571 competed in four sections at the 2015 Illinois K-8 Championships completed March 8 in Normal, IL. All four sections had at least 100 entries with the Upper Primary (Grades 2-3) fielding 182 competitors. 

Jacob Furfine defeated his bughouse partner Vincent Do in the seventh round to claim the Junior High championship. The two USCF Experts had partnered to win the bughouse competition held March 6.

Illinois hosts seven juniors rated above 2000 who were eligible for this competition, but Furfine and Do were the only two entering. In fact, Illinois' top-rated players from ages 7 through 12 (as of February ratings) were all notably absent from the event.

Tying for second place in the Junior High (Grades 6-8) section were Aryoman Patel along with Chiddix Junior High (Normal) teammates Cassie Parent and IESA sixth grade champion Pranav Venkatesh, all with 6.0/7. Cassie had the highest tiebreak.

Led by Jacob and Aryoman, Wilmette Junior High won the team championship, edging Chiddix, 23.0-22.0. Alex Yasumoto and Richard Porwancher each contributed 5.0's to the Wilmette team tally.

Tying for fifth place, Vincent Do, Jonathan Tan and Kevin Ho were a half-point back at 5.5. Tying for eighth place in the 5.0 score group were 16 players, topped by Ishaar Ganesan (8th), Jason Daniels (9th) and Ajay Balaraman (10th). Joey Buklis lead the 4.5 score group which enjoyed an eight-way tie for 24th place.

Finishing outside the top 25, Aidan Carey and David Wallach were the top 6th grade finishers, Adam Wallach and Abhiru Raut were the top 7th grade placers and Elijah Patterson and Nikhil Pallem were the top 8th graders. Christian Choi was the top unrated with a 4.0 score.

With six wins and a fourth-round draw, Advaith Prabu won the Elementary (Grades 4-5) title, a half-point ahead of his three runners up. Jonah Karafiol and Spencer Vincent drew in the last round to finish 6.0/7. Daniel Zhang also posted six points, losing to Spencer in the fourth round.

Advaith's score helped his Bloomington-based Benjamin Elementary School to the section championship. Nicholas Bruha (5.0), Arnav Sriram (5.0) and Vivek Abraham (4.5) rounded out the team's total to 21.0, well ahead of a pair of 18.5 teams.

The competition saw a nine-way tie for fifth place with a 5.5 score group. Peter Zheng, Tuoyu Yang, Pierce McDade, Nihar Mothikuru, Aria Hoesley, Ivan Mitkov, Siddhartha Kyaw, Jacob Davis and Gabriel Essex were the 5th through 13th place winners in tiebreak order. Tuoyu is a third-grader who played up a section. 

There was an 18-way tie for 14th place at 5.0 with Arnold Ogerio earning the top tiebreak.

Just outside the top 25, Emmanuel Antony and Ayush Banerjee were the top 4th graders, Rujuta Durwas and Arnav Sriram had the best fifth grade results.

After winning the K-1 Championship last year in Schaumburg, Naperville's Vrishank Ramnath was perfect in the Upper Primary (Grades 2-3). Along the way, Vrishank defeated Sam Fayn (Round 6) and William Wang (Round 5), both of whom took part in a six-way tie for second place. William Cahill, Bruce Tang, Jaden Fauske and John Waldo also posted 6.0's.

A trio tied for eighth place with 5.5 points including Zalan Gyorgy, Daniel Skeels and Shridhar Mehendale. On tiebreaks, Nathan Lee lead the 23-player 5.0 score group, all tying for 11th place.

Outside the top 25, Jerome Comar and Sam Ziegler were the top second graders, Kunal Karra and Esma Frieden had the best third grade scores and tiebreaks. Andre Zhao and Zachary Katznelson had the best results for unrated USCF-first-timers with 4.0 results.

On tiebreaks, Downers Grove-based Avery Coonley edged Glenview's Avoca West Elementary, both with 20.5. Jaden led the way with Yash Desai (5.0), Sohan Bendre (5.0) and Adam Ozsvath (4.5) contributing to the team total. Avoca was lead by Daniel Skeels' 5.5 tally. Advait Vijay, Aakash Sanjay and Jerome Comar all contributed 5.0's to Avoca's total.

In the K-1 section, Dimitar Mardov quickly agreed to a draw with Alex Zhao in the final round to finish 6.5 to earn the Lower Primary championship. Alex posted 6.0/7 to finish in a four-way tie for second with Adam Elgat, David Yong and Sohum Mehta. 

Avery Coonley won the Lower Primary team championship lead by Alex's 6 points, Declan Reenan (5.0), Austin Lok (4.0) and Kavin Bendre (4.0).

John Bielobradek and Owen Zhang both posted 5.5's to tie for 6th place with John enjoying the higher tiebreak. There was a 13-way tie for 8th place with John Hunter posting the highest tiebreak. With 4.5, there was a four-way tie for 21st with Jaden Souza earning the highest tiebreak. Alexander Daniels lead the 4.0 scoregroup on tiebreaks, nabbing the 25th place trophy ahead of 19 other four-pointers.

Just past the top 25, Mohit Bayyarapu and Austin Lok had the top kindergartner results and Vedika Chamaria and Daniel Becker were the highest scoring first graders. With 4.0, Austin and Sandaru Devmai were the highest scoring unrateds in the section.

The 102-player section even included pre-schooler David Liu, age 4, making his USCF debut and earning an impressive two points before succumbing to nap time.

Chris Merli was the Chief TD with Jeff Smith serving as Assistant Chief TD.

The Bloomington Normal Area Chess Association organized the competition after winning the ICA's competitive bid process early in 2014. The K-8's alternate between downstate and upstate sites; this marked the fourth consecutive downstate K-8 hosted by BNASC.

Chess Weekend and ChessIQ were awarded the right to co-organize the 2016 K-8 to be held in Schaumburg at the Hyatt Woodfield, March 11-13, 2016.