A half-dozen new names from Illinois have entered the USCF top 100 lists as of August: Ishaar Ganesan (10), Phillip Parker-Turner (14), Eli Goering (16), Joe Fennessey (17), Duncan Shepherd (17), and David Korobov (18).

Aydin Turgut (1st in age 8), David Peng (2nd in age 10), Adarsh Jayakumar (4th in age 18), Sam Schmakel (5th in age 17), and Jonathan Kogan (9th in age 17) remain the Illinois players in the top 10 of their respective age groups nationwide. Illinois registrations represent a remarkable nine of the top 100 youths aged 18.

Aged 18 years or younger, Illinois currently boasts three masters, Sam, Jonathan and Adarsh, along with eleven experts.

According to USCF specifications, ratings as of July 19 were used for this report and the top 100 lists were published August 16.

 

August Top 100 Youth

US Rank	Name	Rating
Age 7 and under
31	Aaron Gan	1292
66	Jai Mahajan	1128
74	David Zimmermann	1083
Age 8
1	Aydin Turgut	1925
32	Stefan Musikic	1526
44	Suraj Ramanathan (**)	1460
Age 9
27	Jason Daniels	1716
44	Brian Hope Gong	1598
50	Ricky Wang	1584
74	Advaith Prabu	1503
93	Emmett Madigan	1440
Age 10
2	David Peng	2127
43	Shreya Mangalam	1683
76	Ishaar Ganesan	1585
Age 11
15	Vincent Do	2002
20	Akhil Kalghatgi	1964
36	Hanson Ho	1840
41	Nikhil Kalghatgi	1816
77	Tej Rai	1659
92	Miranda Liu	1627
Age 12
18	Alex Bian	2059
32T	Matthew Stevens	1985
51	Daniel Bronfeyn	1891
57	Abe Sun	1874
61	Jonathan Tan	1853
Age 13
18	Zhaozhi Li	2098
42	Anshul Adve	1957
63	James Wei	1874
69T	Jack Curcio	1848
82	Ian Gilchrist	1815
83	Blair Hu	1813
Age 14
30	Zachary Holecek	2031
59T	Spencer Lehmann	1920
64	Jonathan Hrach	1900
90T	Phillip Parker-Turner	1835
Age 15
	None from Illinois
Age 16
31	Gavin McClanahan	2072
39	Max Zinski	2046
45	Nathan Kranjc	2023
60T	Penny Xu	1952
65	Timothy Zhou	1946
90T	Eli Goering	1872
96T	Jimi Akintonde	1850
Age 17
5	Sam Schmakel	2345
9	Jonathan Kogan	2281
72	Joe Fennessey	1961
75T	Duncan Shepherd	1950
93	David Paykin	1883
Age 18
4	Adarsh Jayakumar	2386
22	Matthew Wilber	2183
42	Robert Moskwa	2087
43	Kent Cen	2086
61	Chengliang Luo	2032
80T	Charles Swan	1939
83	Rafeh Qazi	1936
86	Benjamin Stern	1922
99	David Korobov	1882
Girls Under 16
62	Shayna Provine (13)	1699
67	Shreya Mangalam (10)	1683
81	Miranda Liu (11)	1627
Girls Under 13
26	Shreya Mangalam (10)	1683
32	Miranda Liu (11)	1627
51	Marissa Li (10)	1520
56	Cassie Parent (12)	1497

 

** Suraj Ramanathan has moved to Massachusetts. This is Illinois' loss.

Suraj arrived on the Illinois chess scene entering the 2012 K-8 Championships in Rockford as a 7-year old with a 652 rating, after moving here from Missouri by way of India. A year later he placed third in the 2nd/3rd grade section of the 2013 K-8 event. After winning the Reserve Section at his latest tournament in the Boston-area Boylston Chess Club, Suraj's rating was 1552, representing a 900-point rating increase in under a year and a half.

No less than Grandmaster Dimitry Guervich praised his style and demeanor at the recent Chicago Class, suggesting Suraj already plays like a professional. As his coach for the last year, I can attest that Suraj possesses a rare vision at the board and is a sponge for new chess knowledge.

His presence at the Aurora Naperville Chess Club, and at Illinois tournaments will be missed. Although he fell short of achieving his goal of becoming a Warren Scholar, his advancement is testimony to how hard work with even a modest coach can pay off. And Suraj has plenty of other chess goals he'll be accomplishing with his diligent persistence.

After celebrating his birthday in July, he transitions from the third-rated 8-year old in the Prairie State to the fifth-rated 9-year old in the Bay State.