Youth News

ICA Announces Field of 30 for Denker, Barber, Girls

Details: Written by Bill Feldman Bill Feldman; Published: 24 March 2016 24 March 2016

The Illinois Chess Association has finalized the field for three invitational tournaments occurring in Schaumburg May 14-15.

The winners of these tournaments will become the Illinois representatives to the national Denker, Barber and Girls events occuring late summer in Indianapolis just prior to the US Open.

January 2016 rating issued by US Chess was the primary criterion for selection.

Masters George Li and Alex Bian are the top-rated invitees in the 12-player, Swiss-paired, five-round Denker.

216 Elmhurst Students Compete in 20th Annual Tourney

Details: Written by Bill Feldman Bill Feldman; Published: 17 March 2016 17 March 2016

For the 20th year, Chicago-suburb of Elmhurst has hosted a weekday evening tournament featuring "extended blitz" time controls. This year's District 205 event was conducted March 16 at York Community High School with 216 area students competing in six sections.

Visitation's Luke Alexander posted the lone perfect 5-0 score for 2nd graders, Timothy Christian's Gavin Bullard did the same in the third grade section.

Edison's Jack Davies was 5.0/5 in the fourth grade section. Clare Mortenson of Lincoln claimed the fifth grade championship with five points.

Ganesan Wins 2016 Illinois K-8 Championship; Chiddix Top Team; Elijah Platnick, Dimitar Mardov and Julian Wang Win Sections

Details: Written by Bill Feldman Bill Feldman; Published: 14 March 2016 14 March 2016

Points matter. Sometimes even half a point can be a big deal.

With a seventh round triumph over neighboring city rival Jason Daniels, Ishaar Ganesan earned the 2016 Illinois K-8 Individual Championship. Ganesan was the sole competitor with 6.5 points, a half-point ahead of four players with 6.0's: Vincent Do, Ed Zhang, Aidan Carey and Neel Jay.

Jason's Chiddix Junior High (of Normal) team reprised their recent IESA 7th grade championship by winning the top team honors with 21 points from their top four scorers.

Daniels Edges Bareket as 2016 K-8 Blitz Champion

Details: Written by Bill Feldman Bill Feldman; Published: 13 March 2016 13 March 2016

When the dust settled after ten blitz games, Jason Daniels and Adam Bareket stood tied, both with 8.5 out of 10. On tiebreaks, Daniels took the championship with Bareket nabbing second place hardware.

Adam Wallach and Justin Weinzwieg both posted 8.0's with Wallach earning the better tiebreak for third place. Weinzwieg earned fourth place, while Ishaar Ganesan earned fifth place with his 7.5 score.

ChessKid.com Gold Accounts Available Once Again

Details: Written by ICA Staff ICA Staff; Published: 02 March 2016 02 March 2016

If your child is a scholastic ICA member and you have previously had a Gold Account on ChessKid, please contact This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. to have your Gold status reinstated.

The ICA board decided not to continue the program at its most recent meeting, but a generous benefactor has decided to fund the renewal of a limited number of accounts to allow Illinois kids to prepare for upcoming state and national tournaments. If there is sufficient interest, the Gold status may continue throughout the term of the ICA membership.

A 25-page guidebook providing a logical sequence of videos to watch is available for download here. ChessKid.com provides a kid-friendly, safe environment to play games against online opponents and to learn all about chess through almost 100 hours of videos, unlimited tactical puzzles and repeatable training exercises.