Hoesley and Ladan win 3rd annual Chicago Cup [Open], while Loftis, Knox, & Zhang win reserve.
The 3rd annual Chicago Cup was held August 17-18 at the Hilton Hotel near McCormick Place, with a total of 60 players in the 2 sections. In the open section finishing with 4 out of 5 points were Aria Hoesley and Nicholas Ladan. The crowd at 3.5 point included Akhil & Nikhil Kalghatgi [both now rated over 2200], Steven Cooklev, Shreyas Reddy, and Deniz Gulecyuz [top u2000]. In the Reserve section three players finished the event with 4 points. Terrence Knox and Mulan Zhang drew their final round game, while Madison Loftis beat Eli Friedman in a tough Rook and Pawn endgame. Close behind at 3.5 points were Mark Parnaby, James Webb, Merrill Lee, Srihas Rao, and Eli Friedman. The story of the tournament had to be the play of Eli Friedman who gained almost 200 points even with the loss in the final game. It is not every tournament where a player’s rating goes from 1268 up to 1452 in five rounds with at least one loss! You can definitely plan for this tournament in the city of Chicago next August.