Youth Chess News
Illinois Youth in USCF Top 100 as of March 2015
- Details
- Written by Bill Feldman, data compiled by Chris Wellendorf Bill Feldman, data compiled by Chris Wellendorf
Four new Illinois names joined the US Top 100 lists this month: nine-year old Peter Zheng, eight year-old Eduard Danilyan, seven year-old John Bielobradek and six year-old David Yong.
Returning to the lists was Penny Xu after she competed in the rated Illini Blitz event in February. Penny played first board on her Urbana High School team this year, but hasn't played any regular-rated matches since the 2013 US Open. Penny compiled an impressive 6.0/7 at the IHSA finals in February, as did fellow top 100 listers George Li (New Trier), Max Zinski (Benet), Jonathan Hrach (Highland Park) and Spencer Lehmann (Barrington).
Finishing tied for second place with 6.5 scores were listers Alex Bian of Stevenson and Daniel Bronfeyn of Mundelein.
Compiling 5.5's (tied for 17th) were listers Bradley Guan (State Champion Naperville North), Gavin McClanahan (Glenbrook South) and Andrew Fei (Dunlap).
In the 5.0 score group which tied for 22nd place, were listers Jimi Akintonde (Whitney Young), Jack Curcio (Maine South), Eli Goering (Evanston) and Timothy Zhou (IMSA).
In total, 14 of the top 30 first board finishers at the IHSA Championships appear presently on the top 100 lists.
Additionally, Minkee Lee (Neuqua Valley) also played first board, finishing lower in the individual standings. Senior Nathan Kranjc played second board for Benet Academy, placing as a medalist. Shayna Provine played third board on that same squad as a freshman.
Several former members of these lists also played at the February 13-14 state competition in Peoria which featured 146 teams. Each team included eight boards with additional alternates, making it the largest team event in the country. See recent article elsewhere on the ICA site.
Also of note, Penny's return gives Illinois three junior females rated above 1900 for the first time ever.
Observing birthdays as of the March lists were Vrishank Ramnath, Matthew Stevens, Andrew Fei and Shayna Provine.
Posting the highest ratings increments among continuing list members were Siddharth Acharya (79), Patrick Rao (69) and Ed Zhang (46).
61 Illinois juniors appear on one or more lists this month: the most ever. Keep it up, kids!
February 18th was the game cut-off date for this ratings compilation.
** Represents ranking in the listing without regard to Federation.
March 2015 Top 100 Youth
| US Rank | Name | Rating |
|---|---|---|
| Age 7 and under | ||
| 3 | Arthur Xu | 1696 |
| 16 | Dimitar Mardov (age 6) | 1436 |
| 39 | Alex Zhao | 1237 |
| 44 | John Bielobradek | 1219 |
| 58T | Dhruv Malladi | 1148 |
| 85 | David Yong (age 6) | 1050 |
| Age 8 | ||
| 17 | Aaron Gan | 1730 |
| 69 | Vrishank Ramnath | 1334 |
| 73 | Eduard Danilyan | 1315 |
| 99 | Toby Yang | 1239 |
| Age 9 | ||
| 9** | Martin Stukan | 1886 |
| 24 | Patrick Rao | 1704 |
| 53T | David Zimmermann | 1560 |
| 81T | Peter Zheng | 1473 |
| Age 10 | ||
| 10 | Aydin Turgut | 2018 |
| 40T | Stefan Musikic | 1794 |
| 51 | Brian Gong | 1745 |
| 73 | Adam Bareket | 1678 |
| Age 11 | ||
| 2 | David Peng | 2275 |
| 26 | Ricky Wang | 1906 |
| 31 | Jason Daniels | 1883 |
| 48 | Siddharth Acharya | 1818 |
| 56 | Edward Zhang | 1792 |
| 57T | Advaith Prabu | 1791 |
| 62 | Shreya Mangalam | 1773 |
| 100 | Aidan Carey | 1685 |
| Age 12 | ||
| 29 | Marissa Li | 1963 |
| 56T | Tom Bareket | 1825 |
| Age 13 | ||
| 9T | Jacob Furfine | 2190 |
| 27 | Vincent Do | 2063 |
| 32 | Hanson Hao | 2024 |
| 37 | Akhil Kalghatgi | 2020 |
| 57 | Nikhil Kalghatgi | 1950 |
| 70 | Miranda Liu | 1908 |
| Age 14 | ||
| 21 | Alex Bian | 2206 |
| 27 | Matthew Stevens | 2083 |
| 56T | Daniel Bronfeyn | 2022 |
| 67 | Jack Curcio | 2000 |
| 73 | Nicolas Bartochowski | 1964 |
| 93 | Jonathan Tan | 1923 |
| 95 | Rishi Narayanan | 1916 |
| Age 15 | ||
| 17T | Zhaozhi (George) Li | 2214 |
| 40 | Anshul Adve | 2110 |
| 83 | Andrew Fei | 1926 |
| 99 | Ian Gilchrist | 1867 |
| Age 16 | ||
| 54T | Spencer Lehmann | 2068 |
| 56 | Zachary Holecek | 2059 |
| 65 | Jonathan Hrach | 2026 |
| Age 17 | ||
| 82T | Bradley Guan | 2012 |
| Age 18 | ||
| 3 | Sam Schmakel | 2419 |
| 18T | Nate Kranjc | 2159 |
| 20 | Max Zinski | 2156 |
| 33 | Gavin McClanahan | 2072 |
| 53 | Timothy Zhou | 2007 |
| 64 | Eli Goering | 1945 |
| 68T | Jimi Akintonde | 1935 |
| 78 | Minkee Lee | 1916 |
| 91 | Aswath Bommannan | 1873 |
| Girls Under 21 | ||
| 43 | Penny Xu (18) | 1966 |
| 44 | Marissa Li (12) | 1963 |
| 55 | Miranda Liu (13) | 1916 |
| Girls Under 16 | ||
| 18 | Marissa Li (12) | 1963 |
| 22 | Miranda Liu (13) | 1916 |
| 53T | Shreya Mangalam (11) | 1773 |
| 56 | Shayna Provine (15) | 1763 |
| Girls Under 13 | ||
| 7 | Marissa Li (12) | 1963 |
| 20 | Shreya Mangalam (11) | 1773 |
| 70 | Aria Hoesley (11) | 1449 |