ICA Youth Committee Seeking New Members

Chess educators and parents have an opportunity to shape the landscape of chess for the children of Illinois.

The ICA's Youth Committee is undergoing a reformulation and is accepting letters of interest from those willing to share their experience and wisdom.  

If you are interested, please tell us briefly about yourself and any special perspectives on Illinois youth chess you are willing to share.  Also, please indicate your level of interest in a leadership role on the committee.

We anticipate that most meetings will be by conference call in the early evening. 

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Bhattacharyya and Kapoor Top 86th Kumbaya

Shaunak Bhattacharyya and Yashom Kapoor split the championship of the 86th Kumbaya held December 13 in Skokie.

Only four competitors entered the Under 1600's, turning the top section into a quad-paired event.

Yashom beat Shaunak in the final round to stake his claim to the co-championship. Yashom had lost to David Chen in the second round. Shreyas Reddy and David both finished with one point.

US Chess crosstables are posted here.

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Jayadeep Boya Wins '15 Washington Scholastic

With a pre-event rating 381 points higher than his closest competition, Jayadeep Boya was a perfect 4.0 at the 2015 Washington Scholastic.

The 100-player event was organized December 12 by the Greater Peoria Chess Federation affiliate, primarily in four sections.

Also in the Junior High Section, Jacob Davis and Aswath Ramesh posted 3.5's, drawing head-to-head in the final round. Davis boosted his rating seven points while Ramesh went up by 88.

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Benjamin School Hosts Three-Section Scholastic

Rahul Ravisundar was the clear winner of the Junior High section at the 2015 Benjamin Scholastic held December 5 in West Chicago. 81 competed in three sections. US Chess crosstables have been posted here.

In the Junior High section, Rahul boosted his rating 67 points to 1115 with four wins in four rounds. A six-way tie for second place at 3.0/4 included top-rated Brenden Gran, Siddhartha Kyaw, Jr., Jacob Horn, Nathan Salahi, Elizabeth Peterson and Sarah Grandy. 

In the five-round Elementary section competition, Benjamin Ick posted the lone perfect 5.0/5 score. His rating jumped 169 points to 723.

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Emrikian Is National K-12 Kindergarten Champion; Whitney Young Wins 9th Grade Championship and K-12 Blitz

Update: On tiebreaks, Aren Emrikian has won the Kindergarten National Championship at the K-12's in Orlando. Aren lost in the final round to Caleb Marshall of Kentucky who was rated 345 points higher, but won his six previous matches, compiling the best tiebreak of four players with 6.0/7. Hudson Lutfiyya was one point back at 5.0, participating in a five-way tie for 10th place.

Whitney Young has won the 9th Grade Championship with a 15.5 score, 2.5 ahead of New York's Dalton. Akhil Kalghatgi tallied 5.5 to tie for fourth place, sixth on tiebreaks. 

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