Youth News
Four IL Youth Named to Prestigious 2018 All-America Team
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- Written by Bill Feldman Bill Feldman
- Published: 20 November 2017 20 November 2017
Four top Illinois juniors were among the 74 selected by US Chess for the 2018 All-America Team.
Candidates were based on their 1/1/2017 rating and peak post-tournament ratings from 7/1/16 through 6/30/17.
George Li was one of eleven 16-year olds with a minium rating of 2400. David Peng is one of eight 13-year olds with ratings above 2300.
Arthur Xu is listed as one of four 9-year olds with a minimum rating of 2000 -- and in fact, is listed as the top such youth. For the Age 8 and Under group, Dimitar Mardov is one of nine with ratings above 1900, designated as the third highest in the impressive group.
258 Face Off At Peoria's 2017 Illinois All-Grade
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- Written by Bill Feldman Bill Feldman
- Published: 13 November 2017 13 November 2017
[Editor's Note: the article has now been updated to include team results which were posted November 15. See below.]
The Lutfiyya brothers took sibling rivalry to new heights at the 2017 Illinois All-Grade Championships, held November 11 at the Peoria Civic Center.
Pre-schooler Ren and First-grader Hudson both posted perfect 5.0's in the "Lower Primary" section (Grades K-1). 19 competed in the youngest division.
Ren benefited from a first-round bye but both finished two full-points ahead of an eight-way tie for third with 3.0 scores, with the Lutfiyya's earning a rare family state co-championship.
October 2017: 51 IL Youth Among US Top 100's; 8 Top 10's
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- Written by Bill Feldman Bill Feldman
- Published: 04 November 2017 04 November 2017
Ages 7, 9 and 16 each have three Illinois players ranked in the US Top 30's. All totalled, 51 youth are on one of the Top 100's.
Eight Illinois players are in the Top 10 of their respective age group, with Aren Emrikian (7), Dimitar Mardov (9), and David Peng (14) all one spot away from highest honors.
Four females are on the lists irrespective of gender.
A remarkable 24 players are at 2000 or above this month -- with Edward Zhang and Rishi Narayanan within 10 rating points of that distinction.
Updated: Oct. '17: 9 IL Girls in Top 20 By Age; 46 in Top 100's
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- Written by Eva Harrison, ICA Women's Coordinator Eva Harrison, ICA Women's Coordinator
- Published: 23 October 2017 23 October 2017
The US Chess Top 100 lists for October include 46 young ladies from Illinois with nine of them ranking in the top 20.
In the “Ages 7 and Under” group, Nandini Prakash and Hili Bareket improved their ratings over last month; the same is true for Linda Pham and Enkhjin Namuunbayar, who are a year older.
With her new rating of 1080, Linda secured herself a top-25 spot among the nation's 8-year old females.
Girls Top 2 of 3 Sections at October 14 Bateman Invitational
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- Written by Bill Feldman Bill Feldman
- Published: 19 October 2017 19 October 2017
With 90 players competing, the Chicago Chess Foundation's 2017-2018 season got off to a rollicking start at an October 14 invitational tournament at the northside Newton Bateman Elementary School.
Ultimately more than 45 school- and club-based teams will be going at it when the CCF competition schedule kicks off in November.
In the Novice K-4 section, Skinner North's Elaine Chao and Decatur's Lily Meegoda were both perfect with 5-for-5 efforts. Elaine won a blitz tiebreaker to take first place honors.