Youth Chess News

Anjaneya Rao Named Champion of Champions at 2024 Barber Middle School Invitational

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Written by Jacob Plotnick - Editor / Staff Reporter Jacob Plotnick - Editor / Staff Reporter

Every year, the Illinois Chess Association runs a tournament among the best players from 6th - 8th grade to represent Illinois in the US Barber Middle School Invitational. This year, Anjaneya Rao won and represented Illinois in Norfolk, VA. Every state and D.C. sends one delegate, while this year Virginia and California sent two delegates.

The US Open Barber Invitational was a 6-round(G90+30) tournament from July 27th - July 30th during which Anjaneya was undefeated. He finished as the sole winner with a score of 5.5 out of 6 after 5 wins and 1 draw. As Well as being the “Champion of Champions” of the Barber Middle School Invitational, Anjaneya received a $5000 scholarship to the college of his choice from USCF.

Below is Anjaneya receiving his award, pictured with Dewain Barber, after whom the tournament is named.

Here is Anjaneya’s game for round six, where he defeated Jasmine Su from Connecticut with the French Defense:

The Illinois Chess Association is proud to congratulate Anjaneya for his impressive performance at the Barber Invitational this year and hope to see just how much he can achieve.

The complete cross-tables can be found here

U.S. Cadet Chess Championship 2024

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Written by Jacob Plotnick - Editor / Staff Reporter Jacob Plotnick - Editor / Staff Reporter

The U.S. Cadet Championship is an annual invitational event which pits the eight strongest American players aged 16 and under against each other in a round-robin tournament. The first tournament was run in 1986 at the Manhattan Chess Club, where Alex Sherzer became the first champion. Since then, the tournament has taken place at a multitude of venues across the country – including Washington D.C., Nashville, TN, Rockville, MD, and Schaumburg, IL. This year's tournament took place in Lisle, IL.

This years competitors pictured with the organizers(Danial Wilson and Bill Buklis), courtesy of Danial Wilson

The 2024 Cadet Championship took place late last month from June 20 - June 23. This event featured two IMs, Bach Ngo and Ryo Chen, as well as 6 FMs: Eric Liu, Tanitoluwa Adewumi, Erick Zhao, Isaac Wang, Ryan Sun, and Zoey Tang. For pairing purposes, shortly before the beginning of the first round, playing cards – ace through eight – were drawn to seed the players by lot number rather than by rating.

The event was won outright with an impressive 6/7 score by the 13-year old prodigy Tanitoluwa (Tani) Adewumi, who finished last place in the same tournament the previous year. Nevertheless, he started off strong into the competition by defeating one of the strongest players in the first round:

This impressive performance has caused Tani’s FIDE rating to come within 20 points of the IM rating threshold of 2400, for which he recently earned his final norm. Along with the recognition of winning the tournament, he can add the $1,000 prize and $10,000 scholarship( $5,000 from the Dewain Barber Foundation and $5,000 from US Chess) to the college/university of his choice to his ever-growing list of awards.

Below is another of his wins from the tournament, highlighting tactical masterclass with an accuracy of 97%:

Tani accepting his award, courtesy of Danial Wilson

Congratulations to Tani for winning this event and congratulations to Danial Wilson at Wilson Chess and Bill Buklis King Registration for their third successful year of running this event and best of luck to them in the future.

Final standings – ranked according to lot number, courtesy of US Chess

All games from the event can be reviewed on Lichess.

2024 ICA Youth Invitational

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Written by Jacob Plotnick - Editor / Staff Reporter Jacob Plotnick - Editor / Staff Reporter

The Illinois Chess Association Youth Invitational was run last month. The highest rated players from across the state were invited to compete in the tournament. This year the rating requirements for the Denker, Barber, Rockefeller, and Haring were set as follows: 1700, 1500, 1400, and 1200 respectively.

The winners of our divisions will represent Illinois in their respective age group at the US open in Norfolk, VA. ICA will give each of the winners a $250 stipend for travel to allow them to participate in the tournament. The representatives for Illinois this year will be: Avi Kaplan, Anjaneya Rao, Aiden Li, and Rebecca Cortez.

On top of that, the 2nd and 3rd place finishers in the Haring were invited to participate in the Susan Polgar Girls Invitational, which was held online earlier this month. The Illinois representatives were Linda Pham and RIa Raj for placing in 2nd and 3rd respectively.

Below is a full list of the results of each section in the tournament.

Denker (High School) 

Going into the last round Avi Kaplan was the only participant with a perfect 4-0 record, while a few other players had 3 points. In the final round, Avi Kaplan drew Jack Heller, which cemented his lead and allowed him to become the undisputed winner of the tournament.

Barber (Grades 6-8) 

Entering the final round, Anjaneya Rao was the only player with 3.5 points. While one player, Justin Lee, had 3 points and several other players had 2.5 points. In the final round, Anjaneya beat Ryan Zhang, which allowed him to finish as the undisputed champion.

Rockefeller (Grades K-5) 

Unlike the previous sections, entering the final round there were three players with 3 points: Aiden Li, Matthew Yu, and Alexander Pan. All of which drew in their final rounds – leading to a three way blitz playoff. The playoff finished with Aiden Li in first place, followed by Matthew Yu and Alexander Pan.

Haring (Girls) 

Going into the last round Rebecca Cortez and Linda Pham were tied for first with 3.5 points. They drew in the final round which left them tied for first. After the blitz playoff, Linda and Rebecca were still tied – which led them to play an armageddon match, which Rebecca won. Leaving her in first and Linda Pham in second place. Which allowed Linda Pham to participate in the Susan Polgar Girls Invitational, as well as Ria Raj, who finished in third with 3.5 points.

Mex Chess Champ, Age 12, Seeks Help to Compete in World Contest

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Written by Hector R. Hernandez Hector R. Hernandez

Levi Kalani Fogo Esquivel, who hails from Tulum in Quintana Roo, is Mexico’s National Chess Champion in the Under-12 category. He earned a gold and two silver medals at the CONADE Games. (CONADE: Comisión Nacional de Cultura Física y Deporte.)

He also finished in first place in Las Vegas at the International Youth Championship as well as first in the Illinois Open Championship-Reserve Section. At the Illinois Open Blitz tournament, 3-minute games, he finished in second place in a group of twenty-six players. There he had two wins, and two losses, against two local Masters. Only George Li, an International Master, finished ahead of Kalani.

At the World Open tournaments in Philadelphia, he had outstanding performances which earned him some prizes.

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