walter Payton College Preparatory High School in Chicago. He hopes to become a veterinarian.
To read about the award, visit: https://new.uschess.org/news/2024-scholar-chessplayer-awards-announced-six-players-honored-2024-national-high-school