41 teams competed in the first of six YCFC events November 14 at Earle STEM Elementary on the southwest side of Chicago. The Youth Chess Foundation of Chicago is a 501(c)(3).

In the K-2 Novice section, Skinner North's Asha Lulla and Aaron Patino of St Joseph (Summit) tied for first with four wins and a draw. Asha won the top trophy with the higher tiebreaks. John Seward of Decatur took third place as the top tiebreak of the 4.0 scoregroup. Asha defeated John in the first round.

Teamwise, Decatur edged Skinner North 13.5-12.5 to win the top trophy. Decatur was lead by 4.0's from John and Josephine Swan. Aaron's St. Joseph team took third.

In Novice 3-4 competition, Aurora Chess Club's Aryan Shrigadi won a playoff match against Aditya Oberai -- also an Aurora Club member but playing under the banner of Lemont's River Valley. Both had gone undefeated with five wins in five matches before the playoff match.

Matel Cotefrea of Parkview in Morton Grove posted the top 4.0 score to take the third place trophy. Matel lost to Aditya in the fifth round, his only loss of the day.

Lenart edged Skinner North for the top team trophy, 14.0-13.5. Bateman took third at 12.5. Lenart was lead by 4.0's from Henry Guo and Mengzi Yang, and a 3.5 from Joshua Liu.

Novice 5-6 competition saw Nathan Liu of Lenart post the only perfect 5.0 to claim first, with Kinzie's Anthony Luna taking second at 4.5. Both Nathan and Anthony were the only entrants from their respective school in that section.

Max Castillo of Skinner North took third place with the top tiebreak among seven 4.0's. Max had lost to Nathan in the final round.

Edgebrook earned the first place team trophy on tiebreaks over Skinner North, both with 14.0 points. Edgebrook was lead by 4.0's from Ben Bologna and James Nacionales. Skinner North was paced by 4.0's from Max and Bernadette Schwegel. Bateman took third with 12.0 points.

In the Novice 7-8, Frankie Salas of Bateman posted the lone 5.0 score, defeating Pat Osterman of Edison in the last round. Pat had the top tiebreak among five 4.0's with Adam Kus of St. Joseph's taking third.

Host Earle STEM won the team trophy with 11.0, edging Cook who had 10.0. Earle fielded 12 players in the section while Cook needed points from all four entrants.

St. Ethelreda, with only three entrants, managed an impressive 9.5 to take third place.

In the 38-player Advanced Section, Aurora Club's Kevin Ho was a perfect 5.0, defeating Lane Tech's Jonas Vriend in the final round. Taking second place, Jonas finished at 4.0 with the top tiebreak of four 4.0's. He defeated Avi Kaplan of Decatur in the fourth round, with Avi taking third place on tiebreaks.

Paced by 4.0's from Jonas and Joey Buklis, Lane Tech won the team trophy with 11.0 (see picture above left). Bateman was second at 9.5, supported by Jimmy Nguyen's 3.5 and 3.0's from Layla Rodriguez and Esteban Taboada. Whitney Young's 7.5 tally took third place.

The next YCFC event is December 19th at De La Salle. Complete calendar is posted on the Chicago Chess Federation website.

 

	Novice Sections				Advanced Section
	K-2	3-4	5-6	7-8
Entries	31	55	61	37	38
Winner	Asha Lulla	Aryan Shrigadi	Nathan Liu	Frankie Salas	Kevin Ho
	Skinner North	Aurora Chess	Lenart	Bateman	Aurora Chess
Runner Up	Aaron Patino	Aditya Oberai	Anthony Luna	Pat Osterman	Jonas Vriend
	St. Joseph	River Valley	Kinzie	Edison	Lane Tech
Team Champion	Decatur	Lenart	Edgebrook	Earle STEM	Lane Tech