Avi Kaplan has won the Advanced Section of the YCFC Tournament held April 9 at Oriole Park Elementary.

Almost 300 participated in the event, the fifth of six on the calendar for the 2015-2016 school year. There would have been more entrants had it not been for a school which arrived at the tournament -- but decided to leave without playing after their last-minute request for a private team room could not be accommodated.

Olman Chaheine of Altus Academy and Izellah Ortiz of Kinzie both posted perfect 5.0's in the Novice 5-8 section.

Isai Hernandez, also of Altus, took clear third with 4.5 points, overcoming a first-round draw. You'll never guess which team won first place in the section.

There was 13-way tie for fourth place at 4.0/5 with seven receiving trophies and the others receiving medals.

4.0's included: Angel Nunez of Burbank, Tarika Oberai, Max Castillo, Elija Williams, Andrew Ahn, Jacob Rosado, Juan Fulgencio.

Also in that score group were Ethan Morrelly, Frenando Alveraex, Elizabeth Codamon, Anonso Sandoval, Alexus Morrow and Joshua Hernandez.

Both Alexus and Joshua were participating in their very first YCFC event. Keep it up!

110 participated in the Novice 5-8.

Meanwhile 130 competed in the Novice K-4. After more than 320 games it all came down to a single playoff between Jake Mangiulo of Wildwood and Sophie Hong of Edison. When the dust settled it was Sophie walking away with the first place trophy.

Both Jake and Sophie had compiled perfect five-for-five tallies in the competition ahead of a three-player pack with 4.5's. Daniel Lim, Kevin Shi and Rogelio Flores took third through fifth honors although not necessarily in that order.

There was an 12-way tie for sixth place with five receiving trophies and seven taking home medals thanks to their 4.0/5 scores.

Those with 4.0's included Ria Raj, Anisha Oberai, Adrian Onofre, Henry Reiland, Angelo Landiza, Luke Roasdo, Grant Poorman, Robert Suteu, Paul Stiles, Yuraj Chennareddy, Jacob Lin, Jan Lojewski and Owen Paskiewicz.

This was the first time in a YCFC tournament for Jacob, Jan and Owen, making their results even more impressive!

The event was chiefly organized by Mike Cardinale of Apartment People. Numerous AT&T employees assisted as volunteers as did ICA Youth Committee members Paul Carey and his son, Aidan, along with Jerry Neugarten. The five-round tournament was co-sponsored by the Chicago Chess Foundation.

For coaches and parents wanting to participate in future YCFC - CCF events, this emphasizes the need for early registration by the recommended deadline. This affords host sites the heads up to assure for proper skittles areas -- and potential team rooms. It also allows the organizer a chance to organize the sections effectively, as well as striving for the opportunity for trophies to at least 10% of the players in any section.

The 2015 - 2016 series concludes with a May 14th tournament hosted at Burbank on the northwest side of Chicago.

Details will be posted on the ICA Scholastic Calendar.