With a fifth round victory over Michigan's Michael Chen, GM Victor Mikhalevski secured top honors in the Masters section at the 2016 Chicago Class completed July 17 in Wheeling.

GM Mikhalevski claimed $2100 in prize money with his 4.5/5 tally. A trio of GM's tied for 2nd through 4th place: Alex Chimanov, Fidel Jimenez and Illinois-based Vlad Georgiev, all with 4.0's. They each cashed $600 checks.

Four players tied for 1st and 2nd place among players rated Under 2400 in the section, all with 3.5's earning $300: David Peng, George Li, Iskandar Aripov and the aforementioned Michael Chen.

 

39 competed in the Masters Section with 300 more playing in one of the other six sections.

Tim Sage (Massachusettes) and Jason Zhao (Missouri) tied for top honors in the Expert Section with 4.5's. Wisconsin's Anupama Rajendra and Jack Curcio tied for third place a half-point back.

Sage and Zhou each walked away $1050, Rajendra and Curcio nabbed $300 for their section placement.

Paired with her brother Avinish who scored 3.5, the siblings split an additional $600 for mixed doubles, as did the Illinois duo of Marissa Li and George Li (no relation).

Alexander Qin of Tennessee had the top score in the Class A section with 4.5, claiming $1400.

The aforementioned Marissa Li, along with Illinois natives Dusan Tutush and Tom Grudzinski, William Nesham and Robert Taras (both of Missouri), and Muhan Luo of Michigan all with 4.0's good for $216 and change.

Qin defeated Nesham in the last round to secure the section honors.

A pair of out-of-staters tied for Class B glory with 4.5's. Roman Glusker (MN) and Aditya Bajaj(MI) drew in the final round head to head, both tallying 4.5 and enjoying $1050 paydays.

Five Illinois players each earned $120 awards with 4.0 scores: Tyler Tompkins, Leslie Bale, Sergey Antipov Henry Curcio and Hashaa Otgontulga.

The Land of Lincoln swept all the money spots in Class C with Aswin Chirukandath earning $1200 for clear first with 4.5. He drew Alan Wei in the last round, with Wei included in a five-way tie for 2nd-4th at 4.0, joined by Noah Song, Patrick Jut, Max Heinrich and Shvetali Thatte. Each nabbed $240 awards.

Class D competition made Jingwei Lou $1000 richer thanks to his (?) perfect 5.0 tally. A fifth round victory over Craig Boskey secured the championship for Jingwei, but Craig's son Kevin split 2nd-4th honors with Max Matura and Wisconsin's Akshaj Mathur. All three compiled 4.0's, earning $333 and change.

Chris Madsen and Daniel Hammond both notched perfect 5.0's in the Class E section, good for $375 a piece. On the higher tiebreak, Madsen earned the 1st place trophy.

Tying for third place with 4.0's were Gabe Chambers, Jack Heller, Stefan Mueller and Jarun Jannak, good for $50 a piece. Harry Heller, with a similar score, earned the same money along with the top Under 1000 trophy.

Nicholas Rondon won the top U800 trophy with a solid 3.0 score. Srihas Rao won the top U600 trophy also with 3.0.

52 players enjoyed multiple rounds in the Class E section, which shared honors with Class B as the largest such divisions of the event.

This marked the 9th year of the Chicago Class. US Chess crosstables are posted here.  Continental Chess's coverage of the event is posted here.

The Chicago Class marked the sixth event on the 2016 Illinois Chess Tour. 

Next up is the Bradley Summer Open which does not appear on the ICA calendar at this time.