With a fourth round head-to-head draw and respective victories in the final round, GM Boris Avrukh and IM Priyadharshan Kannappan earned the co-championship in the top section of the 2014 Midwest Class. On tiebreaks, Missouri-based Kannappan earned the bonus prize.

For the first time, the Continental Chess Association event featured a Premier section which attracted 58 players competing in more than a single round, including four Illinois-based Grandmasters. With re-entries and Under 1100 entrants counting as only half, the overall field fell just short of the 250 "based on", but the $20,000 prize fund was paid out within a few percentage points of the guarantee. 

The event featured two- and three-day options in seven sections, completing October 12 at Wheeling's Westin North Shore. Crosstables available here.

GM Vladimir Georgiev, GM Dmitry Gurevich, and Eric Rosen split third and fourth place prize money in the Premier with 4.0/5 postings. Junior Alex Bian also finished with 4.0 but opted to claim the higher Under 2300 prize money.

Georgiev had been undefeated going into the final round, but succomb to Avrukh. The 2014 Illinois Open Champion had defeated Rosen in the fourth round. Gurevich and Bian agreed to a head-to-head draw in the final round. Gurevich had also drawn with Akshay Indusekar in the second round, while Bian had drawn Wisconsin Master Nolan Hendrickson, also in the second round.

Pete Karagianis took second place prize money among U2300 entrants in the Premier with a 3.5 result. Karagianis lost to Kannappan in the final round.

In the 1700-2099 section, Illinois' Bennett Joseph claimed top honors with a perfect 5.0 score. Todd Freitag, William Blackman and junior Hanson Hao split second through fourth place prize money, all with 4.0/5's. Hao had defeated both Freitag and Blackman, but lost to Joseph in the final round. 41 had competed in multiple rounds of the section.

Amid 1500-1899 competitors, Illinois' David Kassin won top honors with a 4.5 posting. Michigan-based Brandon O'Neil and Virginian Nicholas Naylor split second-third place money with a 4.0 tally. A six-way tie for fourth place included Illinois junior Edward Zhang, along with Land of Lincolners Jon Winick, Hector Hernandez, Alec Feygin, and Joe Delay. Leo Poppante of North Carolina rounded out the six-pack. Hernandez had once coached Kassin who defeated him in the final round. Gratitude?

An Illinois pair earned the 1300-1699 co-championship. Jason Smith and junior Aaron Gan both finished 4.5, a half-point ahead of Billy Hoseman who claimed third. The section featured an eight-way tie for fourth place including Illinois' Daumants Hazners, Lauro Nava, Slawomir Borkowski, Max Villarreal, Charles Prude, Francisco Vaca. Indiana's Michael Freese and Wisconsin's James Mitchell were the other 3.5 scorers finishing tied for fourth. 37 competed in more than one round of the section.

Illinois-based Sergey Antipov and Christy Thomas of Tennessee agreed to a fifth-round draw giving both a split of first place in the 1100-1499 section and 4.5 scores. A half-point back, Jack Bradley, Ricky Smith and Ernest Jones split third and fourth place money. Jones was playing in his first USCF-rated tournament ever. 29 competed in multiple rounds of the section.

The Under 1300 section saw Illinois' Prathik Kandimalla claiming outright first place with a 4.5 score. James O'Neil, David Cimbalista, Tykese Tyler-Edger and Kenjiro Nangin tied for second, splitting second through fourth prize money with 3.5 tallies.

Under 1100 competition saw a pair of out-of-staters claim top honors with Dustin Breeden (Indiana) and Josh Denton (Minnesota) posting 4.5's. There was a three-way tie for third including Arjun Palaniappan (Iowa), Sam Fayn and Nicholas Ladan.

Tennessee's Christy Thomas (1100-1499 co-champion) and Tykese Tyler-Edger (U1300 2nd Place Tie) combined to win the Mixed Doubles Prize with 8.0 points, splitting nearly $800. Eric Rosen (Premier 3rd Place Tie) and Shreya Mengalam were a full point back to take second, splitting almost $400.

There was a five-way tie for third in mixed doubles with 6.5 scores, each person receiving just under $40: Avinash and Anupama Rajendra; Nikola Mitkov and Shevatali Thatte; Jon Winick and Marissa Li; Aaron Gan (1300-1699 co-champion) and Chloe Wong; and Ricky Smith and Marley Fabijanic.

Registrants from 19 different states competed, including all of Illinois' surrounding states except Kentucky.