310 junior players representing 45 teams competed at the initial Youth Chess Foundation of Chicago (YCFC) tournament of the 2016-2017 school year.

The five-round event was conducted at Lane Tech College Prep High School on the northside of Chicago November 12.

In true democratic fashion all five sections were won by different teams!

Andy Cao of Skinner North was the victor in the Novice K-2 section with a perfect 5-for-5. 

Decatur "edged" Edgebrook 13.0 to 12.5 to win the top team trophy in the K-2.

Ria Raj of Fox Valley Chess Club was also a perfect five-for-five to claim the championships in the Novice 3-4 section, also winning a blitz playoff game against Bell School's William DeAllaume who had been previously 5-for-5.

91 competed in the 3-4 section with Skinner North besting Baubien 16.0 to 14.0 to claim top honors as a team. Skninner North fielded 13 players in the section while Beaubien had only seven. Edison with eight players tied with Fox Valley with 13.0 for third place, with Edison earning better tiebreaks. Fox Valley only entered four in the section.

Ritvik Viniak of Lenart School won his playoff game against Nathan Caropreso of Wildwood to secure the Novice 5-6 Championship. Both boys were 5-for-5 in the tournament before the playoff as mandated by YCFC rules.

Ritvak's score lead Lenart to the team championship in the section with Skinner North taking second place and Edison again earning the top tiebreak to claim third, edging out Ward and Oriole Park.

Gus Kim and Jaylen Brown posted 4.0's for Lenart to bolster the Lenart team score.

Tarika Oberai of the world-famous Oberai chess-playing family won her first tournament with the lone perfect 5.0/5 score in the Novice 7-8 section. 

Altus ran away with the top team trophy in the section with 14 points, ahead of Oriole Park and Ward who both posted 10.5 tallies.

Ethan Morrelly, Isai Hernandez and Fernando Alvarez all contributed 4.0's to the Altus result in the Novice 7-8.

Fox Valley came from behind in the Advanced Section to claim top honors with 11.0 points from four players. Vrishank Ramnath (4th) and Vikram Oberai (6th) both contributed 4.0 scores to pace the team.

Bateman (12 players) and Decatur (9 players) both tallied 10.0's in the Advanced with Bateman claiming second place with the better tiebreak.

Avi Kaplan won Advanced individual top honors, going five for five.

Abdul Shaik and Josue Juarez were close behind with 4.5/5 results.

Josue and his sister Daniela Juarez both trophied, taking third and fifth place respectively. The siblings from Guatemala are visiting their aunt who lives in Chicago.

The next YCFC event is December 17 at DeLaSalle Institute on the southside of Chicago. Contact This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. to join the fun with the subject header of "YCFC".

The event was co-sponsored by the Chicago Chess Foundation (CCF). Their website is www.chicagolandchess.org.

Thanks again to all the volunteers who made this event possible.