ICA Tour
Three Way Tie At 2017 Bradley Winter Open
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- Written by Bill Feldman Bill Feldman
It's not fun to play someone with whom you've enjoyed a coaching relationship. Pete Karagianis faced that challenge in the last round of the January 28 Bradley Winter Open, drawing with his one-time protege Jason Daniels.
Both competitors finished with 3.5/4's as did St. Louis area's Benjamin Shoykhet. Shokyet went three-for-three following an opening round half-point bye. Each of the trio was awarded $140 in prize money.
Overall, 49 participated in two sections at the event held at Bradley University in Peoria. The BWO represented the second stop on the 2017 Illinois Chess Tour.
George Li Reigns at the 2017 Tim Just Winter Open
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- Written by Bill Buklis Bill Buklis
The 2017 Tim Just Winter Open marked the first event on the 2017 Illinois Tour Schedule. For the remaining events see the tour schedule page. This year's event was once again held at the Hyatt Regency in Schaumburg. The tournament drew a record crowd with 192 players competing - 99 in the open section and 93 in the reserve section along with an additional 83 juniors in the one day scholastic tournament.
In the main event FM George Li held off all challengers to win this year's Tim Just Winter Open. FM Sam Schmakel gave him a good fight in the last round, but George held him to a draw to finish with 4.5 points and sole possesion of the first place prize money. Sam (4.0 points) shared second place with 11 others.
Avrukh, Corrales Jimenez Top 2016 Midwest Class
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- Written by Bill Feldman Bill Feldman
With third-round draws against different opponents GM Boris Avrukh and Missouri GM Fidel Corrales Jimenez both posted 4.5/5 results to split the Premier Section championship of the 2016 Midwest Class.
The duo finished a full-point ahead of a six-pack of 3.5 finishers which included Illinois' Todd Freitag, Jacob Furfine and George Li.
Avrukh's draw came against fellow-GM Vladimir Georgiev while Jimenez could only muster 1/2 point against Furfine.
Michigan's Seth Homa and Ben Li and Missouri's Priyad Kannappan rounded out the 3.5 score group, with Homa posting three draws, a win versus Furfine and a full-point from an uplayed first-round game.
GM's Georgiev and Gurevich Win '16 Illinois Open
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- Written by Bill Feldman Bill Feldman
A tightly bunched field topped the standings at the 2016 Illinois Open completed Sept. 5 at the Crowne Plaza, Deerfield. Illinois-based Grandmasters Vlad Georgiev and Dmitry Gurevich both finished with 5.5/6 to go down in history as co-champions.
Both players will be cashing $1200 checks for their efforts.
David Peng was the common ingredient in denying both GM's perfect scores; David drew GM Gurevich in the fourth round and GM Georgiev in the final round.
David finished with 5.0/6, tying with Angelo Young and Hugo Padilla for third place.
Pending re-rate, it looks like Aydin Turgut has achieved a Master rating of 2200 from the event. Aydin finished with 4.0, tying with eight others for the best score of players who started the event with a published rating of Under 2200.
Daniel Garrett Wins 2016 Bradley Summer Open
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- Written by Bill Feldman Bill Feldman
With a fourth-round draw against Martin Franek, Daniel Garrett secured top placement in the 2016 Bradley Summer Open, an Illinois Tour event.
Daniel's 3.5 was a half-point to the good over co-runners up "Northerner" David Rockwell and Mihir Bafna. David was a perfect 3-for-3, but did not play the last round. In the third round, David defeated Michael Leali who at 1854 was the tournament's top-rated entrant.
15 competed in the one-day Open.
GM Mikhalevski Wins 2016 Chicago Class
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- Written by Bill Feldman Bill Feldman
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.
Seven Tie for Championship at 2015 Midwest Class
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- Written by Bill Feldman Bill Feldman
With a slight bump in attendance, the 24th Midwest Class Championships saw clear winners in five of its seven sections. US Chess crosstables have posted.
When the dust settled after five rounds, seven of the 59 competitors in the Premier had tied with 4.0/5. In the fifth round, GM Boris Avrukh drew with GM Alexander Goldin, Missouri's Ashwin Jayaram drew Wisconsin's Erik Santarius. GM Vladimir Georgiev, Eric Rosen and Todd Freitag had to win their final matches to enter the top score group.
Jayaram received the $100 bonus with the top tiebreak, and another $400 for winning the Mixed Doubles.
The Continental Chess Association event was once again held at the Westin North Shore in Wheeling with Wayne Clark serving as the Chief TD for perhaps the last time. Wayne has announced his retirement from CCA events effective with November's King's Island Open.
Furfine, Gurevich Tie for 2015 Illinois Class Championship; Daniels Sweeps Class A, Earns Expert Status
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- Written by Bill Feldman Bill Feldman
With a fourth round victory over GM Vlad Georgiev, Jacob Furfine claimed a share of the 2015 Illinois Class Championship alongside GM Dmitry Gurevich. Both finished with 3.5/4.
Earlier Gurevich had drawn Georgiev while Furfine had drawn fellow junior Nicholas Bartochowski. Wisconsin's Alexander Velikanov, Dritan Zekaj and Bartochowski tied for third in the section.
The event was held at the Hilton Lisle / Naperville November 22 with six sections. US Chess crosstables have been published. Results for all sections are now posted on the ICA site.
Five Tie for Top Spot at 2015 Illinois Open
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- Written by Carl Dolson Carl Dolson
The 2015 Illinois Open State Chess Championship saw 94 contenders in the Open section, including five grandmasters, four international masters, and one woman international master.
After six hard-fought rounds, the Illinois state champion title will be shared by three, GM Alexander Goldin, GM Nikola Mitkov, and IM Florin Felecan, with non-Illinois resident IMs Priyadharshan Kannappan and Justin Tan also tying for the top spot, all with 5.0 points.
Six others were tied at 4.5 points, including GM Boris Avrukh, WIM Viktorija Ni, CM David Peng, and Masters Petros Karagianis, Jacob Furfine, and out-of-stater Nicholas Rosenthal.