Heading into the sixth and final round of the 2014 Illinois Open, Illinois FM Sam Schmakel had the only perfect score atop a field of 80 including four Grandmasters and four International Masters.
Unfortunately for the soon-to-be UIC freshman, Schamkel succomb to GM Vladimir Georgiev in the final match, giving Georgiev the tournament and the 2014 Illinois Champion title. Georgiev had previously been co-champion of the event in 2005.
GM Georgiev finished with 5.5. Schmakel had to settle for a share of second place with Illinois-newcomer GM Boris Avrukh, both with 5.0/6 scores.
USCF Crosstables can be viewed here while tiebreak-ordered results can be seen here.
GM Nikola Mitkov provided the sole blemishes in both Georgiev's and Avrukh's results, with draws in the second and third rounds respectively. An additional fifth-round draw to Jonathan Kogen placed Mitkov out of contention.
IM Florin Felecan officially claimed fourth-place prize money thanks to a 4.5 result. Also at 4.5, Wisconsin FM Alexander Velikanov, IM Mateusz Bobula, Gopal Menon and David Peng split the Under 2400 prize fund.
Five players split Under 2200 honors including Iowa's Robert Keating and Arshaq Saleem, Illinois juniors FM Alex Bian and George Li, and Wisconsin's Derek Paitrick.
With a 3.5 posting, Dusan Tutush earned the top Under 2000 prize, a half-point ahead of Jacob Furfine, Timothy Zhou, Ricky Wang and Nir Panneerselvam.
In the Reserve Section, only a face-to-face draw in the penultimate round kept Sureshkumar Rajamani and Edward Zhang from perfect scores. A half-point back, Ishaar Ganesan claimed third place prize money while Indiana's Alek Jansen claimed the top Under 1600 prize with an identical 5.0 score. Oak Park's Aidan Carey claimed second place Under 1600 with a 4.5 score.
Also with a 4.5 score, Ethan Gagliano earned the top Under 1400 prize.
That same score gave Philip Moran and George Trbojevic a split of fourth place overall. Both Moran and Trbojevic went undefeated, Moran with three wins, two draws and a bye, Trbojevic with three wins and draws against Ganesan, Gagliano and Carey.
Nicholas Edels nabbed second place Under 1400 with one win, a loss, two draws, a forfeit win and a bye, good for 3.5 points.
Aroyoman Patel and and Shon Shtern split top honors for Under 1200 thanks to 3.0 tallies.
Unrated Peter Williamson had the top score for first-timers at 3.0, with a win and four draws.
The tournament attracted 152 entrants, the most for an Illinois Open in a decade. NTD Wayne Clark served as Chief TD with NTD Tim Just running the back room. The tournament was held at the Crowne Plaza Hotel of Northbrook. ICA President Carl Dolson served as the organizer.
Although only Illinois-registrants were eligible for the top title, the Open section attracted nine out-of-state residents from three states, while nine out-of-staters from four states competed in the Reserve.
The event represented the ninth stop of the 2014 Illinois Tour with the Midwest Class to follow, beginning October 10.