ICA Tour
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.
ICA Tour Coming Back to Life, Partial Updates Posted
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- Written by Bill Feldman Bill Feldman
Thanks to the efforts of ICA President Bill Buklis, the ICA Tour is on its way to renewal for the 2016 calendar year.
Through three events, Jason Daniels is leading the Open section with 7.5, a half-point better than Arthur Hughes. David Rockwell is leading the Adult Reserve with 5.0, a half-point better than Eva Harrison and Sam Henderson. Rahul Bammidi leads the Scholastic Reserve with 7.0, a full point and a half better than Nicholas Ladan.
Chicago Open results have not been added to these calculations -- and are likely to shift things drastically. The Chicago Open represents the fourth of ten events scheduled for this year with the 6th Orwell Memorial slated as the endpoint of the first half, June 18.
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.
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.
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.
Texas IM Jeffery Xiong Wins 2015 Chicago Open; 14-Year Olds Rule in Multiple Sections
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- Written by Bill Feldman Bill Feldman
With a ninth round defeat of Cuban GM Lazaro Bruzon Batista, IM Jeffery Xiong claimed the 24th Chicago Open championship. The victory was worth $10,300 to the 14-year old Texan who was undefeated with five wins and four draws for a total of 7.0/9 points.
In round eight, IM Xiong handed GM Boris Avrukh his first defeat in five events since moving to Illinois from Israel. Avrukh had compiled 19 wins and 13 draws before the loss, lauding his game against the eventual winner.
The 2015 Chicago Open, concluding May 25, attracted 826 players to the main event, an 18 percent larger field than in 2014.
At 6.5/9 there was an eight-way tie for second place with FM Eric Rosen nabbing the slightly-richer $2000 prize for top Under 2400 score in the Open. Seven others -- all Grandmasters -- each took home $1671.43.
Freitag and Zekaj Top 5th Orwell Memorial
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- Written by Bill Feldman Bill Feldman
With a GM draw, Experts Todd Freitag and Dritan Zekaj cemented their co-championships of the 5th Orwell Memorial Open.
The four-round event was held June 27 in DeKalb, representing the sixth stop on the 2015 Illinois Chess Tour. USCF Crosstables are posted here.
Entering the last round at 2.5, Junior Tom Bareket had a chance to join the top score group, but the junior dropped his last game to Expert Bradley Guan. Guan had lost to Freitag in the penultimate round.
Guan finished at 3.0 as did fellow Naperville North teammates Danny Emge and Mark Reed. Emge claimed top honors for those starting the tournament Under 1800 while Reed had the top score for Under 2000's (which had a slightly lower prize pool).
Awonder Liang Wins '15 GPO, Jain Perfect in Reserve
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- Written by ICA Staff ICA Staff
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