Jack Heller named 2024 Scholar/Chessplayer by the US Chess Federation
Congratulations to Chicago Public Schools student and ICA Warren Jr. Scholar Jack Heller for being named a 2024 Scholar/Chessplayer by the US Chess Federation and the US Chess Trust. The award recognizes and encourages outstanding high school juniors and seniors who promote a positive image of chess, while excelling in academics and leadership.
Jack volunteers with the Chicago Chess Foundation and traveled to Ghana with it last year to teach chess to children in an impoverished fishing village.
Jack is a senior at Walter Payton College Preparatory High School in Chicago. He hopes to become a veterinarian.
To read about the award, visit: https://new.uschess.org/news/2024-scholar-chessplayer-awards-announced-six-players-honored-2024-national-high-school
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Jeff Wiewel: 40+ years as a Tournament Director
Jeff Wiewel: 40+ years as a Tournament Director
Tournament directing is undeniably a craft that must be cultivated through
years of practice and gaining expertise, and who better to learn from, than the
best. Jeff Wiewel has been a pillar of the Illinois, and nationwide, tournament
directing scene for over 40 years. In that time he has worked over 700
tournaments, including 65 national events.
I myself have worked under Jeff at several events during my short tenure as
a tournament director. He is an amazing asset as he is always there to support the
staff with his limitless knowledge and brighten everyone’s day with his common,
albeit sometimes corny, jokes.
Jeff has been playing chess since he was eight years old, and has been in
the chess community semi-regularly ever since. He began directing scholastic
tournaments in 1982, and continued directing until he progressed to the national
level by working at the National Junior High in 1988.
Jeff reached his national breakthrough in 2001 when he began working
more and more national events. Which eventually led him to begin substantially
traveling throughout the country a few years later. Which is when he became a
NTD, in 2003.
Besides that, he has been on the US Chess tournament director certification
committee, being the chair or vice chair since 2008. He has been the chair of the
Chicago Industrial League's West division for ten years. Further, he has been a US
chess delegate multiple times.
During our discussion, I inquired with Jeff about his most cherished aspects
of serving as a tournament director. He mentioned the joy he receives from
mentoring new tournament directors, seeing the joy of the players, and being
part of a community where he can fully be himself. And happily, being able to do
it with his son, be it directing while he played in the past, or directing together in
the present.
Jeff’s personal belief on how to become a good tournament director is to
always be cordial and nice, even when you need to be commanding. Beyond
simple niceties, the importance of understanding your own limitations and when
to defer to those above you is of keen importance.
A favorite memory of his is when many USCF tournaments were canceled
due to COVID, tournament directors were asked to submit a small clip that would
then be cut together into a video to put on the website for morale. While most
TD’s focused on staying safe and the present, Jeff touched on hoping to see us all
in the future – almost subconsciously saying the world would get back to normal –
this was put at the finale of the video. I believe that beautifully sums up who he
is: the man, the myth, the chess legend, the realistic optimist.
Josh Flores replaces Patrick Cohen as secretary and Dan Wilson accepts general board position
There have been a couple of board changes. Patrick Cohen contacted me a couple of weeks ago to let me know he was going to resign in a couple of months due to his limited time to be available for meetings. I contacted Josh Flores to see if he would take over the secretary position, since he held it previously. He was willing to start in March and Patrick was willing to resign effective February 29. Patrick has informed me he will graciously assist the board with several behind-the-scenes efforts he does to help this great organization.
Daniel Wilson had previously reached out to me to see if he could be part of the board. Since Josh was currently on board as a general collar county member, we now had an open position. The board offered Dan that position.
We now have a full board minus a downstate general board position. If anyone is interested please email Josh at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. or me at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.,
Thanks and please lets welcome Dan and Josh to their new positions and thank Patrick for his many years of service where I personally will miss his input and knowledge at meetings.
