A successful Illinois All-Grade is in the books with 228 competitors battling it out in Peoria in ten sections on November 7. USCF crosstables have posted.

Seven of the 10 individual champions were from upstate. Interestingly, seven of the nine team winners were downstate schools, although two of those were uncontested. Romona Elementary of Wilmette was the only school to win more than one grade level. See table below.

All but a handful of eligible teams received trophies. Approximately one-half of all individual entrants received trophies.

Aren Emrikian of Harper (Wilmette) is now the Illinois Kindergarten champion with a perfect score. At 4.0/5, Aurora's Anshul Shetty (Steck Elementary) took second, defeating his club-mate Hudson Lutfiyya (All Saints Academy) in the fifth round. Hudson and Bloomington pre-schooler David Liu both finished with 3.0, with Hudson enjoying the better tiebreaks to earn the third place trophy.

(Bloomington) Benjamin Elementary earned the team trophy as the only Kindergarten team entry. Sukhi Doddi and Jia Mathew both posted 2.0's.

In first grade competition, Julian Wang of Ivy Hall Elementary (Buffalo Grove) earned the championship with a perfect 5.0 score. Saatvik Kailasj (Tripp Elementary of Buffalo Grove) was second with 4.0. Michael Li (Ridgeview Elementary of Dunlap) and Ryan Kong (Avery Coonley), both scored 3.0, tying for third place. Due to the higher mathematical tiebreak, Li received the third place trophy. No team award was presented for the section.

For second graders, Andrew Friedman of Westbrook Elementary (Glenview) posted the lone perfect score, taking the top spot out of 34 entries. There was a five-way tie for second place, with David Yong (Next Generation, Champaign) earning second place hardware on tiebreaks. William Wang (Laura Sprague, Lincolnshire) earned the third place trophy. Others with 4.0 included Owen Zhang (Wilder Waite, Dunlap, 4th), and Romona Elementary (Wilmette) teammates Max Drees (5th) and Benjamin Newman (6th). 

Romona Elementary School was the second grade team champion, lead by Max and Ben's 4.0's and 3.0 from Aya Yasumoto.

For third graders, Wheaton's William Cahill is now a state champion, besting a field of 33 entries. William compiled a 4.5 score with four wins and a first-round half-point bye. Avi Kaplan (Decatur Classical, Chicago) was awarded the second place trophy on tiebreaks atop another five-way tie for second. Others at 4.0 included Alex Fei (3rd), Bruce Tang (4th), Shridhar Mehendale, Jr. (5th), and Quentin Desanto (6th). 

Hickory Grove (of Dunlap) was the 3rd grade team champion with 9.0 points. Alex Fei lead the squad with his 4.0 while Joshua Wang contributed a 3.0. Ethan and Stella Chen both achieved 2.0's with one of those counting towards the team total.

After a first round draw, Country Meadow's (Long Grove) Sam Fayn won his next four matches to earn the fourth grade championship with 37 competing. Another five-way tie for second at 4.0 included Anish Deshpande (2nd), Kamaesh Sureshkumar (3rd), Esma Frieden (4th), Rahul Bammidi (5th) and Ethan Fogel (6th).

Led by Ethan's 4.0, Romona Elementary was also the 4th grade team winner. Caden Liu contributed a 3.0 while George Angelov and Noah Zyung both posted 2.0's, one of which counted towards the team total.

Nicholas Ladan (Glen Grove, Glenview) was five wins for five matches, earning the fifth grade championship out of 24 players. A three-way tie for second place saw Spencer Vincent (Hudson Elementary) with the top tiebreak to claim second. Nicholas Bruha (Benjamin Elementary, Bloomington) was third and Ritul Nagamanickam (Northpoint Elementary, Bloomington) took home the 4th place trophy.

Normal's Colene Hoose ran away with the fifth grade team trophy with a trio of 3.0's from Ayush Banerjee, Sreeansh Vakiti and Ved Kommalapati and a 9.0 total.

