New Trier High School's ZhaoZhi "George" Li came within a half-point of the highest score at the 2015 USCF High School Nationals completed April 12 in Columbus, OH.

Li's only blemishes were draws in rounds three and five, both against Texans. George's post-event rating -- pending re-rating -- hit 2300 for the first time. His 6.0 tied for second place with seven others, capturing seventh place hardware on tiebreaks.

Naperville North's Bradley Guan tied for 10th with 5.5/7. On tiebreaks, Guan captured 20th.

The event attracted close to 1500 players primarily competing in five sections. Illinois' Wayne Clark served as Chief TD with Jeff Wiewel serving as Chief of the 472-entrant Championship section. More than 1000 players K-12 participated in sections U1600, U1200, U800 and Unrated. USCF Crosstables are posted with results also available in tiebreak order.

Tying for 30th place with 5.0 was Benet's Max Zinski, Bloomington Junior High's Hanson Hao, Maine South's Jack Curcio, Whitney Young Academic Center's Akhil Kalghatgi and Whitney Young High School's Jimi Akintonde.

David Peng finished 4.5 as did Stevenson teammates Alex Bian and Conrad Oberhaus, Benet's Nate Kranjc, Highland Park's Jonathan Hrach, Neuqua Valley's Minkee Lee, Naperville North's Mark Reed and junior high students Ricky Wang and Abhy Venkat.

Venkat, who attends Plum Grove Jr. High in Rolling Meadows, had the highest score among previously-rated 1600-1699's.

Stevenson's Philip Engstrom took second place honors among players with pre-event ratings 1700-1799. Engstrom tallied four points.

Madhav Parthasarathy, a fifth-grader at Pleasant Hill Elementary School (Palatine) had the third best score among entrants with pre-event ratings 1300-1399, posting 3.0/7.

Illinois took all three top slots among players rated 1200-1299: Hinsdale Central's Trevor Huang finished 3.5/7, as did a pair from Neuqua Valley, Joseph Wang and Logan Mazurek.

New Trier finished with the highest four-person team total among Illinois squads with 17.0, tying for tenth in the nation, 14th on tiebreaks. The Winnetka high school was lead by Li's 6.0 score, Scott Drier's 4.0, and 3.5's from Abe Sun and John Compton.

A half-point back with 16.5 were three Illinois teams: Stevenson (Lincolnshire), Benet Academy (Lisle), and 2015 IHSA state-champion Naperville North.

Whitney Young (Chicago) compiled a 15.5 score, while Neuqua Valley (Naperville) finished at 14.5.

In the K-12 Under 1600 competition, Naperville North took third place honors with 18.5, lead by 5.0 scores from Philip Song and Harrison Loh. Joseph Isaac contributed his 4.5 and Nate Olejnik posted a 4.0. 

A half-point back at 18.0 was New Trier finishing in fifth place, 7th on tiebreaks. Nathan Yamaguchi and Joe Buzzi posted 5.0's, with Jian Li and Saman Tabatabaee scoring 4.0's.

Hinsdale Central finished 15th with 14.5, Benet was a half-point back, tying for 19th.

Highland Park's Eamonn Moore tied for second place in the U1600 with 6.0/7, taking seventh place honors on tiebreaks.

Tying for 22nd place and receiving 25th place hardware in the U1600 were Song, Loh, Yamaguchi, Buzzi along with Darek Nowak of Maine South and Bethany Simos of Naperville Central.

Maine South's Ir-Jene Shan took clear second place in the K-12 U1200 with six wins and a fifth round draw. Teammate Ian Sheffert was a half-point back, participating in an 11-way tie for third which also included Patrick Noble of Benet and Hinsdale Central's Yu-Lin Yang. On tiebreaks, Sheffert took fourth, Yang eighth and Noble twelth.

A half-point back with 5.5 was Benet's Brian Weithers and Marshall's Michael Hobbs, both tying for 14th, Weithers taking 16th on tiebreaks, Hobbs 18th.  Benet's Alec Mather posted a 5.0 as did Hinsdale Central's Matthew Tang, both tying for 22nd. On tiebreaks, Mather took 24th, Tang taking a top 30 award.

U1200 team competition saw two Illinois teams in the top three: helped by Shan and Seffert, Maine South took second place. William Olafsson (4.5) and Andrew Lazara (4.0) contributed. Led by Noble, Weithers and Mather, Benet Academy finished a half-point back, 21.0-20.5. Ethan Evans added his 4.0 tally to Benet's total.

Abbington (PA) High School took first with 22 points.

Hinsdale Central posted 18 points, tying for 11th, taking 12th on tiebreaks. In addition ot Yang and Tang, Omar Majzoub (4.0) and Sriram Soundararajan (3.0) contributed.

Highland Park (17.0) tied for 14th place, 15th on tiebreaks. Marshall took 20th place with 15.5.

Highland Park (18.5) also took sixth place in the U800 section out of 47 teams. Illinois had no individual medalists in that section.

In the K-12 Unrated section, Hinsdale Central's Maxiwell Luo was the co-champion, scoring 6.5/7 nailing the higher tiebreak. Congratulations, Max!

Naperville North's Steven Ma and Neuqua Valley's Sevan Tamazian tied for 10th place honors with 5.0 scores.

From a team perspective, Chicago's De La Salle tied for 6th place (7th on tiebreaks) with 12 points. Maine South had an identical team tally placing ninth on tiebreaks. Hinsdale Central took 10th with 10.5 and Naperville North was 11th, a half-point back. Glenbard South had 7 points and Marshall High School had 6.5, placing 16th and 18th respectively.