Twelve-year old Matthew Stevens is the latest Illinois junior to achieve expert status according to "official" USCF ratings published September 18. Matthew's excellent performance at the Illinois Open did the trick as he defeated experts from Wisconsin and Illinois and drew a master.

Experts represent roughly the top five percent (USCF 2000) to one and a half percent (USCF 2199) of all active USCF competitors playing over the board.

Subsequent to the October cut-off, 17-year old Joe Fennessey crossed the threshold thanks to his whiz-bang performance at the Midwest Class. Joe's accomplishment will not be reflected in the Top 100 until next month, but, as a heads up, he defeated experts from Wisconsin, Kentucky and Illinois while drawing an expert from Minnesota.

Also on the cusp of "experthood" are 12-year old Akhil Kalghatgi, 13-year old Anshul Adve, 14-year old Spencer Lehmann and 17-year old Duncan Shepherd. 

Adarsh Jayakumar (now second to only Ray Robson in age 18), David Peng (second in age 10), Aydin Turgut (third in age 9), Sam Schmakel (fifth in age 17), and Jonathan Kogan (ninth in age 17) remain the Illinois players in the top ten of their respective age groups nationwide.

Aged 18 years or younger, Illinois currently boasts three masters, Adarsh, Sam, and Jonathan, along with a dozen experts including Joe.

Jayant Maheshwari (age 7) has entered the top 100 for the first time, while Rishi Narayanan, David Zimmermann and Jonah Karafiol have returned after brief absences.

Abe Sun had appeared as America's fiftieth rated 12-year old on September's report, but his absence from rated-play for over a year has caused his deletion from the top 100's.

According to USCF specifications, ratings as of September 18 were used for this report and the top 100 lists were published October 17.

 

October Top 100 Youth

US RankNameRating
Age 7 and under
32T Aaron Gan 1324
79T Jayant Maheshwari 1065
88 Sam Fayn 1031
Age 8
34 Stefan Musikic 1517
77 David Zimmermann 1292
81 Adam Bareket 1288
Age 9
3 Aydin Turgut 1942
40 Ricky Wang 1656
68 Brian Gong 1513
83 Advaith Prabu 1481
100 Jonah Karafiol 1422
Age 10
2 David Peng 2138
27T Jason Daniels 1786
59 Shreya Mangalam 1640
84T Edward Zhang 1586
Age 11
20 Vincent Do 2018
68 Tej Rai 1693
69T Marissa Li 1690
Age 12
20 Matthew Stevens 2030
25 Akhil Kalghatgi 1996
42 Daniel Bronfeyn 1919
52T Hanson Hao 1872
50 Nikhil Kalghatgi 1848
77 Jonathan Tan 1789
     
Age 13
20 Zhaozhi Li 2098
21 Alex Bian 2086
37 Anshul Adve 1992
55 Jack Curcio 1935
70 James Wei 1874
93 Andrew Fei 1792
Age 14
36 Zachary Holecek 2031
52T Spencer Lehmann 1973
Age 15
80 Jonathan Hrach 1900
Age 16
28 Max Zinski 2112
37T Gavin McClanahan 2072
39 Nathan Kranjc 2071
66 Penny Xu 1966
76 Timothy Zhou 1946
85 Eli Goering 1918
Age 17
5 Sam Schmakel 2376
9 Jonathan Kogan 2271
66T Duncan Shepherd 1967
74 Joe Fennessey 1954
Age 18
2 Adarsh Jayakumar 2386
35 Robert Moskwa 2087
48 Chengliang Luo 2032
70 Charles Swan 1939
73 David Korobov 1928
85 David Paykin 1883
96 Matthew Yang 1836
Girls Under 16
46T Miranda Liu (12) 1778
56 Shayna Provine (13) 1717
50 Marissa Li (11) 1690
62 Shreya Mangalam (10) 1640
Girls Under 13
13 Miranda Liu (12) 1778
21 Marissa Li (11) 1690
28 Shreya Mangalam (10) 1640

Miranda raised her rating 69 points competing at the US Open and another 68 points through a September event at the Chess IQ Center in Skokie. At the US Open, she posted a 5.0/9 score, beating an Expert and a Class A player while drawing another Class A opponent.

Marissa bumped her rating 149 points through the Illinois Open, defeating four Class B players and drawing a fifth, earning a 4.5/6 score.

Having three young ladies under 13 in the top 30 is quite an accomplishment for this trio and reflects well upon a state with 4% of the American population. Shreya will be representing Illinois (along with David Peng) in the upcoming World Youth in Dubai at the end of the year.