News
FM Sam Schmakel Co-Runner Up in 2014 US Open Blitz; Grandmaster Gurevich Co-Leader Through 7 Rounds in Open
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- Written by Bill Feldman Bill Feldman
- Created: 02 August 2014 02 August 2014
FM Sam Schmakel won 11 of his 14 matches in the all-ages Blitz event at the 2014 US Open in Orlando. With this result, he was part of a four-way tie for 2nd among 114 entrants. Florida GM Julio Becerra was the clear winner with 12/14.
Shreya Mangalam was the only other Illinois entrant, scoring a very respectable 7.5, despite being paired against the eventual champion in the first round. Talk about the luck of the parings! Shreya finished in a tie for 44th place and may have posted the top female score as this reporter quickly examined the Blitz results.
Through seven rounds of the main event, Shreya is currently tied for second in the Mixed Doubles, with 7.5 points, one point off the leaders, Jennifer Skidmore and Harvey Zhu. Shreya is paired with Leon Wilson.
Illinois Sends Ten Top 10 Finishers to 2014 World Open in VA, Kochemirovskiy Wins Under 1600 Co-Championship, Chicago Kelly's Jungo Undefeated, U1400 Co-Runner Up
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- Written by Bill Feldman Bill Feldman
- Created: 13 July 2014 13 July 2014
The Land of Lincoln was well-represented in the Continental Chess Association's World Open, completed July 6 in Arlington, Virginia. Over 1100 players competed in the nine-round event. Crosstables can be viewed here.
Top 10 finishers included Alexey Kochemirovskiy tying for the championship in the U1600, Mark Jungo tying for 2nd in the U1400 and IM Angelo Young tying for third in the Under 2400.
Max Haugh-Ewald tied for third in the U1600 and Sam Zschack tied for fourth place in the U1400. Ishaar Ganesan tied for 8th in the U1600, Brent Young also tied for 8th in the U1200. Jon Winick tied for 9th in the U1800 while Karthikeyan Pounraj tied for 10th in the U2000.
Former ICA President Produces Long-Awaited 6th Edition
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- Written by Bill Feldman Bill Feldman
- Created: 28 July 2014 28 July 2014
Tournament Directors -- and players alike -- can finally enjoy an updated USCF rulebook after more than a decade.
The Sixth Edition of the USCF's "Official Rules of Chess" was recently released in Kindle format and is scheduled to be published in old-fashioned print August 5.
Long-time organizer and National Tournament Director Tim Just served as the Editor for the Sixth Edition after co-editing its predecessor in 2003.
Morgan Park, Naperville Attract Strong Fields June 21
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- Written by Bill Feldman Bill Feldman
- Created: 22 June 2014 22 June 2014
Nothing says "first day of summer" better than a pair of competitive northern Illinois tournaments with sizeable fields. Both events attracted nearly 100 competitors.
In the western suburbs, Elite Chess offered its Summer Open in conjunction with its camp season, featuring relatively quick time controls: Game/45 with a 5-second delay in four rated sections. There were also several unrated competitions held simultaneously. Naperville North High School Coach Jeff Di Orio's four-round tournament attracted 16 to the "Championship" section including two USCF-experts.
As the dust settled, Di Orio's past and present students nabbed three of the top four spots. Bradley Guan took clear first, beating Experts in the final two rounds. Anuj Dahiya and Tony Zhou finished in a three-way tie for second along with Guan's fourth-round victim, Greg Bungo.
Turgut Shares Bill Wright Open Title With 4 GMs
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- Written by Bill Feldman Bill Feldman
- Created: 23 April 2014 23 April 2014
The Chicago Blackhawks are not the only clan from Illinois invading St. Louis these days. A slew of Illinois entrants participated in the recent Bill Wright Open at the St. Louis Chess Center held April 11-13.
Amid world-class competition, Dr. Tansel Turgut staked a claim among top finishers with a 4.0/5 result. Dr. Turgut beat a fellow master and two experts before defeating New York-based International Master Justin Sarkar in the final round. Turgut shared top honors with two US-based GM's as well as GM's from Mexico and Germany.
The tournament field included five of the top 60 players in the US as well as several strong international players.