A half-dozen new names from Illinois have entered the USCF top 100 lists as of August: Ishaar Ganesan (10), Phillip Parker-Turner (14), Eli Goering (16), Joe Fennessey (17), Duncan Shepherd (17), and David Korobov (18).

Aydin Turgut (1st in age 8), David Peng (2nd in age 10), Adarsh Jayakumar (4th in age 18), Sam Schmakel (5th in age 17), and Jonathan Kogan (9th in age 17) remain the Illinois players in the top 10 of their respective age groups nationwide. Illinois registrations represent a remarkable nine of the top 100 youths aged 18.

Aged 18 years or younger, Illinois currently boasts three masters, Sam, Jonathan and Adarsh, along with eleven experts.

According to USCF specifications, ratings as of July 19 were used for this report and the top 100 lists were published August 16.

 

August Top 100 Youth

US RankNameRating
Age 7 and under
31 Aaron Gan 1292
66 Jai Mahajan 1128
74 David Zimmermann 1083
Age 8
1 Aydin Turgut 1925
32 Stefan Musikic 1526
44 Suraj Ramanathan (**) 1460
Age 9
27 Jason Daniels 1716
44 Brian Hope Gong 1598
50 Ricky Wang 1584
74 Advaith Prabu 1503
93 Emmett Madigan 1440
Age 10
2 David Peng 2127
43 Shreya Mangalam 1683
76 Ishaar Ganesan 1585
Age 11
15 Vincent Do 2002
20 Akhil Kalghatgi 1964
36 Hanson Ho 1840
41 Nikhil Kalghatgi 1816
77 Tej Rai 1659
92 Miranda Liu 1627
Age 12
18 Alex Bian 2059
32T Matthew Stevens 1985
51 Daniel Bronfeyn 1891
57 Abe Sun 1874
61 Jonathan Tan 1853
Age 13
18 Zhaozhi Li 2098
42 Anshul Adve 1957
63 James Wei 1874
69T Jack Curcio 1848
82 Ian Gilchrist 1815
83 Blair Hu 1813
Age 14
30 Zachary Holecek 2031
59T Spencer Lehmann 1920
64 Jonathan Hrach 1900
90T Phillip Parker-Turner 1835
Age 15
  None from Illinois
Age 16
31 Gavin McClanahan 2072
39 Max Zinski 2046
45 Nathan Kranjc 2023
60T Penny Xu 1952
65 Timothy Zhou 1946
90T Eli Goering 1872
96T Jimi Akintonde 1850
Age 17
5 Sam Schmakel 2345
9 Jonathan Kogan 2281
72 Joe Fennessey 1961
75T Duncan Shepherd 1950
93 David Paykin 1883
Age 18
4 Adarsh Jayakumar 2386
22 Matthew Wilber 2183
42 Robert Moskwa 2087
43 Kent Cen 2086
61 Chengliang Luo 2032
80T Charles Swan 1939
83 Rafeh Qazi 1936
86 Benjamin Stern 1922
99 David Korobov 1882
Girls Under 16
62 Shayna Provine (13) 1699
67 Shreya Mangalam (10) 1683
81 Miranda Liu (11) 1627
Girls Under 13
26 Shreya Mangalam (10) 1683
32 Miranda Liu (11) 1627
51 Marissa Li (10) 1520
56 Cassie Parent (12) 1497

 

** Suraj Ramanathan has moved to Massachusetts. This is Illinois' loss.

Suraj arrived on the Illinois chess scene entering the 2012 K-8 Championships in Rockford as a 7-year old with a 652 rating, after moving here from Missouri by way of India. A year later he placed third in the 2nd/3rd grade section of the 2013 K-8 event. After winning the Reserve Section at his latest tournament in the Boston-area Boylston Chess Club, Suraj's rating was 1552, representing a 900-point rating increase in under a year and a half.

No less than Grandmaster Dimitry Guervich praised his style and demeanor at the recent Chicago Class, suggesting Suraj already plays like a professional. As his coach for the last year, I can attest that Suraj possesses a rare vision at the board and is a sponge for new chess knowledge.

His presence at the Aurora Naperville Chess Club, and at Illinois tournaments will be missed. Although he fell short of achieving his goal of becoming a Warren Scholar, his advancement is testimony to how hard work with even a modest coach can pay off. And Suraj has plenty of other chess goals he'll be accomplishing with his diligent persistence.

After celebrating his birthday in July, he transitions from the third-rated 8-year old in the Prairie State to the fifth-rated 9-year old in the Bay State.