Bloomington Evans and Normal Chiddix both won team trophies in all three divisions at the 2016 IESA Championships.

But it was Rockford Marshall garnering the 8th Grade team championship, led by individual champion Vincent Do and silver medalists Sengdao Inthavong, Jeremiah Davis, and Sreyansh Mamidi.

Complete results for the IESA are posted, along with information on how a junior high or middle school might participate in the 2017 competition which will once again be held in Peoria.

Over 50 teams and 479 individuals competed in the two-day, seven-round event completed February 27 at the Peoria Civic Center.

For Vincent it was the third year in a row winning his section at the IESA's. (Vincent was co-champion of the 7th grade section as a sixth grader in 2014). He ends his IESA career a remarkable 21-0.

Normal Chiddix (26.5) took second place in the top section, three points back from Marshall (29.5).

The two teams had a pair of head-to-head match ups in round seven that both went to the Rockford school. Had they gone the other way, the four-point swing would have been enough to award the crown to the defending champion Chiddix. 

Bloomington Evans claimed third with 23.5 points. Earle STEM brought back the fourth place trophy to Chicago, achieving the same 22.0 score as Sterling Challand, but compiling superior tiebreak numbers.

Chiddix had five bronze medalists in the eighth grade section: Mantra Dave, Abhiru Raut and Naaman Rivera all posted 5.5's; Vishnu Anagani, Nikith Dodda and Dylan Krejci tallied 5.0's with the top five scores counting towards the team result.

Other eighth grade section silver medalists included Jackson Biagini of Washington Central, Ethan Boley of Morton, Ishaar Ganesan of Bloomington Evans, Ben Johnson of Brimfield and Aidan Munoz-Ripley of Sterling Challand.

It had been an uphill battle for the core of the Marshall squad in earning the championship, placing second in the seventh grade section in 2014 before earning fourth place in that division in 2015.

After the awards, Marshall's Vincent Do said, "I feel extremely happy and proud of my team because they tried their very best and they never gave up." He praised his teammates for their diligent practice leading up to the tournament. Parents are suggesting a trip to the USCF Junior High Nationals may be in the offing.

Vincent went on to "thank the parents of my teammates for supporting them in chess."

In the 7th grade division it was Chiddix posting the top 29.5 score (35 would be perfect), lead by co-champions Jason Daniels and Joseph Suh, both with perfect 7.0 scores. Lineeth Sareddy was a silver medalist with 6.0 and Saisuhas Belaturi was a bronze medalist with 5.0.

Jason, who was co-champion of the 8th grade section in 2015 (as a sixth grader) spoke with pride about the efforts of his Chiddix teammates, citing how so many of worked all year towards this event.

Peoria-suburb Dunlap Middle School placed second with 27.0. Dunlap was paced by Silver Medalists Sunny Boya and Jason Li (6.0) and Bronze Medalists Andrea Ciofoaia, Alice Li and Joyce Li, all with 5.0's.

Bloomington Evans placed third, only a half-point back at 26.5. Dunlap Valley grabbed fourth place with 22.0.

Homewood Hart had two 7th grade silver medalists  in Malcom Smith and Carrington Valentine, both with 6.0's. Hart finished in fifth place.

Fredrich Yuan of Daniel Wright in Lincolnshire was the sixth grade section individual champion with 6.5/7, but once again it was Chiddix nabbing the top team prize for the second year in a row.

Tejas Katam and Kyra Rivera, both with 6.0, contributed silver medalist performances to the Chiddix team total of 27.0. Arjun Kale, Andrew Short and Abinav Sivakuma all posted 5.0 as bronze medalists for Chiddix. 

Bloomington Evans took second place honors for sixth grade teams with 24.0, a half-point ahead of Wright.  Wright, in turn, was a half-point better than Dunlap Middle School which placed fourth.

Evans was lead by 5.0 from bronze medalists Marcus Lee, Owen Parker and Colin Reedy.

In addition to Fred's championship performance, Wright's third place finish was bolstered by Deepak Salian's silver medalist performance at 6.0.

Malcom Wei and Eddie Zhang paced Dunlap to fourth place with 5.0's.

Buvinash Vinothasa of Bloomington Junior High, Jacob Davis of Normal Parkside, Devanshi Kothari of Dunlap Valley and Andy Tang of Next Generation of Champaign were the other sixth grade silver medalists with 6.0's.

The event, started in 2011, transitioned from a board-based event in 2014. This was the second year for the sixth grade division.  It was the first year the event was held in Peoria after five years in Bloomington-Normal.

Earlier Story:  479 Compete at 2016 IESA Championships in Peoria

Over 50 teams are competing in three sections at the 6th Illinois Elemementary School Asociation's Chess Championships, largely for junior high, intermediate and middle school students. The two-day, seven-round event has moved to the Peoria Civic Center, the site of the IHSA event two weeks ago.

Heading into day two, nine players have perfect 4.0 scores in the eighth grade section, four from Rockford Marshall: Vincent Do, Jeremiah Davis, Sengdao Inthavong and Sreyansh Mamidi. Richard Yang is also contributing 3.5 to the "top five" team score.

Rockford Marshall leads 43 other teams with 19.5 points, ahead of Bloomington Evans and Normal Chiddix, both with 16.5 so far.

In the seventh grade section, nine players have perfect 4.0's including three from Normal Chiddix: Jason Daniels, Lineeth Sareddy and Joseph Suh. Chiddix leads the 43-team field with 18.5 points, ahead of (Peoria suburb) Dunlap Middle School which has 18.0.

Normal Chiddix also leads the sixth grade section with 17.0 lead by perfect 4.0's from Tejas Katam and Andrew Short. Six others have 4.0's so far including Daniel Wright's (of Lincolnshire) Deepak Salian and Fredrich Yuan.