Steve
President Illinois Chess Association
Read MoreIllinois High School Association (IHSA) Chess State Championship 2024
Illinois High School Association (IHSA)
Chess State Championship 2024
Peoria, Illinois February 9-10, 2024
Firstly, I’d like to thank the organizers and the directors, along with all of the players for making this edition of the IHSA State Championship the best it could’ve been.
I myself played in the tournament, and I can confidently say that it was an amazing experience – more than simply being a tournament, but as a way to make friends and bond as a team.
After the first day, when we were 4/4, the anticipation for the possibilities of the following day was immense. And even though we didn’t end up performing as well as we hoped, the experience was all that mattered.
I’ve been to many tournaments throughout my life, but something about this one was special. The opportunity of being able to be with friends outside of the plain school environment, on top the combination of my own hobbies, made this an exceptionally special tournament.
Enough about that, onto the results of the tournament.
128 teams played in the tournament – after the first day, only 8 teams remained undefeated.
Round 5; Final 8 undefeated
Table 4: Aurora (IMSA) defeated Naperville (Neuqua) 56.5 vs 11.5
Table 3:Palatine (Fremd) defeated Naperville (Central) 39.5 vs 28.5
Table 2:Chicago (Payton)defeated Evanston (Twp.) 55 vs 13
Table 1:Lincolnshire (Stevenson) defeated Chicago (Whitney Young) 50 vs 18
Round 6; Final 4 undefeated
Table 2:Chicago (Payton) defeated Aurora (IMSA) 34.5 vs 33.5
Table 1:Lincolnshire (Stevenson) defeated Palatine (Fremd) 50.5 vs 17.5
Round 7, Final round; Final 2 undefeated
Table 1. After a long match, Stevenson and Payton finished the tournament with a draw in the final round. Stevenson eventually won on tiebreakers.
Here is the winning team:
Glenn Panner from Chess Weekend supplied individual award medals to all players with at least 5.5 points out of 7. Bronze was awarded with 5.5, Silver with 6, and gold with 6.5 or 7 points. Around 100 players received medals out of 1200.
The following participants were awarded medals.
Name |
Total Points |
Medal |
Arthur Xu (Jr.) |
7 |
Gold |
Dario Pjevic (So.) |
7 |
Gold |
Gustavo Garcia (Fr.) |
7 |
Gold |
Makhi Fox (Fr.) |
7 |
Gold |
Ochirbat Lkhagvajamts (Jr.) |
7 |
Gold |
Owen Geraghty (Sr.) |
7 |
Gold |
Shakira Luster (Sr.) |
7 |
Gold |
Vrishank Ramnath (Jr.) |
7 |
Gold |
Benjamin McKendall (So.) |
6.5 |
Gold |
Chris Garcia (Sr.) |
6.5 |
Gold |
Connor Nance (So.) |
6.5 |
Gold` |
Daniel Avalos (Jr.) |
6.5 |
Gold |
Ekansh Mehrotra (Fr.) |
6.5 |
Gold |
Feolu Kolawole (Sr.) |
6.5 |
Gold |
Issac Padua (Jr.) |
6.5 |
Gold |
Paul Hanrahan (Jr.) |
6.5 |
Gold |
Saboor Khan (Fr.) |
6.5 |
Gold |
Sammy McCandless (Jr.) |
6.5 |
Gold |
