Aidan Carey Sweeps Field of DeKalb's Nevermind Classic

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Oak Park's Aidan Carey won all five of his quick chess matches as he was crowned champion of the 2016 Nevermind Classic in DeKalb September 24.

The event honored the 25th anniversary of the "drop" of the classic Nirvana album on 9/24/91. (What's an album, right?)

Fellow juniors Shreyas Reddy and David Chen both compiled strong 2.5 scores to split the top Under 1400 prize.

Although the Game/25; zero-delay time control only impacted "quick" ratings, regular ratings were used for pairing and prize purposes.

Rockford Jefferson High School Senior Nate Blair played in his first US Chess event, receiving a USCF-membership scholarship for the year!

Based on "regular ratings," a multi-way tie for Under 1200 top honors included Julian Wang, Sriram Ashokkumar, