From Highland Park to Bloomington Normal, from Wheaton to Chicago, Illinois hosted youth competition aplenty February 4..

Benjamin Elementary in Normal hosted 255 for yet another BNASC event. Wheaton Christian Grammar School in Winfield hosted over 200. Both events featured four USCF-rated sections.

Almost 500 participated in the Greater Chicago Championships at McCormick Place and approaching 100 played in Highland Park with the advanced section submitted to US Chess. The Greater Chicago standings have been posted here, and ICA staff is diligently trying to create a narrative on this and the HP event.

In the Lower Primary section of the Wheaton Christian event, Anshul Shetty defeated fellow Fox Valley Chess Club member Ren Lutfiyya in the final round to finish in first place. Anshul's 5-for-5 score raised his rating to 878 as a first grader. Ren finished in clear second place with 4.0, raising his rating 151 points to an outstanding 511 while still in pre-school! 

Five players tied with 3.5 points: Jake Babula, Colin Wicks, Patrick O'Donnell, Coldon Kandrak and Owen Flanyak (tiebreak order was not posted).

Mehak Jiandani, also of Fox Valley, had the top tiebreak in the 3.0 score group to claim the 8th place trophy. Also posting 3.0/5 were Jackson Caruso, Sarah Abraham, Ben Hengesbaugh, and Merritt Stolzenbach. Way to go, kids!

In the Wheaton tournament's Upper Primary, Carter Clark was the lone perfect 5.0, with Rahul Rajeshkumar and Ben McKendall posting 4.5's. A four-way tie for fourth place with 4.0/5 included Alex Popham, Cole Spiegel, Risindu Withanaarachchige, and Everett Zou, with Cole, Risindu and Everett all increasing their ratings at least 100 points!

In the 74-player Elementary Section, both William Cahill and Hudson Lutfiyya finished with perfect 5.0 tallies, with William earning the bigger trophy on tiebreaks. Hudson -- playing up with the fourth and fifth graders -- increased his rating to 918 while still in kindergarten. William's new 1408 rating was the highest in the tournament.

4.0/5 was posted by seven players -- with six getting trophies: Camden Kirchgessner, Anthony Chen, Macgregor Barrett, Benjamin Ick, Matthew Tsai, Elton Huang, and Cameron Pitts. Cameron raised his rating 317 points, while both Anthony and Matthew saw their ratings climb by at least 100.

Three players tied for first in the 62-entrant junior high section which featured longer time controls (Game/45 with a 5-second delay) and only four rounds, instead of five, as in the others.

Sarah Grandy, Siddhatha Kyaw, Jr. and Matthew Trapp tied for top honors with perfect 4.0's -- with Matthew's rating jumping 284!

An amazing tie for fourth place with 3.0/4 included 15 players, with Benjamin Myung, Aaron Trapani, Nathaniel Bastianen, Daniel Duffy, and David Manzke all bumping their ratings more than 100 points. Samantha Lezondra was playing in her first event, managing to win three of her four.

The fifth incarnation of the touranment was organized by host coach Rose Grandy. Coach Grandy inherited the event from Sam Salahi who had run the tournament the previous four years. Although he'd passed the baton as the lead organizer, Sam could still be seen throughout the day, helping out with the refreshments, dishing out the pizza and snacks.