News
2024 annual meeting; Notes from meeting
- Details
- Written by ICA Board ICA Board
- Created: 19 December 2024 19 December 2024
- Opening statement - Stephen Plotnick (President)
- Reflecting on his tenure since 2017.
- He expressed satisfaction with the current state of the ICA and acknowledged the team effort it made in overcoming previous issues.
- The editor position has been reinstated, filled by Jacob Plotnick, a junior at the Illinois Mathematics and Science Academy.
- Jacob has written nearly 30 articles since February, mostly about tournaments, with some featuring interviews.
- Editor will start writing articles about the ICA Tour, not just state events.
- Any current affiliate is welcome to write an article or send facts about events to the editor, so an article maybe written.
- ICA is planning to expand, and the addition of staff reporter positions are open. Interested individuals can email the editor to become staff reporters. The position is volunteer based, offering service hours for high school or college students.
- State of Association – Emily (Treasurer)
- The ICA is current as the US Chess state affiliate and as a non-profit with the state of Illinois.
- Banking information has been moved to the Peoria area, with a new PO box established for consistency in mailings.
- The association carries event insurance and bonding insurance for the board.
- Current funds in checking and savings accounts total $61,952.45, with approximately $11,000 in investment accounts.
- The checking account is now interest-bearing, earning a few hundred dollars annually in dividends.
- Taxes and corrected taxes were filed last year, with extensions filed this year due to late access to investment accounts.
- Upstate Update – Eric (Metro VP)
- Reported that things are going well, coordinating with update clubs to help establish different places to play chess and increase public visibility.
- Downstate – Amy (Downstate VP presented by Emily)
- Amy, unable to provide a detailed update due to location, had Emily fill in, highlighting the active chess scene in Peoria and
- Bloomington-Normal areas.
- Greater Peoria Chess hosts 17 tournaments between August and February, with recent tournaments attracting over 300 participants.
- The club provides the Boy Scouts of America Chess Merit Badge and won a Title 1 US Chess travel grant, enabling eight players to attend Super Nationals.
- Fundraising efforts allowed for two scholarships to Nationals and a bus trip to the K-8 State Championship in Bloomington.
- WJS update – Edwin (WJS Committee Chairperson)
- The program will officially start in January, with new qualifications posted and asterisks indicating near-qualification. Players with an asterisk should reach out to the WJS director to see what they are missing.
- Common issues that would lead to a player having an asterisk: Not a current ICA member, missing one of two required tournament appearances
- A new female/girl’s/women's Warren Junior Scholars group will encourage more female participation. Should start early this year.
- As of January, there will be 46 Warren Junior Scholars and about 72 Rising Stars.
- Efforts are being made to reach out to chess education platforms for potential discounts or programs to benefit members.
- Focus is on retaining female players, especially as they transition to high school and beyond.
- ICA Tour - Emily
- Listed events can be found on the ICA website under rules for Illinois tour.
- Twelve events are scheduled, evenly split between northern and southern locations, running from January through November, ending with the Illinois Class.
- Prizes are divided into Open, Reserve, and Scholastic categories, with players earning participation points based on tournament entries playing at least half the number of rounds scheduled.
- Winners will be announced and awarded in January after board
- approval, with the same rules and locations used for the 2025 tour.
- Plans include increasing publicity and membership participation in tour events.
- Prizes also included if anyone played in a total of 7,9 or all 12 events.
- Announce new executive board – Steve (President)
- President – Danial WIlson
- Metro VP - Eric Ortega
- Downstate VP - Amy Green
- Treasurer - Emily Dawson
- Remarks from new President – Danial
- Danial shared his vision for the ICA, expressing gratitude for the work of current and past board members.
- Plans include launching the revamped Warren Junior Scholars and Rising Stars program, the new website with enhanced content, and improved member benefits.
- Producing more articles both informative and educational.
- Giving away free entries to our state events via a raffle for members.
- There are plans to review and revise bid guidelines and bylaws, emphasizing the board's ambition and readiness to implement significant improvements in the coming years.
- New Website – Steve
- The new ICA website is close to completion, with a demonstration of the functionality of the website.
- Affiliates will be able to submit their own event listings, which will be displayed on the main page carousel once approved.
- Members will have access to game analysis videos and articles, with different levels of access for free and paid memberships.
- The website will feature ~600 practical chess exercises from the editor's overseas teaching experience.
- Access to PGN games from Grandmaster games to state championship games.
- Post demonstration if anyone has anything they would like to see
- Q&A – 3 minutes per question
- No questions asked
Agenda for 2024 Annual Meeting
- Details
- Written by ICA Board ICA Board
- Created: 16 December 2024 16 December 2024
Illinois Chess Association Board of Directors Annual Meeting Agenda
December 17, 2024 at 7pm
- Call to Order
- Roll Call:
- Approval of Agenda
- Approve November Minutes
- Opening Comments - Steve
- State of Association – Emily
- Upstate Update – Eric
- Downstate – Amy / Emily
- WJS update – Edwin
- ICA Tour - Steve
- Announce new executive board – Steve
- Remarks from new President – Dan
- New Website – Steve
- Q&A – 3 minutes per question
- End meeting 9 PM
- Next Meeting January 7, 2025
Late 2024 Ballots
- Details
- Written by ICA Board ICA Board
- Created: 06 December 2024 06 December 2024
The Illinois Chess Association would like to apologize about some late ballots.
