Youth Chess News
2021-2022 Class of Warren Junior Scholars and Rising Stars to be Announced Soon. New Qualified Players Need to Contact the Director
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- Written by Eric Luster and Rose Grandy Eric Luster and Rose Grandy
Warren Scholars and Rising Stars are programs aimed at recognizing youth accomplishments in rated chess and providing training and camaraderie-promoting activities. Recently a program called Rising Star Candidates have been added with separate qualification criteria.
If you believe your child qualifies, please complete this inquiry form. All Warren Junior Scholars, Rising Stars, and Rising Star Candidates must be scholastic members of the ICA. There are no additional costs to be included as a Scholar, Star, or candidate-- although participation in some events will incur a fee. Current participants need not complete the form.
Eligibility is based on the USCF August Rating supplement as well as tournament participation. Rating eligibility is as follows.
Louisa Zhang – 1st place in U1500 at Chicago Open
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- Written by Eva Harrison Eva Harrison
Check out our strong group of 16-year-olds:
- Louisa Zhang jumped from 1417 to 1588 (!!) by winning the U1500 section at the Chicago Open with 6.5 out of 7 points.
- Sarah Lin went from 1565 to 1612 with an excellent performance at the Illinois Youth Invitational.
- Maggie Tsyganova had outstanding results at both of those tournaments and achieved a big milestone by crossing into 1700 territory.
In the “Age 18” category, Rebecca Phillips also scored 80 rating points at the Chicago Open.
All of these improvements reflect in higher rankings on the US Chess top 100 lists for girls. Also, Joanna Marsten and Priya Nandish Dhananjaya achieved their first mention this month. Way to go!
5 Featured Players in the Age 18 Category
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- Written by Eva Harrison Eva Harrison
While neither the results of the ICA’s Youth Invitational nor those of the prestigious 2021 Chicago Open made the cutoff for the most recent rankings for Top 100 Girls from Illinois, there was some fluctuation on the lists due to birthdays, as a result of which Illinois now boasts 5 young ladies in the Age 18 group—a first since 2017.
Of those 18-year-olds, Shreya Mangalam has achieved the highest rating of 2132 in the Illinois chess community of female players. Natalie Wisniowski (age 15) and Aria Hoesley (age 17) both sit at 4th on the ranking lists nationwide for their respective age groups. Congratulations to our top-rated players and all the others mentioned below on their amazing accomplishments. Keep competing!
50 Illinois Players in the US Top 100 Lists
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- Written by Eva Harrison Eva Harrison
The month of May marks the highest number of girls from our state ranking in the US Top 100 since the start of the pandemic, and Illinois is proud to have a representative in the “Age 7 and Under” category again: Devaanshi Bothe, who joins her older sister Nysa. They form the third pair of sisters currently featured on these prestigious lists, Angela and Emily Hu from Naperville, and Enkhjin and Anujin Namuunbayar from Chicago being the other two.
A shout-out to Aria, Shreya, Maggie, Ria, Saanvi, Sarah, Linda, Shakira, Trechelle, Mehak, Imani and others who recently played in the ICA’s Youth Invitational. Many did well, but the results are not yet included here.
April 2021 US Top 100 Lists for Girls
- Details
- Written by Eva Harrison Eva Harrison
US Rank Player (US Chess ID) March ’21 Cutoff
| Age 8 | ||
| 27 | Lee, Olivia (16643743) | 815 |
| 72 | Berkey, Rebekah (16585623) | 476 |
| Age 9 | ||
| 22 | Jiandani, Mehak S (16108634) | 997 |
| Age 10 | ||
| 41 | Hu, Angela (16747812) | 1077 |
| 60 | Doddi, Sukhi (15850503) | 953 |
| 61 | Zheng, Joyce J (16239154) | 952 |
| 95 | Bothe, Nysa (17073423) | 815 |
| Age 11 | ||
| 8 | Prakash, Nandini (16085871) | 1717 |
| 65 | Gansukh, Megan (16231843) | 1054 |
| Age 12 | ||
| 15 | Raj, Ria (15844590) | 1630 |
| 63 | Namuunbayar, Enkhjin (15863824) | 1217 |
| 70 | Erdenebileg, Oyumaa (16243234) | 1177 |
| 83 | Saravanan, Shanthini (16213261) | 1093 |
| 88 | Hu, Emily (16385785) | 1083 |
| 94 | Girish, Niyathi (16221570) | 1054 |
| Age 13 | ||
| 19 | Adusumalli, Saanvi (15412194) | 1649 |
| 32 | Zhao, Sophia Ziyan (16763001) | 1510 |
| 37 | Salian, Nisha (15767306) | 1493 |
| 42 | Lee, Merrill (15703571) | 1439 |
| 45 | Musku, Himani (15932133) | 1401 |
| 77 | Hong, Sophie (15947555) | 1189 |
| 83 | Liu, Catherine (15277304) | 1143 |
| 90 | Swan, Josephine Grace (15352778) | 1107 |
| Age 14 | ||
| 2 | Wisniowski, Natalie (15702390) | 2006 |
| 31 | Oberai, Anisha (15794814) | 1516 |
| 75 | Namuunbayar, Anujin (15863872) | 1157 |
| 91 | Schneider, Rosali (15552287) | 1005 |
| Age 15 | ||
| 16 | Luster, Shakira (15641127) | 1704 |
| 26 | Lin, Sarah (15376582) | 1565 |
| 59 | Nadkarni, Anusha (14789160) | 1219 |
| 60 | Williams, Trechelle (15637011) | 1216 |
| 70 | Hill, Imani (16214855) | 1132 |
| Age 16 | ||
| 10 | Yan, Ashley (14957435) | 1912 |
| 34 | Tsyganova, Margarita (15922341) | 1578 |
| 41 | Zhang, Louisa (15746981) | 1417 |
| 44 | Rodriguez, Layla (15360516) | 1381 |
| 67 | Maiewski, Isabela (15151805) | 1009 |
| 70 | Varadharajan, Saigeetha (16773343) | 965 |
| 86 | Kuricheti, Umika (14579770) | 822 |
| Age 17 | ||
| 4 | Mangalam, Shreya (14385521) | 2132 |
| 5 | Hoesley, Aria (14631046) | 2091 |
| 25 | Shklover, Diana (14672010) | 1527 |
| 28 | Grandy, Sarah Ruth (14279452) | 1446 |
| 39 | Brahin, Lizzy (15698350) | 1264 |
| 68 | Schwegel, Bernadette Olivia (15128161) | 871 |
| Age 18 | ||
| 32 | Phillips, Rebecca (16628621) | 1388 |
| 45 | Bates, Jade (15332430) | 1120 |