Although Ohio US Chess Master Yuri Barnakov was the ultimate winner at the 2016 Cincinnati Open, several Illinois players had strong showings at the five-round, two-day event concluded April 3.

Max Zinski posted a 2.5/5 in the Open section finishing in a three-way tie for fifth place.

Marissa Li and Peter Zheng both posted 3.0's in the Under 2100 section, tying for fourth place.

Peter raised his rating 47 points above 1800 once again. He drew a US Chess Expert from Michigan in the second round after defeating Marissa in the opening match.

According to reports, Marissa had the lead in the match of Illinois juniors before stumbling.

Peter had achieved Class A status almost six months ago at the Kings Island tournament near Cincinatti almost six months ago, before dropping below 1800 for the past two and a half months. The Cincinnati Open result was an early birthday present of sorts; Peter turns 11 today.

Marissa, facing lower-rated players all five rounds, managed to retain her rating in the 1930's.

Both Marissa and Peter have been invited to play in the Illinois Denker / Barber / Girls Invitationals to determine the national representative to those competitions.

Crosstables are available here.

The event was organized by Cincinnati Scholastic Chess.