News
102 Illinois Players Up Their Ratings 100+ from December; Three Are From the Same Family (Any Guesses Who?)
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- Written by Bill Feldman Bill Feldman
- Created: 04 January 2017 04 January 2017
A whopping 102 players achieved rating enhancements of 100 rating points or more as of the January 2017 official USCF ratings! Folks, that's one for every county in the state (not that rated chess is played in every Illinois county -- although that would be my dream for 2017!)
At the top of the list was Samuel Langdon whose rating bump was 296 -- playing in his fourth Kumbaya event.
Elijah Berry saw his rating go up 295 points playing in the St. John's tournament in November -- too late in the month to be included in the December official ratings.
All totalled, 23 players had ratings growth of 200 or more as of January 1, 2017.
Spencer Lehmann, Alex Bian Finish 1-2 At '16 North American Open in Under 2300; Roger Li Ties For First in Under 1500
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- Written by Bill Feldman Bill Feldman
- Created: 02 January 2017 02 January 2017
With 6.5/7, Spencer Lehmann has won the Under 2300 section of the 2016 North American Open. Alex Bian placed clear second with 6.0/7.
The pair of Illinois high schoolers drew head to head in the penultimate round, with Bian drawing Iowa high schooler Arshaq Saleem in the final round to finish a half-point back.
Three players, including Saleem, finished with 5.5 to tie for third place.
The Continental Chess Association event concluded December 30 in Las Vegas drawing almost 800 players in seven sections.
ICA Elections Underway, E-Ballots Should Have Arrived
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- Written by Bill Feldman Bill Feldman
- Created: 30 December 2016 30 December 2016
Now that the American people have undertaken their part in our democratic process -- and the electoral college has spoken -- it's time for yet another election!
No, Donald Trump is still slated to take office January 20, but starting yesterday Illinois Chess Association members should have received a ballot allowing them to vote for FIVE offices for the ICA Board of Directors.
President, Metro (Chicago) Vice President, Downstate Vice President, Secretary and Treasurer are all up for two-year terms.
Fishman & Kokipparambil Bump Ratings 300+ As of Dec 1
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- Written by Bill Feldman Bill Feldman
- Created: 11 December 2016 11 December 2016
69 Illinois players saw ratings increases of 100 points or more as of December. No one's rating increased more than Daniel Fishman who more than doubled his rating from 288 to 611, a difference of 323!
Fox Valley Chess Club's Advaith Kodipparambil enhanced his rating from 608 to 918, a difference of 310.
If you are one of the players listed below... or their parent... and would like to share with us the secret of the ratings growth... or any other information about chess progress, we'd love to acknowledge success at the chess board -- or in related activities!
ICA Site Hacked Again, Articles Lost, No Further Content Forthcoming Pending Security Review
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- Written by Bill Feldman Bill Feldman
- Created: 06 December 2016 06 December 2016
With days to go before the 2016 Illinois Class, the Joomla-based ICA site was hacked and shut down by the site's host due to suspicious activity. Prompt action by webmaster Bill Buklis and Joomla administrator Maret Thorpe got the site up and running within hours with minimal content loss.
Over the next few days additional updated content was restored and other mysteries were resolved. Life was back to normal.
Yesterday (December 5), the site was attacked again and in the process of getting it back up, many recent articles posted over the past two weeks were lost.