Presents arrived early for a slew of Illinois chess players who were in Orlando earlier this month for the National All Grade tournament, in the form of big shiny trophies for some great performances. Leading the Illinois pack was Whitney Young freshman Sam Schmakel, whose superior tiebreaks in a 6-way tie for first in the ninth grade section earned him a second national championship title with 5.5/7 points. His first title was as a 2nd-grader back in 2003.

Other Illinois Players Also Excel

Also turning in stellar results were Burr Ridge fourth-grader Matthew Stevens and Lincolnshire fifth-grader Alex Bian, both of whom tied for second place at their grade levels with six points each.

Stevens, whose only loss came in the final round, earned the second place trophy on tiebreaks, and Bian earned the 7th place trophy on tiebreaks.

Notable team performances

Chicago’s Whitney Young High School and Evanston High School both had notable team performances. Whitney got team awards for second place in 10th grade and fourth place in 12th grade; and Evanston won fourth place honors for 11th grade.

Below, Schmakel’s teacher, Illinois Grandmaster Dmitry Gurevich, reminisces about the first time Sam won a national championship, as a second-grader back in 2003. At the end of the story, you’ll find a complete list of all Illinois trophy winners.

GM Gurevich: I still vividly remember the 2003 tournament which was held in Rosemont, Illinois. Sam won clear first place out of more than 150 participants in his section. Sam's father Art strung a rope from their house chimney to the tree on the parkway. Luckily, Art is in the construction business, so he is used to walking on roofs. The Schmakels had signs that said "Congratulations Sam" and "Hooray, National Champion".

At that time I had been teaching Sam for less than a year, and was very impressed by his achievement. For a few months afterwards during our lessons, if Sam would ask a question which was simple enough for him to solve, I would respond "Who is a National Champion, you or me?". Sometimes I would give the same response if the question was, indeed, too difficult for me.

Back then gifted Chicago chess players often met at the University of Chicago Quadrangle club at seminars organized and sponsored by a law professor there.

I remember once I asked a question and Sam was the first from the audience to raise his hand, so I invited him to the demo board to show the solution to the combination. To my astonishment he quickly snorkeled under the the table and promptly arrived at the board.

"What are you surprised about?" asked the law professor. "He simply found the fastest way."

“Well," I responded." I just didn't expect this move from the Champion of the Country.”

But my favorite moment came at the very end of the year, when Sam, his mother Eileen and myself went to participate in the North American Championship which is always held in Las Vegas. Before the first round we met for breakfast at the hotel's restaurant. Our waiter happened to be a friendly young guy, who came from South America. He liked Sam and made some funny comments about the 7-year-old. So I told him, "You probably think that Sam is just a little kid. But in fact he is.. a Champion of the United States!" And the waiter laughed like crazy! He thought that I said something hilarious!

Seven years have passed. And again Art Schmakel has put a sign celebrating Sam’s victory over the roof of their small house in Edgebrook, on the north side of Chicago.

Congratulations to all the winners at the National All-Grade

They are:

Individual Winners:
Kindergarten: Nikolai Maximilian Rhodes, 6th place
2nd grade: Jason Scott Daniels, 8th place
4th grade: Matthew Stevens, 2nd place
5th grade: Alex Bian, 7th place; James Wei, 12th place
6th grade: Bryce McClanahan, 7th place
8th grade: Gavin McClanahan, 4th place; Oliver Natarajan, Max Zinski and Nathan Kranjc, tied for 10th place
9th grade: Sam Schmakel, 1st place
12th grade: Michael Auger, 6th place

The following players earned class trophies in recognition of their performance based on their rating level:

9th grade: Taylor Roman and Karsten Frigo of Glenbard South H.S.; Jacob Reber of Evanston H.S.
10th grade: Mark Waechter
11th Grade: Jack Mallers, Zachary Sandler and Ergen Rojas of Evanston H.S.; Tapan Sheth, Jack Wagner, Scott Wurtz and Andrei Paduraru of Glenbard South H.S.
12th Grade: Simon Chen and Kessidy Chan from Whitney Young H.S.; Wesley Isaacson, Boris Boguslavsky and Patrick Clark of Glenbard South H.S.

Team Winners:
10th Grade: Whitney Young, 2nd place (Charles Swan, Mark Waechter, Ga Luang Liu
11th Grade: Evanston High School, 4th place (Jack Mallers, Zachary Sandler and Ergen Rojas)
12th Grade: Whitney Young, 4th place (Michael Auger, Kessidy Chan and Simon Chen)