A final congratulations to our fifteen 2012 Illinois Chess Tour performance prize winners! In the Open section, NM Sam Schmakel took first place with 25.5 points, securing the victory with a score of 4.5 in the year’s final event, the Illinois Class. Sam was followed, in positions 2-5, by GMs Nikola Mitkov and Dmitry Gurevich, NM Jonathan Kogen and FM Albert Chow.

In the Reserve-Adult section, Jim Froehlich took first with a Tour-high point total of 32.5, followed by Michael Penway, Gregory Bungo, Charles Craigmile and Joe Delay. In the Reserve-Scholastic section, Andrew Fei competed in all ten events and took home first place with 31.0 points. He was followed by Max Zinski, David Peng, Jason Daniels and Akshay Indusekar.

Perhaps the most gratifying result of the Tour relaunch was the total of 31 players who earned participation prizes by playing in at least four events. We’re in the final stages of distributing these, so do not despair if you’ve yet to receive your prize.

But there's no resting on accolades for our Tour winners, as the 2013 Tour kicks off this weekend with the Tim Just Winter Open! The TJWO begins a 10 tournament Tour schedule for 2013, which includes the addition of the George Orwell Memorial Open in DeKalb this June. The Tour is also planning to reprise its successful kickoff event with a simultaneous exhibition given by 2012 Tour champion, Sam Schamakel. Details will be announced soon.

We'll be archiving 2012 Tour data, and updating the site for 2013 in the next few weeks, so stay tuned for more info. Any Tour questions? Email me at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..