September 2025 Top Youth

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Written by WJS Director WJS Director

Published: 17 August 2025 17 August 2025

September 2025 Top 100 Youth

Congragations to the following people for their remarkable accomplishments for September 2025.

Three new players reach the top 100

 Shrinika Biswal Top Girl under 7
 Adam Elgat Top Age 17
 Adan Pena Faris Top Age 18

Movers and shakers

 Banoth, Shanaya has reached #69 from #93 Top Girl Age 9  
 Hari, Nila has reached #64 from #79 Top Girl Age 14
 Pittala, Ashvath Reddy has reached #63 from #77 Top Age 13
 Cortez, Rebecca has reached #70 from #84 Top Age 18
 Malladi, Sadkrith has reached #35 from #46 Top Age 18
 Sun,Yuanli has reached #66 from #75 Top Girl Age 12

Total Top 100 Players 88

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22nd Susan Polgar Foundation Girls' Invitational

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Written by Jacob Plotnick - Editor in Chief Jacob Plotnick - Editor in Chief

Published: 06 August 2025 06 August 2025

22nd Susan Polgar Foundation Girls' Invitational

The Illinois Chess Association proudly congratulates our two state representatives, Rebecca Cortez and Stella Xin, for representing Illinois at the 22nd Susan Polgar Foundation Girls’ Invitational (SPFGI), held from June 23–25, 2025. They earned their invitations by placing first and second, respectively, in the Haring Division at the 2025 Illinois Chess Association Youth Invitational. You can read the full write-up of that event here.

Founded in 2004, the Susan Polgar Foundation Girls’ Invitational has been hosted at Webster University in Missouri since 2012, with the exception of several years during the COVID-19 pandemic.

This year’s tournament featured 62 players representing 33 states and the District of Columbia.

Stella Xin finished with 4 out of 6 points, tying for 8th place (11th after tiebreaks). Rebecca Cortez scored 3.5 out of 6 points, tying for 18th place (23rd after tiebreaks). Both players demonstrated impressive skill and determination on the national stage.

Partial standings from the main event are listed below, and a complete spreadsheet provided by SPFGI—including Blitz, Bughouse, and Puzzle competition results—is available here. The official US Chess crosstables can also be found here.

Please join us in congratulating Rebecca and Stella for their excellent performances and for representing Illinois with distinction at one of the most prestigious national girls’ chess events in the country.

July 2025 Top Youth

Details

Written by WJS Director WJS Director

Published: 25 June 2025 25 June 2025

July 2025 Top 100 Youth

Congragations to the following people for outstanding improvements for July 2025.

Bishret Munkhsuld has reach #21 from #35 in Top Age 8.

Elizabeth Xia has reached #12 from #21 in Top Age 9

Stella Xin has reached #2 from #8 in Top Age 9 

Total players from Illinois 91.

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2025 ICA Youth Invitational

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Written by Jacob Plotnick - Editor in Chief Jacob Plotnick - Editor in Chief

Published: 26 May 2025 26 May 2025

Thanks to our new President, Dan Wilson, and our Warren Scholars Chairman, Edwin Walker—along with his technical expertise—the ICA took a fresh approach to selecting this year’s players. Invitations were extended to the highest-rated players in Illinois, with a goal of up to twenty players in each division. The four divisions were: Denker (High School), Barber (Grades 6–8), Rockefeller (Grades K–5), and Haring (Girls, Grades K–12).

The winners of each division will represent Illinois in their respective divisions in the U.S. Open in Middleton, WI July 28th-July 31st. The ICA will award each of the four winners a $300 stipend for travel to be able to participate in the tournament.

This year’s event featured a remarkable finish, with three of the four divisions decided by playoffs.

Denker (High School) 

Entering the final round, Anjaneya led with 3.5 points out of 4, while Anshul Shetty (both from Waubonsie Valley High School) had 3 points. Their game ended in a draw, giving Anjaneya a final score of 4 points. Meanwhile, Avi Kaplan, who started the round with 3 points, defeated Dario Pjevic, bringing his total to 4 points—tying Anjaneya.

This led to a two-game blitz playoff (G/3+2). Avi beat Anjaneya in both games, crowning him the 2025 Denker Champion. A complete crosstable is below:

Barber (Grades 6-8) 

Heading into the last round, Artemii Khanbutaev and Sachit Rajkumar were tied with 3.5 points each. Since they had already played each other earlier, Artemii drew Ashvath Puttala to finish with 4 points. Meanwhile, Ryan Zhang played Sachit Rajkumar and won, also ending with 4 points—forcing a playoff with Artemii.

In the two-game blitz (G/3+2), Artemil defeated Ryan in both games, securing his title as the 2025 Barber Champion. A complete crosstable is below:

Rockefeller (Grades K-5) 

Before the final round, Matthew Yu and Lucas Silvestre were tied with 3.5 points each. Due to pairing rules, Matthew drew against Ryun Fei, while Aiden Li, who entered with 3 points, defeated Lucas, leaving both Matthew and Aiden tied at 4 points.

Similarly to the previous sections, the two-game blitz playoff (G/3+2) saw Aiden defeat Matthew in both games, making him the 2025 Rockefeller Champion. A complete crosstable is below:

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Haring (Girls) 

In the final round, Rebecca Cortez and Stella Xia were tied with 3.5 points each. Rebecca defeated Stella to claim the 2025 Haring Championship.

Additionally, there was a three-way tie for third place with 2.5 points between Elizabeth Xia, Victoria Chen, and Emily Tang entering the final round. Elizabeth and Victoria drew their game, finishing with 3 points; while Emily lost to Linda Pham. A complete crosstable is below:

Congratulations to everybody who participated; being able to participate is a testament to your effort and skill thus far. And best of luck to our state champions in Wisconsion!