News
744 Compete in Largest K-8 State Championships in a Decade
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- Written by Patrick Cohen Patrick Cohen
- Created: 27 March 2018 27 March 2018
Congrats to Benjamin Chen, Yuvraj Rudra, Avi Harrison Kaplan, Colin Robert Wicks, and Ryan Zhang. Benjamin and Yuvraj are co-champions after both scored 6.5 points in the junior high section. Benjamin won first place on tiebreaks.
All five are now Illinois state champions thanks to their outstanding performances at the 2018 Illinois K-8 Championships completed March 11th in Schaumburg, IL. This tournament, with 744 participants, was the largest K-8 State Championships held in the last decade.
In memoriam: James Robert Michalak (1941 - 2017)
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- Created: 13 January 2018 13 January 2018
by NM Len Weber
The Illinois chess scene has lost another longtime favorite. In December, we lost James "Jimbo" Michalak, after a long health battle. This writer first met Jim at the Homewood Flossmoor Park District Chess Club (defunct in 1984). A "Fischer boomer", Jim reached over 1800 USCF, winning several notable prizes, before leaving the tournament scene in the mid-1980s. In more recent years, "Jimbo" spent many warm weather days as a regular at the chess haunts in Chicago, including North Avenue Beach, where he taught lessons, played all comers, hustled and got hustled, earned wins against experts and masters, and traded fearless wit and clever barbs with even the most ferocious patrons.
Dr. Steven Tennant, 1948 - 2017
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- Written by Eva Harrison Eva Harrison
- Created: 06 December 2017 06 December 2017
Dr. Steven Tennant, international correspondence chess master, national master, life master, and former Illinois state champion, passed away last week at the age of 69.
Graveside service Friday, 12/8/2017, 3:00 p.m. at Westlawn Cemetery, Norridge.
Info: The Goldman Funeral Group, www.goldmanfuneralgroup.com, (847) 478-1600.
A detailed article will follow.
Steve Szpisjak, Angelo Young Top '17 IL Senior Open
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- Written by Bill Feldman Bill Feldman
- Created: 07 November 2017 07 November 2017
With a third-round head-to-head draw, Life Master Steven Szpisjak and International Master Angelo Young earned top honors at the 2017 Illinois Senior Open completed November 5 in Schaumburg.
Both Young and Szpisjak closed out the four-round event with victories, splitting $375 in prize money.
Larry Cohen and Tim Ailes finished tied for third place with 2.5/4's -- a full point behind the co-champions.
With 2.0's, Sam Henderson, Rick Jaconette and Daumants Hauzer tied for the best Under 1800 score in the Open Section.
Three IL Players Up 300 Points in October; 63 Up 100+
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- Written by Bill Feldman Bill Feldman
- Created: 02 November 2017 02 November 2017
Harris, Pompe and Buckner may sound like a law firm, but in reality this trio represents the three Illinois players with the highest ratings increases during the month of October, as published November 1.
Sam Harris increased his rating 363 points from October's published rating to November's. Niko Pompe and Alex Buckner were both up 346 during that timeframe.
Buckner also had the distinction of being one of the three Illinois players with 100+ rating increases who doubled their rating. Emily Hu and Temuujin Munkhtur also accomplished that distinction.