154 juniors representing 34 schools competed in the Youth Chess Federation of Chicago tournament May 10 at Whitney Young High School. The five-round, three section tournament was the fifth and final event of YCFC's 2013-2014 season.

In the Advanced section, Daniel Zhang defeated John Bielobradek to finish undefeated, the lone perfect score. John enjoyed the top tiebreak among 4.0 scorers to earn the second place trophy. 

Also with 4.0 scores in the Advanced was Matthew Li who took third, Ernest Rionaula grabbed fourth, and John Murlasits nabbed fifth. There were two 3.5 scorers with Georgia Wolf edging Ignace Bielobradek for sixth place. 34 competed in the section.

From a team perspective Bateman had the highest score in the Advanced section, followed by Komarek from North Riverside and Skinner North in third place. In addition to Ernest's 4.0, Jimmy Nguyen's 3.0 and Carrey Nguyen's 2.5 contributed to the top team score.

In the Novice 5-8 section, three players finished with 4.5/5 when Wylie Warren-Boulton and Antoine Christopher drew in the final round. Wylie took the first place trophy on tiebreaks, with Antoine earning second. Leo Vail claimed third.

Four players posted 4.0/5 scores with Angel Paida taking fourth on tiebreaks, Taylor Phillips placing fifth, Javier Castillo coveting sixth and Hailey Mercado nabbing seventh. Two players scored 3.5/5 with Tiara Fearon edging Brody Schwartz for eight place. Brody took ninth. Leonard Rionaula had the top tiebreak out of a dozen 3.0 scorers, earning the tenth-place trophy. 46 participated in the section.

Faraday was the runaway team winner with 14 points, Antoine (4.5), Taylor (4.0), Tiara (3.5), and Armond Adams (2.0) contributed to the team score. Gallistel took second with Hammond a half-point behind in third.

75 players tussled in the Novice K-4 section producing two perfect scores. Aireous Adams won a 5-minute blitz playoff with Avi Kaplan to earn the championship with Avi taking the second place trophy. 10 players scored 4.0/5 with eight earning trophies: Charlie Beard (3rd), Diego Bolanos (4th), Christopher Wiatrak (5th), Nathan Chan (6th), Matei Cotefrea (7th), Lucas Staniszewski (8th), Lillian Ruiz (9th), Jacquez Adams (10th). Connor Roche and Jeremy Enciso also compiled 4.0's but fell just outside the trophy range.

Bateman was also the winner of the Novice K-4 section, followed by Faraday and Decatur. Matei (4.0), Lillian (4.0), Jeremy (4.0) all contributed to the winning team total along with Mikayla Phillips (3.0), 

At the awards ceremony, tournament organizer Mike Cardinale congratulated Jim Altenbach of Bell School on his retirement after 38 years at Chicago Public Schools.

The YCFC plans to resume competition next November.