Twelve-year old Matthew Stevens is the latest Illinois junior to achieve expert status according to "official" USCF ratings published September 18. Matthew's excellent performance at the Illinois Open did the trick as he defeated experts from Wisconsin and Illinois and drew a master.

Experts represent roughly the top five percent (USCF 2000) to one and a half percent (USCF 2199) of all active USCF competitors playing over the board.

Subsequent to the October cut-off, 17-year old Joe Fennessey crossed the threshold thanks to his whiz-bang performance at the Midwest Class. Joe's accomplishment will not be reflected in the Top 100 until next month, but, as a heads up, he defeated experts from Wisconsin, Kentucky and Illinois while drawing an expert from Minnesota.

Also on the cusp of "experthood" are 12-year old Akhil Kalghatgi, 13-year old Anshul Adve, 14-year old Spencer Lehmann and 17-year old Duncan Shepherd. 

Adarsh Jayakumar (now second to only Ray Robson in age 18), David Peng (second in age 10), Aydin Turgut (third in age 9), Sam Schmakel (fifth in age 17), and Jonathan Kogan (ninth in age 17) remain the Illinois players in the top ten of their respective age groups nationwide.

Aged 18 years or younger, Illinois currently boasts three masters, Adarsh, Sam, and Jonathan, along with a dozen experts including Joe.

Jayant Maheshwari (age 7) has entered the top 100 for the first time, while Rishi Narayanan, David Zimmermann and Jonah Karafiol have returned after brief absences.

Abe Sun had appeared as America's fiftieth rated 12-year old on September's report, but his absence from rated-play for over a year has caused his deletion from the top 100's.

According to USCF specifications, ratings as of September 18 were used for this report and the top 100 lists were published October 17.

 

October Top 100 Youth

US Rank	Name	Rating
Age 7 and under
32T	Aaron Gan	1324
79T	Jayant Maheshwari	1065
88	Sam Fayn	1031
Age 8
34	Stefan Musikic	1517
77	David Zimmermann	1292
81	Adam Bareket	1288
Age 9
3	Aydin Turgut	1942
40	Ricky Wang	1656
68	Brian Gong	1513
83	Advaith Prabu	1481
100	Jonah Karafiol	1422
Age 10
2	David Peng	2138
27T	Jason Daniels	1786
59	Shreya Mangalam	1640
84T	Edward Zhang	1586
Age 11
20	Vincent Do	2018
68	Tej Rai	1693
69T	Marissa Li	1690
Age 12
20	Matthew Stevens	2030
25	Akhil Kalghatgi	1996
42	Daniel Bronfeyn	1919
52T	Hanson Hao	1872
50	Nikhil Kalghatgi	1848
77	Jonathan Tan	1789
Age 13
20	Zhaozhi Li	2098
21	Alex Bian	2086
37	Anshul Adve	1992
55	Jack Curcio	1935
70	James Wei	1874
93	Andrew Fei	1792
Age 14
36	Zachary Holecek	2031
52T	Spencer Lehmann	1973
Age 15
80	Jonathan Hrach	1900
Age 16
28	Max Zinski	2112
37T	Gavin McClanahan	2072
39	Nathan Kranjc	2071
66	Penny Xu	1966
76	Timothy Zhou	1946
85	Eli Goering	1918
Age 17
5	Sam Schmakel	2376
9	Jonathan Kogan	2271
66T	Duncan Shepherd	1967
74	Joe Fennessey	1954
Age 18
2	Adarsh Jayakumar	2386
35	Robert Moskwa	2087
48	Chengliang Luo	2032
70	Charles Swan	1939
73	David Korobov	1928
85	David Paykin	1883
96	Matthew Yang	1836
Girls Under 16
46T	Miranda Liu (12)	1778
56	Shayna Provine (13)	1717
50	Marissa Li (11)	1690
62	Shreya Mangalam (10)	1640
Girls Under 13
13	Miranda Liu (12)	1778
21	Marissa Li (11)	1690
28	Shreya Mangalam (10)	1640

Miranda raised her rating 69 points competing at the US Open and another 68 points through a September event at the Chess IQ Center in Skokie. At the US Open, she posted a 5.0/9 score, beating an Expert and a Class A player while drawing another Class A opponent.

Marissa bumped her rating 149 points through the Illinois Open, defeating four Class B players and drawing a fifth, earning a 4.5/6 score.

Having three young ladies under 13 in the top 30 is quite an accomplishment for this trio and reflects well upon a state with 4% of the American population. Shreya will be representing Illinois (along with David Peng) in the upcoming World Youth in Dubai at the end of the year.