With almost 900 players flocking to the Westin North Shore in Wheeling, the Chicago Open is the second largest event in Illinois each year -- behind the IHSA finals in February. But it's certainly the Illinois event with the largest prize pool year in and year out -- more than triple its nearest "competitor".
More than $100,000 was distributed in the 2018 Chicago Open across seven sections, completed May 28 -- and eight Warren Junior Scholars and two ICA Rising Stars participated in these pay-outs.
With a ninth-round draw against Russian Grandmaster Alex Shimanov, Wisconsin's Awonder Liang, himself a 14-year old Grandmaster, earned his way into a three-way tie for top honors.
Joining Liang and Shimanov with 7.0/9 was another Russian GM, Andrey Stukopin. The trio each earned just over $5800, with Shimanov earning an extra $300 for the top tiebreak.
The other Open prize winners with Illinois ties were FM Sam Schmakel (a former Warren Junior Scholar) a point back, tying for 9th and 10th place overall, while FM Gauri Shankar (a WJS presenter) tied for second place (5.5) for entrants rated Under 2400.
In Under 2300 competition, Warren Junior Scholar Vincent Do posted an impressive 5.5/7 to tie for 2nd place (through fifth) earning $1275.
Illinois' William Aramil, Angel Angelov, Kela Kaulule, Mark Robledo, Jr and and Scholars Akhil Kalghatgi and Jack Curcio all tied for 9th & 10th places with 4.5's.
In the U2100, Illinois claimed the bulk of the prize money with Agarkhorol Gangaa earning $5000 for clear first with 6.5/7. Only a seventh-round draw against Aderemi Adekola kept Gangaa from a perfect score.
Anuj Dahiya and Gene Scott tied for 2nd & 3rd places, each earning $1850.
Scholars Richard Zhang and Adam Bareket along with Adekola and Jusuf Pekovic all tied for 4th through 8th places, each pocketing $520.00.
Eric Starkman tied for 9th and 10th with 5.0 along with Andy Caen.
Gangaa also earned another $1000 -- as did his partner -- thanks to top honors in Mixed Doubles competition with a combined 10.5 score.
U1900 competition was similar a table-run for Illinois: Nathan Fong earned $5,000 with clear first at 6.5, drawing Illinois' Spencer Carran in the final round. Fredrich Yuan along with New Yorker Juan Rivera tied for 2nd and 3rd, each cashing $1850 checks. Yuan was perfect on the weekend -- except for a sixth-round loss to Fong.
Also in the section, Charles Craigmile and George (Leo) McCoy tied for 4th through 9th, earning just under $500 a piece thanks to 5.5 tallies.
Tying for 10th place in the section with 5.0 were Illinois stalwarts such as William Blackman, Philip Engstrom, Douglas Middleton, Paul Graham and Benjamin Pirogovsky -- and Scholars Avi Kaplan and Roger (Si) Li.
Although deprived of the top prize, Illinois did well in U1700's: Diego Morales nabbed $2000 for second place (6.0) while Rising Star Sean Insley, Vishaal Meduri, Hyun Kim, and Malik Brewley each earned just over $650 with 3rd through 9th ties (5.5).
A half-point back at 5.0 were Star Dimitri Deligiannis, Michael Chiflikyan, Gideon Bob, and Alex Parkel.
Two of the three co-champions of U1500 play were Illinois-registered: Jesse Hunt and Edward Li posted 6.0's to nab checks just over $2300. Aaron Cho and Subodh Mehendale scored 5.0's to tie for 5th place through 10th places, earning just over $260.
Two of the four co-champions in U1300 play were Illinois-registered, all with 6.0/7 scores, but insufficient prior tournament experience limited their payouts due to Continental Chess Association rules. Cheng Wang and Sivabalan Muthupalaniappan were both limited to $1000 checks while Ohio's Aaron Berlin earned $4000 for the same score.
Lincoln Square Chess Club organizer Matthew Zatkoff tied for 5th through 7th place with Jeffrey Cheng and Derrick Red, all at 5.5, nabbing just under $470. William Cuevas was a half-point back, earning $225 for his 8th to 10th place tie.
Under 1000 saw Illinois' Chris Williams and Christoph Fischer and unrated Jay Kumar participate in the 3rd-6th place tie at 6.0. Andrew Tufto and unrated Liqing Li tied for 7th-8th with 5.5's.
An eleven-way tie for ninth place at 5.0 included Land of Lincolners Rohil Bose, Jack Wilde, Alex Lubinski, Nicholas Rondon, Siddha Chatterjee, Subodh Misra, Manuel Solorzano and Simon Byung-hyun Choi.
Nearly 900 players participated in this year's Chicago Open which awarded $100,000 in total prize money. This marked the 27th year for the Open, the 11th year it was held in Wheeling.