With a GM draw, Experts Todd Freitag and Dritan Zekaj cemented their co-championships of the 5th Orwell Memorial Open.

The four-round event was held June 27 in DeKalb, representing the sixth stop on the 2015 Illinois Chess Tour. USCF Crosstables are posted here.

Entering the last round at 2.5, Junior Tom Bareket had a chance to join the top score group, but the junior dropped his last game to Expert Bradley Guan. Guan had lost to Freitag in the penultimate round.

Guan finished at 3.0 as did fellow Naperville North teammates Danny Emge and Mark Reed. Emge claimed top honors for those starting the tournament Under 1800 while Reed had the top score for Under 2000's (which had a slightly lower prize pool).

For Zekaj, it marked his graduation from provisional ratings and upped his official USCF rating to 2104.

20 players competed in the Open while 52 competed overall, primarily in four sections.

Joseph Isaac mounted a perfect 4.0/4 in the 14-player Reserve Section, defeating Elijah Patterson in the final round. Isaac's rating went up a whopping 184 points, over 1600.  He defeated Rudy Padilla in the third round and Jonathan Gaenzle in the first round. Patterson, Padilla and Gaenzle all tied for second place with 3.0 scores.

After the tournament, Gaenzle praised both the play and the sportsmanship of his younger opponent, Mr. Isaac. In analyzing his game, Gaenzle said he was just outplayed the whole game, unable to find any immediate improvements in his own play.

At 2.0, Monish Bhasin and Alex Zhang had the high scores for players Under 1400 in the Reserve.

Sycamore's Cliff Adams was the Booster Champion with two wins and two draws. His fourth round victory against David Hafner was the decisive game. Hafner finished in a three-way tie for second place at 2.5, along with John Werkheiser and Sreyansh Mamidi.

In the Sub-Boster (Under 1000) Section, Ryan Guan posted a perfect 4.0/4, raising his rating to the precipice of 1000. Arin Nair and Maya Ross tied for second with 3.0 scores.

Patrick Storm had the top score for previously unrated players despite, missing the final two rounds due to prior obligation. Harrison Loh claimed the upset prize with a first round victory over a player over 600 points higher in the Open section.

The Illinois Chess Tour continues with the Chicago Class July 17-19 in Wheeling, IL. 

Jason Daniels entered the top five of the Open competition of the Tour (tied for fourth).  Padilla continues to lead the Reserve Tour... with Orwell participants Todd Frietag and Slav Borkowski running two and three. Aiden Carey took a clear lead in the Reserve Scholastic competition of the tour, two points higher than his nearest competition.