(Normal) Kingsley Junior High's Arnold Lei Ogerio won the tiebreaks over crosstown Chiddix Junior High's Tejas Katam to claim the sixth grade championship, both with perfect 4.0's. Sixth graders on up played only four matches due to a longer time control.

There was a seven-way tie for third place which including Stefan Mueller (3rd), Lalit Kudikala (4th), Devanshi Kothari (5th), Jacob Davis (6th), Sujay Prakah (7th), Raghav Mukundan (8th), and Dylan McDonough (9th). 33 competed in the section.

Bloomington's George Evans Junior High was the 6th grade team champion with a 8.0 score. Lalit Kudikala and Sujay Prakash posted 3.0's with another 2.0 coming from Tyler Tanton, Mahabalsha Ammu and Vivek Abraham. The Evans squad finished one point better than did the Chiddix team.

Avery Coonley's Aidan Carey is now the Illinois seventh grade champion with his perfect 4.0 score. At 3.5, Kevin Ho of Kennedy Junior High (Lisle) and Woodlawn Middle's (Vernon Hills) Siddharth Acharya tied for second after drawing in the third round.  Kevin was awarded second place on the higher tiebreak while Siddarth claimed third.  23 competed.

Dunlap Valley Middle School claimed the seventh grade team award with 6.5 points, a half-point better than Avery Coonley. Dunlap Valley's score was comprised of Kushal Mungee's 2.5 and 2.0's from Oliver Fortmann and Milind Foulger.

Eighth grade competition saw (Bloomington) Evans Junior High's Ishaar Ganesan claim the state championship with the lone perfect 4.0. University Lab High School (of Urbana) teammates Tue Do and US Chess first-timer Matthew Tang tied for second with 3.0's with Tue getting the second place trophy on the higher tiebreak. 14 competed in the section.

University Lab won the 8th grade team championship. The 3's from Tue and Matthew were augmented by Alexander Hsia's 2.5, comprising the 8.5 winning tally, a half-point better than posted by Ishaar's Evans Junior High squad.

Nine competed in a combined high school section with Normal Community West senior Trevin Kafer winning the section on a 3.5 posting. Rockford 9th grader Elijah Patterson of Christian Life School and Bloomington High School sophomore Mihir Bafna tied for second place with 3.0/4. Elijah earned the second place trophy with the higher tiebreak.

Normal Community was the only team competitor in the section. Trevin's winning 3.5 score was bolstered by 2.0's from Clayton Davis, Sawyer Price and Gabe Chambers. This was the only instance of the team and individual champion trophy in a particular section going to the same school.

Complete results have now been posted. Thanks to the Greater Peoria Chess folks for organizing this event.

 

 

  

                       

    

Grade	Players	Team Winner	City	Individual Winner	Score	School	City
K	9	Benjamin Elementary	Bloomington	Aren Emrikian	5.0/5	Harper	Wilmette
1	11	- None -		Julian Wang	5.0/5	Ivy Hall	Buffalo Grove
2	34	Romona Elementary	Wilmette	Andrew Friedman	5.0/5	Westbrook	Glenview
3	33	Hickory Grove	Dunlap	William Cahill	4.5/5		Wheaton
4	37	Romona Elementary	Wilmette	Sam Fayn	4.5/5	Country Meadows	Long Grove
5	25	Colene Hoose	Normal	Nicholas Ladan	5.0/5	Glen Grove	Glenview
6	33	Evans Junior High	Bloomington	Arnold Ogerio	4.0/4	Kingsley Jr. High	Normal
7	23	Dunlap Valley M.S.	Dunlap	Aidan Carey	4.0/4	Avery Coonley	Oak Park
8	14	University Lab	Urbana	Ishaar Ganesan	4.0/4	Evans Jr. High	Bloomington
High School	9	Normal Community	Normal	Trevin Kafer	3.5/4	Normal Community	Normal
	228