Tate Morrison (Sr.) |
6.5 |
Gold |
Whitman Kosak (Jr.) |
6.5 |
Gold |
Adrian Montesino (Sr.) |
6 |
Silver |
Andre Dzwiniel (Fr.) |
6 |
Silver |
Andrew Coss (Jr.) |
6 |
Silver |
Andy Ordway (Sr.) |
6 |
Silver |
Andy Yuen (So.) |
6 |
Silver |
Arnav Karthikeyan (So.) |
6 |
Silver |
Beren Ozer (So.) |
6 |
Silver |
Caleb Valentino (Sr.) |
6 |
Silver |
David Yong (So.) |
6 |
Silver |
David Zappa (Sr.) |
6 |
Silver |
Emmett Lin (So.) |
6 |
Silver |
Ethan Tobias (So.) |
6 |
Silver |
Gavin Snopko (Jr.) |
6 |
Silver |
Hansen Du (So.) |
6 |
Silver |
Jacob Ang (Sr.) |
6 |
Silver |
Jacob Jensen (Sr.) |
6 |
Silver |
Jo Swan (So.) |
6 |
Silver |
Kayden Zhu (Jr.) |
6 |
Silver |
Konrad Kremper (Jr.) |
6 |
Silver |
Lazar Martic (So.) |
6 |
Silver |
Maddox Todd (Fr.) |
6 |
Silver |
Marc Ntumba-Mukadi (So.) |
6 |
Silver |
Michael Li (Fr.) |
6 |
Silver |
Neil Gani (Sr.) |
6 |
Silver |
Ray Sun (Jr.) |
6 |
Silver |
Ria Raj (So.) |
6 |
Silver |
Sadkrith Malladi (Jr.) |
6 |
Silver |
Shalen Chawla (Jr.) |
6 |
Silver |
Sohan Bendre (Sr.) |
6 |
Silver |
Sreekar Gangavarapu (So.) |
6 |
Silver |
Tugstumer Yesuntumur (Sr.) |
6 |
Silver |
Tyler Chen (Fr.) |
6 |
Silver |
Young Cha (Sr.) |
6 |
Silver |
Agastya Sapru (So.) |
5.5 |
Bronze |
Andrew Mazzio (Jr.) |
5.5 |
Bronze |
Anthony Tsyganov (Fr.) |
5.5 |
Bronze |
Asher Reedy (Sr.) |
5.5 |
Bronze |
Ayush Shah (Fr.) |
5.5 |
Bronze |
Bao Ta (So.) |
5.5 |
Bronze |
Brian Farkas (So.) |
5.5 |
Bronze |
Chase Brinkmann (So.) |
5.5 |
Bronze |
Christine Liu (Sr.) |
5.5 |
Bronze |
Cole Tupper (Jr.) |
5.5 |
Bronze |
Connor Osullivan (So.) |
5.5 |
Bronze |
Craven Andaya (Jr.) |
5.5 |
Bronze |
Daniel Arredondo (Sr.) |
5.5 |
Bronze |
Derek Wietelmann (Jr.) |
5.5 |
Bronze |
Dylan Zec (Jr.) |
5.5 |
Bronze |
Eduardo Mota (Jr.) |
5.5 |
Bronze |
Erik Garcia (Fr.) |
5.5 |
Bronze |
Ethan Montemayor (Sr.) |
5.5 |
Bronze |
Ethan Singerman (So.) |
5.5 |
Bronze |
Faris Pena (Jr.) |
5.5 |
Bronze |
Harrison Weinberger (Sr.) |
5.5 |
Bronze |
Iman Ansari (So.) |
5.5 |
Bronze |
Jack Drucker (Sr.) |
5.5 |
Bronze |
Jacob Plotnick (So.) |
5.5 |
Bronze |
Jake Wittman (Fr.) |
5.5 |
Bronze |
Jameson Tenopir (So.) |
5.5 |
Bronze |
Jamila Matovu (Jr.) |
5.5 |
Bronze |
Jerry Bauer (So.) |
5.5 |
Bronze |
John Waldo (Sr.) |
5.5 |
Bronze |
Jonathan Cheng (Sr.) |
5.5 |
Bronze |
Joshua Gravel (Jr.) |
5.5 |
Bronze |
Joshua Thorstenson (Sr.) |
5.5 |
Bronze |
Jovanni Juarez (Sr.) |
5.5 |
Bronze |
Junho Park (Jr.) |
5.5 |
Bronze |
Liam Whitecotton (Jr.) |
5.5 |
Bronze |
Madeline Green (Jr.) |
5.5 |
Bronze |
Matthew Erlec (Sr.) |
5.5 |
Bronze |
Max Lu (Jr.) |
5.5 |
Bronze |
Nolan Collins (Jr.) |
5.5 |
Bronze |
Pauline Yang (Sr.) |
5.5 |
Bronze |
Roman Kash (So.) |
5.5 |
Bronze |
Ryan Austin (Sr.) |
5.5 |
Bronze |
Sam Kemeny (Jr.) |
5.5 |
Bronze |
Sanad Abu Awad (So.) |
5.5 |
Bronze |
Seth Parent (Jr.) |
5.5 |