We just had our latest board meeting and discussed whether we needed to extend the time to submit a ballot for the members of our executive board. After a lengthy discussion we noticed that not one member of the Illinois Chess Association reached out to anyone on the board to voice a concern asking for an extension for the time to vote. I personally called several members of the voting community of the association immediately after noticing a few ballots had technical issues getting delivered, none were more than a few days late that I am aware. We decided there was not a need to extend the time to vote.
A committee has been formed to investigate and look into the technical issues and will recommend solutions to avoid these issues moving forward.
Once again, I apologize on behalf of the board, and we will do better next year.
Thanks
Stephen Plotnick – President of Illinois Chess Association
2024 Illinois Class Championship
- Details
- Written by Jacob Plotnick - Editor / Staff Reporter Jacob Plotnick - Editor / Staff Reporter
- Created: 02 December 2024 02 December 2024
2024 Illinois Class Championship
The Illinois Chess Association is happy to congratulate Glenn Panner and Maret Thorpe from Chess Weekend for an impressive organization of our 2024 Illinois Class State Championship on November 24, 2024. This tournament was held in Schaumburg, Illinois.
The tournament had eight sections: the typical class sections which are Master/Expert, Class A, Class B, Class C, Class D and Class E, there was an additional two under sections, Under 1000 and Under 800. In total, there were over 250 participants, 19 of which were ICA members. The tournament consisted of four rounds of game 60 with a 5 second delay.
Players preparing to play, courtesy of Zoren Bogdanovic
Master and Expert
We had a very exciting last round with Sam Schakel leading with leading with a perfect 3 points and three players tied with 2.5 points going into the final round. The three players were Ochirbat Lkhagvajamts, Aung Thant Zin and Sachit Srinivas Rajkumar. Aung and Sachit took a bye in the last round, leaving them a total of 3 points for the event. Meanwhile, Sam and Ochirbat drew giving the Master / Expert title to Sam with 3.5 points. Ochirbat ended in second place, tied with seven other players.
Here are the players that finished with at least three points:
Class A
There was a three-way tie for first place. Two players, Aaron J Anderson and Gaofei Wang, went into the last round with a perfect 3 points and drew. At the same time, Hemanth Samayamantri won their last game – causing a tie for first.
Here are the players that ended up with at least 2.5 points:
Class B
There was a two-way tie with a perfect three points going into the last round – afterwards Bu Long and Matthew Lucas Hough drew to end up alone in first with 3.5 points. Meanwhile, three other players won their last games to end up with 3 points.
Here are the players that finished with at least 2.5 points:
Class C
Junho Park and Akshay Naik went into round four with a perfect 3 points. Then, Junho defeated Akshay to finish as the standalone winner of Class C with a perfect score of 4 points. Amy Zhan and Ethan Chen came in a close second with 3.5 points and several players ended up with 3 points.
Here are the players that ended up with at least 3 points:
Class D
Benjamin Link was the only player they had a perfect three points going into the last round. Benjamin played Kevin Peter in the final round, which he won; finalizing his perfect four wins for the tournament. At the same time, Robert Jamar Polite III and Abir Palekar both went into the last round with 2.5 points. Shortly thereafter, Robert defeated Abir to get second place alone with 3.5 points.
Here are the players that ended up with at least 2.5 points:
Class E
Three players went into the last round with a perfect 3 points: Joshua Michael Gordon, Ayaan Todi, and Neil Aditya Joshi. Joshua defeated Pratheek Gajula, who had 2.5 points, and Ayaan defeated Neil. Sean Keiya ended up alone with 3.5 points after winning his final game in a similar manner.
Here are the players that ended up with at least 2.5 points:
Under 1000
Nilan Velu won the Under 1000 with a perfect 4 points. Then, Ishaan Tanneeru and Danzan Dashdemberel came in a tie for second with 3.5 points.
Here is Nilan receiving his trophy courtesy of his parents
Below are the players that ended up with at least 2.5 point:
Under 800
There were six players going into the final round with a perfect 3 points: Michael Cronin, Shrinath Hariharan, Sohan Chamarthi, Nirali Mohapatra, Alexander Panich, Larry Furnish, Evgenii Khanbutaev, Rayansh Prasad and Aadhya Adusumalli. After an exciting final round, there was three players with a perfect 4 points. Michael won on tiebreaks, Shrinath came in second with tiebreaks and Sohan came in third via tiebreaks.
Here is Michael Cronin receiving the first-place trophy courtesy of his parents.
Here are the players that ended up with at least 3 points:
Linked here is a complete cross-table for the event, courtesy of Chess Weekend, and linked here is the US rating report. Following these links, you can view the full results across any sections instead of the abbreviated standings above.
Once again, we are happy to congratulate everybody who participated and gave it their best in this tournament and to congratulate Glenn Panner and Maret Thorpe along with Chess Weekend for running the tournament so smoothly on behalf of the Illinois Chess Association. We also want to thank the 19 Illinois Chess Association members that came out and supported our Illinois State Championship.