News
Illinois Full of Over the Board Opportunities for National Chess Day on Saturday, October 14
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- Written by Bill Feldman Bill Feldman
- Created: 13 October 2017 13 October 2017
Wherever you are in the great state of Illinois, there are opportunities to play tournament chess in Illinois on Saturday, October 14. The day has been declared National Chess Day.
In Springfield, David Long is organizing the Springfield National Chess Day Open on behalf of the Springfield Chess Club. The four-round Swiss-paired event will feature Game/60; delay-5 time controls with a $20 entry fee and $400 in prizes based on 30 entries. Details are here.
Kankakee Chess Club is running its second-ever Open with a small cash prize fund and a $5 entry fee if reserved by Friday, October 13.... otherwise, $15 cash onsite. The event will be held at the Kankakee Public Library in the 3rd floor meeting room. Details are here, on US Chess.
Shake Hands with National Tournament Director Tim Just
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- Written by Bill Feldman Bill Feldman
- Created: 06 October 2017 06 October 2017
Retired Lake County school teacher and US Chess National Tournament Director Tim Just hasn't let retirement slow him down.
Since then he's co-edited the Fifth Edition of the US Chess Rulebook, edited the Sixth Edition, co-authored with Wayne Clark "My Opponent is Eating A Doughnut" and authored "Just Law". "Doughnut" and "Just Law" deal with the idiocyncracies of tournament life and chess rules beyond the formal rulebook. Copies of both books are available through the ICA -- or through this thing called Amazon.
Now US Chess is providing another outlet to enjoy the wisdom and experience of Mr. Just through their posting of snippets of "Rulebook Tactics" -- an effort with the national organization when it was still known as the USCF. The September posting discusses the idiocyncracy of that time-honored ritual which begins and ends many chess contests: the handshake.
242 IL Players Enhance Ratings in September; 3 Up 300+ !!!
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- Written by Bill Feldman Bill Feldman
- Created: 02 October 2017 02 October 2017
Over 200 Illinois players enhanced their Regular USCF ratings in September, but none did so more than Abhi Majumdar. Abhi more than doubled his rating from 333 to 716, a difference of 383 points!
Two more individuals, Siddharth Swaminathan and Nitin Ramesh also enhanced their ratings more than 300 points. 42 players bumped their ratings more than 100 points and an additional 16 players saw enhancements above 75 points.
Aria Hoesley grew her rating over 200 points to 1938 as she became a Class A player. Whitney Young's Deniz Guecyuz also joined Class A (1800-1999) with a 131 point bump to 1861.
Benjamin Chen crossed into Class B (1600-1799) with his 176 point improvement to 1670. Jack Santner (+158) also accomplished that feat as did Nicholas Allison (+130) and Michael Staples, Sr. (+102).
2017 Illinois Open Hits FIDE October Ratings
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- Written by Bill Feldman Bill Feldman
- Created: 21 September 2017 21 September 2017
Those asking organizers when the Illinois Open will be rated by FIDE now have their answer!
http://ratings.fide.com/tournament_report.phtml?event16=166462&t= is the magic link providing the complete roster of those achieving FIDE differentials.
Marissa Li holds the distinction of the highest FIDE-rating improvement from the event with 85.6. Marissa won three of her five ratable games, climbing to 2110.
Jack Curcio grew his FIDE rating 57.6 points to 2161 while Wisconsin's Ritika Pandey bumped hers 50.0 points to 1923.
Five Illinois juniors, Ricky Wang, Akhil Kalghatgi, Roger Li, Edward Zhang and Natalie Wisniowski, all enhanced their FIDE rating more than 40 points.
All totalled 26 players enhanced their FIDE ratings ten points or more from the 2017 Illinois Open which was completed September 4. Despite the early in the month submission to US Chess who then submits to FIDE, the event is categorized with "October" results.
Election Season Begins For At-Large Board Members To ICA
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- Written by Bill Feldman Bill Feldman
- Created: 18 September 2017 18 September 2017
The multi-month election cycle regarding the five at-large ICA board members has kicked off.
Nominations should be sent to This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. including a statement of interest and 10 declarations of support from current ICA members aged 19 and older.
If interested in an appointment to an open seat between the present time and December 31, 2017, please contact This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..
Nominations should be submitted by Tuesday, October 10, 2017.