Illinois Youth Shine At Greater Midwest Class
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- Written by Bill Feldman Bill Feldman
- Published: 06 December 2013 06 December 2013
While Grandmasters Yury Shulman and Josh Friedel shared the championship of the first-ever Greater Midwest Class, it was an occasion of personal bests for many Illinois youth players.
Sam Schmakel and David Peng both finished in a seven-way tie for fourth. Schmakel bolstered his rating to a personal best 2389, losing only to Shulman while drawing Friedel. 10-year old Peng upped his rating to 2174. His only loss came at the hands of Wisconsin master Erik Santarius.
The three-day, six-round tournament concluded December 1 in Rosemont, IL with 105 players competing in the main event.
Juniors Aydin Turgut and Daniel Bronfeyn smashed the 2000-barrier for the first time, with Turgut unofficially becoming the highest-rated nine year old in the US.
Aydin elevated his USCF rating to 2051 with wins over experts from Illinois and Wisconsin and a victory over a New York master. (Ohio's Christopher Shen, who was the only 9-year old ranked higher as of the November official tally, competed in the Motor City Open that same weekend, dropping his rating to 1980). Most importantly, at the GMC, Aydin outpointed his father, Tansel, who himself is ranked in the top baker's dozen of Illinois over-the-board players.
Bronfeyn became Illinois' third 13-year old expert, jumping to 2027 with his two win, three draw, one loss showing. Wins over an Wisconsin expert and a New York master (yes, the same one Aydin defeated), and draws with experts from Wisconsin, Missouri and Illinois demonstrated that Daniel has every right to the classification.
Spencer Lehmann finds himself on the cusp of experthood with his 1993 post-event rating after defeating a pair of experts.
GM Dmitry Gurevich finished third, a half-point back from the co-champions in the 40-player top section.
In Class A competition, Miranda Liu finished in a three-way tie for fifth, incrementing her rating to 1827. Liu had crossed into Class A territory by winning her section of the recent Polgar World Open.
Shayna Provine earned a share of a three-way tie for first in the GMC's Class B section, eclipsing 1800 for the first time to 1813. Provine went undefeated with four victories and two draws, including a sixth-round half-pointer with one of her co-champions, Nicholas Bartochowski. Masoud Khadem shared in the class championship.
The Greater Midwest Class guaranteed $10,000 in prize money. It was hosted at the Hyatt Regency O'Hare with Tournament Directors Sevan Muradian, Vytautas Vitkauskas and Chris Baumgartner officiating.
Although most of the participants were from Illinois, Iowa (4) and Wisconsin (16) had multiple representatives. New York, Florida, Michigan, Ohio and Missouri each sent one registrant.