BREAKING NEWS, March 22, 2010

Congratulations to Eric Rosen, who with 5.5/6 points was the clear winner of the Denker qualifier, and will go on to represent Illinois at the National High School Denker Tournament of Champions in August in Irvine, California.  In second place was last year's representative, Trevor Magness, who finished with 4.5 points after a tough loss in the final round to Evanston High School's Ashok Raife.  Raife, with an official USCF rating of just 1150, earned the wildcard spot at the qualifier by winning the ICCA individual championships on Feb. 6.  Although he was about 850 rating points behind the next lowest rated player, he finished the tournament with three points.  His other wins were over Zach Kasiurak (who had the flu and withdrew after the first round) and Josh Dubin. 

FINAL STANDINGS:

Rosen:       4.5

Magness:   3.5

Raife:         3.0

Auger:        3.0

Wilber:       3.0

Dubin:        2.0

Kasiurak:   0.0

 

BREAKING NEWS, March 21, 2010:

Congratulations to Penny Xu and Adele Padgett, who tied for first at 3.5 points each at the 2010 Girls Invitational.  Penny came out slightly ahead on tiebreaks, and gets first prize of a $500 travel stipend to a national girls tournament, plust $250 towards chess lessons.  Adele will receive $125 towards chess lessons.  Rachel Ulrich came in third with three points, and Sonya Vohra, Shayna Provine and Victoria Bian had two points each.

FINAL STANDINGS:

Xu:            3.5

Padgett:    3.5

Ulrich:       3.0

Provine:     2.0

Vohra:       2.0

Bian:         1.0

Pairings are set for this weekend’s upcoming 2010 Denker qualifier and Girls Invitational events.  Both events are a round-robin format; the Denker will be 7 rounds and the girls tournament will be five rounds.  The tournaments will be held at the same time and place as the North American Chess Association’s FIDE World Amateur and Masters events, and all kick off Friday, March 19, at 6:30 p.m. at the Skokie Holiday Inn, 5300 W. Touhy Avenue.  Rounds will continue Saturday and Sunday at noon and 6:30 p.m., and for the Denker, also Monday at noon and 6:30 p.m.

The Denker qualifier players are Michael Auger, Josh Dubin, Zach Kasiurak, Trevor Magness, Ashok Raife, Eric Rosen and Matt Wilber.  The Girls Invitational players are Victoria Bian, Adele Padgett, Shayna Provine, Rachel Ulrich, Sonya Vohra and Yue (Penny) Xu.  The Denker winner will be named the Illinois representative to the National Denker Tournament of High School Champions in Irvine, CA in August,  and the girls winner will have her choice of attending either the Polgar national girls tournament in Texas in July or the newly established National Girls Open in Irvine, CA in August.  Both winners will receive a prize of a $500 travel stipend and $250 towards chess lessons, funded by the Illinois Chess Association Warren Junior Scholar Program. (Click Read More to see pairings)

 

Denker Invitational Pairings:

(White is listed first for each)

Round 1:
Magness / Dubin  1/0
Kasiurak / Raife    0/1
Rosen / Wilber     1/0
BYE:  Auger

UPDATE:  Zach Kasiurak has the flu and withdrew after Round 1.

Round 2:
Auger / Magness   0/1
Dubin / Kasiurak  1F/0F
Raife / Rosen     0/1
BYE:   Wilber

Round 3:
Kasiurak / Auger    0F/1F
Rosen / Dubin        1/0
Wilber / Raife         1/0
BYE:    Magness

Round 4:
Auger / Rosen           0/1
Magness / Kasiurak    1F/0F
Dubin / Wilber           1/0
BYE:   Raife

Round 5:
Wilber / Auger         1/0
Rosen / Magness     .5/.5
Raife / Dubin           1/0
BYE:  Kasiurak

Round 6:
Auger / Raife         1/0
Magness / Wilber   1/0
Kasiurak / Rosen    0F/1F
BYE:  Dubin

Round 7:
Dubin / Auger         0/1
Raife / Magness     1/0
Wilber / Kasiurak    1/0
BYE:  Rosen

Girls Invitational Pairings:

(White is listed first for each)

Round 1:
Xu / Padgett        .5/.5
Vohra / Ulrich       0/1
Bian / Provine      1/0

Round 2:
Bian / Xu              0/1
Padgett / Vohra    1/0   
Provine / Ulrich    1/0

Round 3:
Vohra / Bian         1/0
Ulrich / Padgett    1/0
Xu / Provine         1/0

Round 4:
Bian / Ulrich        0/1
Xu / Vohra           0/1
Provine / Padgett  0/1

Round 5:
Padgett / Bian     1/0
Ulrich / Xu          0/1
Vohra / Provine   0/1