Bronze |
Soham Dongre (Jr.) |
5.5 |
Bronze |
Taofeeq Amuda (So.) |
5.5 |
Bronze |
Vinay Sridhar (So.) |
5.5 |
Bronze |
Wentao Lin (So.) |
5.5 |
Bronze |
Wilbert Chu (Sr.) |
5.5 |
Bronze |
Yasin Kansu (Jr.) |
5.5 |
Bronze |
2024 Kings and Queens (K-8) and High School CPS Championships
2024 Kings and Queens (K-8) and High School CPS Championships
Senn Park High School
January 20, 2024
The Kings and Queens tournament consisted of three sections – K-4, K-6, and K-8 – with almost 350 CPS players. The High School tournament consisted of two sections: Junior Varsity and Varsity, which consisted of a combined 175 CPS high schoolers.
In the K-4 section, Edison–Blue finished with a perfect 4-0 for an uncontested first place. Three teams tied for second place with 3 points: Keller – Red, Decatur, and Edison – white.
Three players from the K-4 section won all 4 games: Natalie Huang from Decatur, Amay Sarupia from Edison – Blue, and Nurislam Ababakirov from Edison – Blue as well. A further three players finished with 3.5/4 points: Angel Salgado from Carson, Camilo Farinella from Edison – White, and Daniel Zheng from Keller – Blue.
In the K-6 section, Skinner North beat Pritzker to complete a perfect 4-0 for first place. Second place had a tie of three teams at 3 points, the teams were Lincoln, Edison – RGC, and Pritzker.
The K-6 had a remarkable seven players that went undefeated in all 4 games. They were Shrihaan Bathula from Decatur, Shane Thomas Veale and Ethan Villadiego playing for Edison – RGC, Esen Munkhtur and Vincent Yang from Lincoln, and Avida Biswas and Jonathan Cui from Skinner North.
Similarly, K-8 was an uncontested victory with a perfect 4-0 by Whitney Young – Gold who beat Lane Tech – AC. Five additional teams tied for second with 3 points: Lane Tech – AC, Decatur, Taft – AC, Bateman, and Keller.
The K-8 also had seven players who went undefeated: Gabriel Jael and Kalen Anderson from Bateman, Kyle Mak from Keller, Christopher Vele from Nobel – Blue, and Mason Qiao and Gene Tcheng from Whitney Young – Gold.
The High School JV section had one uncontested winner with 4 points: Whitney Young – Orange who beat Whitney Young – Blue during the final round. Four teams also tied for second place with 3 points; Whitney Young - Blue, Walter Payton, Brooks - Blue, and Englewood – STEM Red.
Four players from the JV section finished with a perfect record of 4-0. June Vincent Lee Mino from Lincoln Park High – Blue, Alexander Alvarez from Whitney Young – Blue, Chetan Cherukuri and Vincent Pan from Whitney Young – Orange. Additionally, David Zachary Zurawski finished with 3.5 points.
Similarly, in the High School Varsity Section, Walter Payton won with a perfect 4-0 after defeating Lane Tech in the final round. Three teams tied for second with three points: Whitney Young, Lane Tech, and Brooks.
