Youth Chess News
May 2018: 52 Illinois Youth Among US Top 100's
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- Written by Rose Grandy and Bill Feldman Rose Grandy and Bill Feldman
52 Illinois youth are listed in the top 100 of their respective age nationwide as of May 2018 US Chess ratings. "Raj" Chennareddy is #1 in the age 7 and under classification, Dimitar Mardov #2 in age 9 and six others in top 10 positions: Aren Emrikian (age 8), Aydin Turgut (age 13), David Peng (age 15), Jacob Furfine (age 16), Alex Bian (age 17) and George Li (age 18).
Excitingly, six Illinois girls are on this month's US Top 100's -- irrespective of gender -- Nandini Prakash (age 8), Natalie Wisniowski (age 11), Aria Hoesley (age 14), Shreya Mangalam & Marissa Li (age 15), and Miranda Liu (age 16).
USChess Names 2018 World Youth & Cadets, 15 Illinois Juniors Qualify: Mardov & Chennareddy Are Official Reps
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- Written by Rose Grandy Rose Grandy
USCF has announced the qualifiers for both the World Youth Chess Championships 2018 and World Cadet Chess Championships 2018 tournaments. Nine Illinois players have qualified for World Youth and 6 have qualified for World Cadet. These players qualified by meeting the minimum required rating for their age group, based on the May 2018 rating supplement.
Dimitar Mardov was the highest rated of the qualified players in the open U10 section of the World Cadet tournament and so is named the Official Representative from the US Chess Federation for that section. Likewise, Yuvraj Chennareddy was the highest rated of the qualified players in the open U8 section of the World Cadet tournament and is the Official Representative from the US Chess Federation for that section.
May 2018 US Top 100 Lists for Girls
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- Written by Eva Harrison Eva Harrison
I’m always happy to see new names on the list of Illinois’ top 100 girls. This month, in the ‘Age 7 and Under’ category, Joyce Zheng received her first mention with a rating of 753 and a ranking of 34 nationwide. Congratulations, Joyce! Her sister Kaylee missed the list by a whisker.
Nine-year old Siri Chennareddy of Decatur Classical School jumped from 94th place to 54th place over last month and her tournament performances have now earned her a well-deserved four-digit rating. Way to go, Siri!
2018 National Elementary Championship Tournament Results
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- Written by Rose Grandy Rose Grandy
The National Elementary Championship has wrapped up at the Gaylord Opryland and Convention Center in Nashville, TN. Seventy-eight (78) players from Illinois participated in this K-6 championship event.
In the K-6 Blitz, Sreekar Gangavarapu, a 4th grader from Edison Regional Gifted Center in Chicago placed 2nd for ratings 1000-1099. In the K-3 Blitz, David Liu, a 1st grader from Northpoint Elementary in Bloomington, placed 2nd for ratings under 600.
Warren Junior Scholar Alex Zhao teamed up with Reagan Pearl from California and won first place in Bughouse.
In the K-6 Championship section, Warren Junior Scholar Arthur Xu, a 5th grader from Mann School, brought home the 14th place trophy, with 5 out of 7 points. Rising Star Yuvraj Chennareddy, a 2nd grader, brought home one of 15th place trophies, also with 5 out of 7 points. Rising Star Rahul Bammidi, a 6th grader from Evans Junior High School, took home 1st for Ratings 1300 to 1399. Sreekar Gangavarapu, a 4th grader from Edison Regional Gifted Center, took home 2nd for ratings 1000-1099.
Champaign Chess Challenge
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- Written by Rachel Schechter Rachel Schechter
Chess players from Bloomington-Normal, Peoria, and Decatur matched wits with our own local talent to produce six perfect scores (4.0) in the April 15 Champaign Chess Challenge: Jaden Wang, Navid Tajkhorshid , Himani Musku, Vincent Fang, Joyce Zheng and Elbert Fang.
Hard-fought. Well-played. Here’s how this USCF K-12, 4-round, 80 player contest finished: Grades 6-12: Jaden Wang, 4.0, 1st Pl; Navid Tajkhorshid 4.0, 2nd Pl; Leonardo Ludaescher 2.0, 3rd Pl. Jay Ganesan, Simon Peyma Anari, Nora Sun, Savindi Devmal, Samuel Balogh and Kiran Naidu also scored 2.0.
Grades 4-5: Himani Musku, 4.0, 1st Pl; Max Chen, 3.5, 2nd Pl; Jeffrey Yao, 3.0, 3rd Pl. Kaylee Zheng, Catherine Liu, Kaixuan Liu, and Mrithuun Rajkumar also scored 3.0.
Grades 2-3: Vincent Fang, 4.0, 1st Pl; Joyce Zheng, 4.0, 2nd Pl; Anthony Yang, 3.0, 3rd Pl. Yao Chang, Anirudh Shome, Abhiram Karnatapu and James Yan also scored 3.0.