Youth Chess News
Illinois Youth in USCF Top 100 -- March 2014
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- Written by Bill Feldman Bill Feldman
February is popular in Illinois lore as the month of Abraham Lincoln’s birthday, one half the dynamic duo which prompted our modern “Presidents Day”. Considering the 16th president wasn’t even born in the Prairie State, perhaps we might expand the birthdays we honor in the second calendar month. Look no further than the 11 Illinois Youth in the top 100 who observed birthdays last month.
Vincent Do, Jonathan Tan, Spencer Lehmann, Gavin McClanahan, Penny Xu, Eli Goering, Joe Fennessey, Duncan Shepherd, Zhaozhi Li and Anshul Adve all have transitioned to the next age group for purposes of the USCF monthly top 100. Happy birthday to you all!
Alas, a February birthday also means that long-time list member, Expert (aka Candidate Master) Robert Moskwa, has aged out of the report after turning 19.
March 2014 Lists Can Be Viewed Here.
2014 K-8: Mangalam, J. Zhang, Ramnath Claim Clear Titles; Curcio and Stevens Share Grades 6-8 Championship
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- Written by Bill Feldman Bill Feldman
With the largest field in six years, the Illinois K-8 Championships crowned outright winners in three sections.
With perfect 7.0/7 scores, Shreya Mangalam took Grades 4-5 and Vrishank Ramnath won the Grades K-1 group. James Zhang topped the Grades 2-3 section with a 6.5/7 tally.
Also with 6.5 scores, Jack Curcio and Matthew Stevens earned the Grades 6-8 co-championship with Jack taking the first-place trophy on tiebreak points.
Event crosstables can be reviewed here.
684 players competed in the March 15-16 event held at the Hyatt Regency Schaumburg. Glenn Panner of Chess Weekend served as the chief organizer, with Sevan Muradian as Chief TD and Wayne Clark in the role of Chief Floor Director. Muradian's ChessIQ donated the iPad mini's which were awarded to the four section winners.
Schmakel, Peng, Liu to Represent Illinois in Orlando
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- Written by Bill Feldman Bill Feldman
A field of 25 of Illinois' best and brightest young chess players competed February 28 to March 2 in a trio of invitational tournaments to decide the state's representatives to prestigious national competitions.
The Barber, Denker and Girls Championships will be held preceding the US Open in Orlando in late July. The qualifying event was hosted by Chess IQ in Skokie and was officiated by Sevan Muridian. Event crosstables can be reviewed here.
10-year old David Peng will represent the Land of Lincoln in the pre-high school Barber competition after running the field, 5.0/5 in the Qualifier. George Li was the runner up.
Senior Sam Schmakel needed a tiebreak to earn his invitation to the national Denker for high schoolers, after both he and Max Zinski compiled 3.5/5 tallies.
Bloomington Evans, Dunlap Earn '14 IESA Team Titles; 6th Graders Do, Musuku, Sobery Win Individual Top Honors
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- Written by Bill Feldman Bill Feldman
Not all chess needs to be rated by the US Chess Federation to have dramatic significance.
The Illinois Elementary School Association (IESA) hosted its fourth championships February 28 and March 1, crowning individual and team champions in two sections.
Vincent Do of Rockford's Thurgood Marshall Academy and Bloomington Evans Junior High's Rithvik Musuku split the championship of the 7th Grade section, while Nathan Sobery of Normal's Kingsley Junior High won the 8th Grade section. All three players finished with perfect 7.0/7 scores. Impressively, all three are only in the 6th Grade.
Illinois Youth in USCF Top 100 -- February 2014
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- Written by Bill Feldman Bill Feldman
If great junior chess players were grown in fields, Illinois' line up of young players could be termed a bumper crop.
Not only does Illinois now host a junior-aged Senior Master, not only is the Prairie State home to the nation's top-rated 9-year old, but the Land of Lincoln has now harvested a remarkable baker's dozen of experts age 18 or younger.
All in, that's 16 juniors rated 2000 or higher. On their heels, an additional dozen juniors are rated 1900 and up.