In the Varsity section, six players had a perfect four wins: Avi Kaplan and Whitman Kosak from Lane Tech, Marco Baldwin from Lincoln Park, Sohan Anup Bendre from Walter Payton, and Dimitrios Deligiannia and Nithin Ramasamy from Whitney Young.
Read More2024 Illinois K-8 State Chess Championship
The 2024 Illinois K-8 Championship will be both a team and individual event held by Chess Weekend, Inc. with the Illinois Chess Association on March 8-10, 2024 in Schaumburg, IL. The main event will consist of four sections based on grade level – K-1, 2-3, 4-5, 6-8 – with seven rounds starting Saturday morning. Besides the main event, there will be numerous fun side events such as bughouse, blitz, and puzzle-solving contests.
Over 200 trophies will be awarded on top of a commemorative medal or ribbon for all players. Additionally, a wonderful book and equipment vendor will be on site for all needs at the tournament. Though the tournament is an Illinois Championship, players from all states are welcome; but state championship titles go to Illinois players. Complete details of round times and entry fees can be found here.
Read MoreICA Editor and Staff Writer Message
ICA Editor and Staff Writer – receive any emails sent to This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
My name is Jacob Plotnick and I am the new editor for ICA to write about their tournaments . As the editor and staff writer I will write articles for ICA tour events, state championships, and other larger tournaments. I will additionally take concerns of error into consideration and work to mend them ASAP. I can receive any such emails at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.. My goal is to reply to any requests within 72 hours.
I am currently a sophomore in high school and have been playing chess for almost seven years. Outside of chess, my main areas of study are math and engineering. Most recently, the de Rham cohomology, with hopes to pursue aerospace engineering in the future.
If you notice any errors when reading one of my postings, please reach out at your soonest convenience.
Jacob
Read MoreTim Just Winter Open 2024
The Illinois Chess Association would like to congratulate Bill Buklis for successfully running the initial tournament of the 2024 year for the Illinois Chess Tour. The 40th annual Tim Just Winter Open was played from January 5th to January 7th and had six sections ranging from a U1300 to a Major section. There was a separate tournament on the 6th specifically for scholastic players with a further three sections. In total, the event had over 300 players.
Major
IM Sam Schmakel defeated Ankush Moolky in the final round to take outright first place. Tugstumur Yesuntumur drew Augusto Cesar Campos to tie for second place.
Click the image below to see the top games of round 5:
U2100
Bryce McClanahan was the outright winner with 4.5/5 points. Artemii Khanbutaey, Steven Napoli, Aidan Baker and Andrey Dmitriev tied for second with a score of 4/5 points.
U1900
Aaron Anderson beat Aayush Thakker and Memanth Samayamantri beat Jack Drucker in their last matches to tie for first with 4.5/5
U1700
Carl John Gibson beat Carmelo S Napoli to finish as the outright winner at 4.5/5. Carmelo ended with 4/5. Madison Lofts, Harrison Schilling and Nathaniel Bafia all joined Carmelo Carmelo in a four-way tie for second at 4/5.
U1500
There was a two-way tie for first between Kostandinos Skoufos and Alastar WIlliam Keely-Walker, both ended with 4.5/5.
U1300
Hector Guifarro won outright with a perfect 5/5. Hector beat Andy Barrientos who ended up in a five-way tie for second at 4/5.
Scholastic Under 1200
Owen Yang finished in first with an uncontested 5/5. Owen Beat Andy Yu who finished in a four-way tie for second at 4/5.
Scholastic Under 800
Silas Judge and Poojith Jada both won their final games to finish tied with 4.5/5.
Scholastic Under 500
There was another perfect 5/5 by Joshua Anderson. Joshua beat Joseph Zachary Taylow who finished in a four-way tie at 4/5.
The Illinois Chess Association would also like to recognize the following scholastic players for increasing their USCF rating by over 50 points:
Joahua Anderson (U500)
Calvin Rivas (U500)
Joseph Zachary Taylor (U500)
Pierce Kruse (U500)
Joel Jonathan Boodu (U500)
Silas Judge (U800)
Poojith Jada (U800)
Sairam Manimaran (U800)
Aidan Michael Cassidy (U800)
Jotin Samayamantri (U800)
Rogelio Jorge Diaz-Portales (U800)
Neeraj Movva (U800)
Aarav Varshney (U800)
Owen Yang (U1200)
Andy YU (U1200)
Saketh Viswanadha (U1200)
Dane Allen Cooper (U1200)
Kevin McAleenan (U1200)
Nilan Velu (U1200)
Anish Itagi (U1200)
Sahasvath Indla (U1200)
James Patrick Budd (U1200)
If you have any questions or comments, please email This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
Read MoreJacob Plotnick accepts Position as ICA Editor and Staff Reporter
Jacob has graciously accepted the position as our editor and a new position as a staff reporter. Jacob is currently a sophomore at the Illinois Math and Science Academy in Aurora. He is a former Illinois State Champion for the United States Chess Federation Jr. Grand Prix. In addition to being a Class "B" player, Jacob is also a certified local tournament director.
As our editor, Jacob fills a void that the ICA has had for a number of years. He will be reviewing, editing, and publishing articles sent to This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.. Jacob will also have a staff position responsible for creating articles and working with organizers for our state championships, ICA tour events, and larger Illinois tournaments and events.
Please join us in welcoming Jacob to his new position.
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ICA Tour to restart in 2024
In July, the ICA conducted a survey among chess players with the intention of getting feedback to help us improve and shape the future of the ICA. We listened and are bringing back the ICA Tour! Details to follow. Our first tour tournament will be the Tim Just Winter Open, which will be held at the Hyatt Regency Schaumburg from Friday, January 5 to Sunday, January 7, 2024.
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A lot of factors went into the selection of Aria Hoesley as Illinois' selection to the 2017 Susan Polgar Foundation Girls Invitational completed July 27 at Webster University in St. Louis.
The Chicago player -- and World Youth qualifier -- was not the highest-rated qualified female from Illinois but she had scored very well at the Illinois Youth Invitational held earlier in the year. That event wound up qualifying Marissa Li as the Illinois representative to the National All-Girls beginning this weekend in Virginia.
Ultimately, Illinois could not have asked for better representation at the Polgar event as Aria finished 4.0/6 -- including a perfect 3.0/3 score as white.
Only players with 2000-plus ratings scored higher than Ms. Hoesley -- and she in turn finished higher than 16 players who had higher pre-event ratings.
Airia closed out the weeklong event with a win as black against WCM Ambica Yellamraju of Texas.
That placed Aria in a tie for 10th (to 17th place) with the same score as the two highest pre-event qualifiers: FM Qiyu Zhou and WIM Maili-Jade Ouellet, both of Quebec, Canada. Technically on tiebreaks, Aria was 15th in the field of 68 entrants. (Ouellet won the blitz competition and was one-half the bughouse championship team).
The event was won by WFM Nattassja Matus of Minnesota with WCM Thalia Cervantes as one of the three runners up. Both Matus and Cervantes frequently play large Chicago-area events.
Aria was also a perfect 20-for-20 in the puzzle solving contest --- finishing with the tenth-best time among the 20/20's. No doubt she was right up there in the competition for "best dressed" and "Ms. Congeniality" -- and we hope she shares with the ICA website her entry for the "best written essay about the SPFGI experience".
All totalled, over $110,000 in scholarships and cash prizes were distributed by the SPFGI.
The ICA wishes to thank Aria for being such a remarkable ambassador for Illinois chess -- and thank her father, John, for taking the week off to accompany her to Missouri. John was very excited that his daughter was receiving a chance to meet her own chess heroine, and the ICA was happy to accommodate with her selection.