The top five spots in three Tour sections will be decided this Sunday at the Hilton Naperville/Lisle during the 2013 Illinois Class Championships, the final stop on the 2013 Illinois Chess Tour.  Plaques will be awarded to the top five in each division – Open, Reserve-Adult and Reserve-Scholastic, with an additional cash prize for first place - $400.00 in the Open section, and $150.00 in each Reserve section.

The Class is a four round event, and entrants who play at least two rounds are eligible for a one-point participation bonus, providing a maximum of five points available to Tour players at this event.

The most commanding lead belongs to Tej Rai in the Reserve - Scholastic section, where he holds a 24.0-21.0 edge over Aydin Turgut.  Rai needs just one point in two rounds played to clinch first place.

 

In the Open section, GM Nikola Mitkov leads with 24.5, two points clear of Pete Karagianis.  But the IL Class does not regularly draw Grandmaster entrants, so it remains to be seen if GM Mitkov’s schedule will allow him to participate.  If he’s unable to make it, the beneficiary may be GM Dmitry Gurevich, who is a confirmed entrant with 21.5 points, well within striking range of the top spot.

The tightest contest exists in the Reserve – Adult section, where Bill Feldman holds a relatively narrow lead of 23.0 points to 21.5 for Armel Peel. Feldman is a tournament organizer and candidate for the ICA board, and this year, the most active Tour player, with seven events already under his belt.  But he’ll be trying to hold off a rapidly improving player in Peel, who gained a whopping 145 rating points at last month’s Northern Illinois Fall Classic.  This race will be one to watch this weekend.

14 Tour players have earned the first participation prize of coffee, or the more popular cocoa, from chess-friendly café Julius Meinl.  Up to 16 more players can earn this prize by playing in the IL Class this Sunday.  Two players, Tej Rai and Armel Peel, are on track to win a $25.00 discounted entry fee to either of next year’s ICA-sponsored Tour events, the Illinois Open or Illinois Class.

Plans for the 2014 Tour are underway, and will likely include some tweaking to the participation awards to find a happy medium between the prize levels of 2012 and 2013.  And while additional tournaments are being considered for entry, the 2014 Tour schedule will likely look a lot like this year’s slate.  One certainty is the return of the hallmark opening Tour event, Chicagoland's longest continuously run chess tournament organized by the same organizer, The Tim Just Winter Open. 

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