Youth Chess News
Whitney Young Earns Another National Championship; IL Garners 14 Individual Awards at 2018 K-12's in Orlando
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- Written by Bill Feldman Bill Feldman
Chicago's Whitney Young High School has claimed yet another national championship, collecting the 12th Grade team championship at the 2018 National K-12 Grade Championships completed December 16 in Orlando, FL. Lead by co-champion Nikhil Kalghatgi's 6.0 and twin brother Akhil's 5.5, WY posted 15.5, two and a half more than each of the three schools who tied for second place.
Secundino Vazquez, Ricky Roman and Robert Bitunjac all posted 4.0's, one of which counted toward the WY team score. On tiebreaks Nikhil earned the second place individual trophy while Akhil garnered third place hardware. Secundino had the highest tiebreak of players rated 1200 to 1399 in the section while Robert took home third place for that ratings cluster.
November 2018 Top 100 Lists for Girls
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- Written by Eva Harrison Eva Harrison
The new Top 100 lists are out and again Illinois’ highest achievers are our three female experts – Shreya Mangalam, Miranda Liu, and Marissa Li – occupying ranks 5, 6 and 9, respectively, for their age groups. Closely behind is 1959-rated Aria Hoesley, the 10th best 14-year girl in the country, and four other Class A players: Ashley Yan, Emma Wang, Natalie Wisniowski and Shayna Provine.
Eight-year old Fox Valley Chess Club member Nandini Prakash has moved up to rank 5 in the country with a new personal best of 1554. Both Nandini (from Naperville) and aforementioned WCM Natalie (from Chicago) represented the U.S. in the World Cadet Championship in Spain earlier this month (cf. the separate ICA article).
Back-to-Back for Illinois at World Cadets in Under 8's; Yuvraj Chennareddy Claims Gold in Spain
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- Written by Bill Feldman Bill Feldman
With a 1.0 lead heading into the final round, Yuvraj Chennareddy most likely had clinched Gold at the 2018 World Cadet Championships in Santiago, Spain on tiebreaks.
But the Chicagoan finished in style leaving no doubt, defeating Edgar Mamedov of Kazakhstan as black, going undefeated in the Under 8 Section, with 10 wins and a draw (10.5/11).
In fact, Raj's score was the highest of any player across all six sections at the Cadets.
Nandini Prakash and Ria Raj now above 1500
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- Written by Eva Harrison Eva Harrison
Two Illinois girls have stepped across the 1500 threshold for the first time: Ria Raj, who was still 1368 in August, is now rated 1502 and has advanced to rank 18 among 10-year old female players. Two years her junior, listed in 6th place in the U.S., Nandini Prakash keeps progressing at an enormous pace, and her excellent performance at the Midwest Class is not even included in this month's ranking.
Speaking of thresholds, Niyathi Girish and Linda Pham, both 9, reached 1000 and 1300, respectively (make that 1400 (!) for Linda after the Midwest Class); 8-year old Joyce Zheng is back above 700; Nisha Salian celebrated her 11th birthday and a new rating milestone; and Chaitra Madugula crossed the 600-mark, which is an admirable feat for a 6-year old.
Rank 4 nationwide for Shreya (15) and Natalie (12)
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- Written by Eva Harrison Eva Harrison
There has been some movement in the Top 100 Lists for Illinois girls this month. Some female players dropped below the cutoff temporarily (Chaitra, Ankaa, Oyumaa), moved up to the next age bracket (Himani, Catherine, Layla, Miranda), cracked the top 100 for the first time (Niyathi) or simply aged out (Bethany).
But Illinois now has two girls who rank in 4th place in the country for their age: WCM Natalie Wisniowski (12th last month) with an admirable rating of 1851; and Shreya Mangalam, who went from 2118 to 2137. Both young ladies had scored outstanding results at the Chicago Class. Congratulations!