Youth Chess News
Bloomington Evans, Dunlap Earn '14 IESA Team Titles; 6th Graders Do, Musuku, Sobery Win Individual Top Honors
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- Written by Bill Feldman Bill Feldman
Not all chess needs to be rated by the US Chess Federation to have dramatic significance.
The Illinois Elementary School Association (IESA) hosted its fourth championships February 28 and March 1, crowning individual and team champions in two sections.
Vincent Do of Rockford's Thurgood Marshall Academy and Bloomington Evans Junior High's Rithvik Musuku split the championship of the 7th Grade section, while Nathan Sobery of Normal's Kingsley Junior High won the 8th Grade section. All three players finished with perfect 7.0/7 scores. Impressively, all three are only in the 6th Grade.
Illinois Youth in USCF Top 100 -- February 2014
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- Written by Bill Feldman Bill Feldman
If great junior chess players were grown in fields, Illinois' line up of young players could be termed a bumper crop.
Not only does Illinois now host a junior-aged Senior Master, not only is the Prairie State home to the nation's top-rated 9-year old, but the Land of Lincoln has now harvested a remarkable baker's dozen of experts age 18 or younger.
All in, that's 16 juniors rated 2000 or higher. On their heels, an additional dozen juniors are rated 1900 and up.
2014 IHSA Finals Individual Board Champions
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- Written by Bill Feldman Bill Feldman
IHSA Competition is unrated by the US Chess Federation. The finals were held in Peoria February 14 and 15, 2014.
For narrative, see related story elsewhere on this site.
Source: IHSA Crosstables.
| Board 1 | Board 5 | |||||||||
| Rank | Player, School | Yr. | Pts. | TB-1 | Rank | Player, School | Yr. | Pts. | TB-1 | |
| 1 | Allen Guo, Lincolnshire (Stevenson) | So. | 7.0 | 22.0 | 1 | Zhen Mo, Hinsdale (Central) | Fr. | 7.0 | 20.5 | |
| 2 | Gavin McClanahan, Glenview (Glenbrook South) |
Jr. | 7.0 | 17.5 | 2 | Troy Xu, Urbana (University) | Sr. | 7.0 | 18.5 | |
| 3 | Benjamin Nielsen, Normal (Community West) | Jr. | 7.0 | 17.0 | 3 | Elai Kobayashi-Solomon, Mt. Prospect (Prospect) |
So. | 7.0 | 16.0 | |
| 4 | Jonathan Hrach, Highland Park |
So. | 6.5 | 16.0 | 4 | Hari Cheruvu, Hoffman Estates (Conant) |
So. | 7.0 | 15.0 | |
| 5 | Joe Fennessey, Chicago (Marist) |
Sr. | 6.5 | 15.0 | 5 | Nathan Holzmueller, Evanston (Township) |
So. | 6.5 | ||
| 6 | Jon Phillips, Rolling Meadows | Sr. | 6.5 | 10.5 | ||||||
| Board 2 | Board 6 | |||||||||
| Rank | Player, School | Yr. | Pts. | TB-1 | Rank | Player, School | Yr. | Pts. | TB-1 | |
| 1 | Glen Lehrer, Elmhurst (York) | So. | 7.0 | 1 | Matthew DeMario, Lisle (Benet Academy) |
Jr. | 6.5 | 22.5 | ||
| 2 | Jimi Akintonde, Chicago (Whitney Young) |
Jr. | 6.5 | 2 | Marco Morales, Peoria (Richwoods) |
So. | 6.5 | 15.5 | ||
| 3 | Max Zinski, Lisle (Benet Academy) |
Jr. | 6.0 | 22.0 | 3 | Noah Pearson, Normal (Community West) |
Fr. | 6.5 | 13.5 | |
| 4 | Bryce McClanahan, Glenview (Glenbrook South) |
Fr. | 6.0 | 21.0 | 4 | Clint Balabuszko, Marengo | Fr. | 6.5 | 13.0 | |
| 5 | Bennedict Brady, Evanston (Township) |
Jr. | 6.0 | 19.5 | ||||||
| 6 | Kevin Yiu, Naperville (Central) | So. | 6.0 | 19.0 | ||||||
| 7 | Phillip Engstrom, Lincolnshire (Stevenson) |
Jr. | 6.0 | 18.5 | Board 7 | |||||
| 8 | Juan Gutierrez, Aurora (East) | Jr. | 6.0 | 13.5 | Rank | Player, School | Yr. | Pts. | TB-1 | |
| 9 | Jimmy Heinze, West Chicago | Sr. | 6.0 | 10.5 | 1 | Bobby Blankenship, Chicago (Marshall) |
Jr. | 7.0 | 16.5 | |
| 2 | Hugo Nunez, Plano | So. | 7.0 | 8.5 | ||||||
| Board 3 | 3 | Conway Dang, Carol Stream (Glenbard North) | So. | 6.5 | 15.5 | |||||
| Rank | Player, School | Yr. | Pts. | TB-1 | 4 | Xander Nicloson, Evanston (Township) |
Sr. | 6.5 | 14.0 | |
| 1 | Ryan Toepfer, Chicago (Northside Prep) |
So. | 7.0 | 23.5 | ||||||
| 2 | Alec Feygin, Glenview (Glenbrook South) |
Fr. | 7.0 | 19.5 | ||||||
| 3 | Matthew Wu, Naperville (North) |
Jr. | 7.0 | 18.5 | Board 8 | |||||
| Rank | Player, School | Yr. | Pts. | TB-1 | ||||||
| Board 4 | 1 | Elliot Krause, Aurora (IMSA) | Sr. | 7.0 | 18 | |||||
| Rank | Player, School | Yr. | Pts. | TB-1 | 2 | Adrian Chavarria, Oak Lawn (Richards) |
Jr. | 7.0 | 12.5 | |
| 1 | Aaron Willer, Naperville (North) | Jr. | 7.0 | 21 | 3 | Abel Arroyo, Chicago (Kelly) | Jr. | 7.0 | 7.5 | |
| 2 | Colby Timmons, Stanford (Olympia) | So. | 7.0 | 17 | 4 | Nathan Xu, Palatine (Fremd) | So. | 6.5 | ||
2014 IESA Championship Kicks Off Friday At ISU
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- Written by Bill Feldman Bill Feldman
Approximately 375 players representing more than 40 teams are expected to compete this weekend at the 4th IESA Chess Championships. The matches will not be rated by the USCF but will feature many players who are no stranger to USCF competition.
For the second consecutive year, the Bone Student Center on the campus of Illinois State University will serve as the host site.
The seven-round tournament featuring two sections, designated for 7th and 8th graders, will take place February 28 and March 1. Younger students who are expected to attend a particular school in the future are allowed to compete for that school.
Illinois Youth in USCF Top 100 -- January 2014
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- Written by Bill Feldman Bill Feldman
For the first time since David Peng enjoyed a short spell atop the official ratings, Illinois has a top-rated player in the US.
As previously reported in the Greater Midwest Class write-up, Aydin Turgut is now the highest-rated nine year old in the country!
Aydin earned expert status with a 2063 rating, doing well at the Greater Midwest event as well as earning a share of the championship at Decatur's Anderson Memorial in early December. At the latter event, Aydin shared top honors with Springfield's Tianlu Peng and Bloomington area's Pete Karagianis.