Dimitar Mardov Now Second Ranked Under 7 in US

 

Dimitar Mardov is the number two junior in the US aged 7-and-under as of the May 2016 ratings lists!

Aren Emrikian is ranked 20th in that age group... but is also the fourth-ranked six-year old in the US.

Illinois' two other top 10 players are David Peng, sixth in Age 13, and Jacob Furfine, seventh in Age 14.

The complete table of all 48 Top 100's is below the jump.

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YCFC 2015-2016 Season Concludes at Chicago's Burbank; Bateman, Burbank and Skinner North Take Sections

 

The Youth Chess Foundation of Chicago concluded its 2015-2016 season with a May 14 five-round, three-section tournament at Burbank Elementary School in northwest Chicago with 219 competing.

According to organizer Mike Cardinale, this brought the season totals across the six events to 1,834 entries, for an average of 306 players per event. All the events provided free entry with a generous line up of trophies thanks to donations and countless hours of volunteer time. This is Cardinale's 14th year organizing the events.

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Illinois Juniors Amass Hardware Arsenal at Ice Harbor

 

Competing in five rated sections, Illinois players brought home an impressive array of trophies from the 4th Ice Harbor Scholastic held May 13-15 in Dubuque, Iowa at the Grand Harbor Resort.

In the K-12 Open section St. Charles East's Ryan Chimienti and Naperville North's Richard Zhang both posted 4.0/5's to tie for second place. Ryan gave section champion Abhy Shukla his lone blemish with a fifth round draw. Richard overcame an opening match loss, posting four subsequent wins. 46 players competed in the section. On tiebreaks, Ryan collected 4th place hardware while Richard was awarded fifth.

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Li, Do, and Liu Earn Tickets to Indy: Denker, Barber and Girls

 

Coming from behind is not something IMSA's George Li has to do often.

George drew Daniel Bronfeyn in the opening match of the Illinois Denker Invitational before finishing strong with four victories.

His 4.5 tally placed the highest-rated high school invitee in clear first place, earning him a spot in the prestigious national Denker competition late this summer in Indianapolis.

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ICA Selects Bloomington Normal to Host 2017 K-8 Event; 2016-2017 Scholastic Year Calendar Shaping Up

 

After an exhaustive examination of alternatives, the Illinois Chess Association has accepted a bid from the Bloomington Normal Area Scholastic Chess (BNASC) to host the Illinois K-8 championship for the 2016-2017 school year.

BNASC President Amy Green expressed pride in the decision to offer the hosting rights to her organization. She indicates the competitive dates for the events itself will be Saturday and Sunday, March 11-12, with wild-and-crazy Bughouse (two-person teams) and faster-than-the-speed-of-light Blitz on that Friday.

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