Youth News

Top 100 Youth -- December 2013

Details: Written by Bill Feldman Bill Feldman

A few new names have entered the top 100 lists this month while we bid farewell to Adarsh Jayakumar whose 19th birthday meant the end of his reign as the top-ranked youth among Illinois registrants.

Since New Year's 2013, Adarsh played in events in India, Iceland, Hungary and Canada, in addition to the US. He competed in the 2013 Chicago Open, along with tournaments in Nevada, New York, Virginia and Pennsylvania, briefly surpassing the 2400-mark after playing the Philadelphia Open in March.

Media Outlets Join Discussion of CPS Chess Reform

Details

An increasing number of media outlets have added their voices recently to those urging reform of the chess program in Chicago’s public schools. A selection of the public comments follows.

NEW YORK TIMES:

Whitney Young… was the only representative at the [December 2013] K-12 Championships from [Chicago], which is not known as a chess stronghold. More students are enrolled in scholastic chess programs and are sent to tournaments across the country from schools in New York, which sends more teams to competitions than any other city; Miami; Seattle; Portland, Ore.; and even Brownsville, Texas. It is unusual for a city as large as Chicago, with 2.7 million people, to have only one school enter a tournament as prestigious as the K-12 Championships. By comparison, Los Alamos, N.M., population 18,000, also sent one school. (Dylan Loeb McClain, December 28, 2013)

St. John's Scholastic Chess Tournament - Two Romans in First Place

Details: Written by Hector Hernandez Hector Hernandez

The Romans played in the St. John's Scholastic Chess Tournament last Saturday, November 23, 2013.

Danny took First Place with a perfect 5-0 score in the Upper Primary Section. In the final round he had to overcome an opponent who kept making constant and repeated draw offers and would put captured pieces back on the board. Danny's picked up 229 rating points.

Illinois Youth Shine At Greater Midwest Class

Details: Written by Bill Feldman Bill Feldman

While Grandmasters Yury Shulman and Josh Friedel shared the championship of the first-ever Greater Midwest Class, it was an occasion of personal bests for many Illinois youth players.

Sam Schmakel and David Peng both finished in a seven-way tie for fourth. Schmakel bolstered his rating to a personal best 2389, losing only to Shulman while drawing Friedel. 10-year old Peng upped his rating to 2174. His only loss came at the hands of Wisconsin master Erik Santarius.

The three-day, six-round tournament concluded December 1 in Rosemont, IL with 105 players competing in the main event.

Juniors Aydin Turgut and Daniel Bronfeyn smashed the 2000-barrier for the first time, with Turgut unofficially becoming the highest-rated nine year old in the US.

Top 100 Youth for November, 2013

Details: Written by Bill Feldman Bill Feldman

While Massachusetts may be the only state with two top-rated players in their respective age group, Illinois is one of only four states with three among the top two.

Thanks to Aydin Turgut (age 9), David Peng (age 10) and Adarsh Jayakumar (age 18), all ranked second in their particular age classification, the Land of Lincoln joins New York, California and Texas with that distinction this month.

New class levels were achieved at the Midwest Class by Joe Fennessey (Expert), Andrew Fei (Class A), and Stefan Musikic (Class B). Jason Daniels also achieved Class A status due to his second category titling at the 2013 Hobbit Classic.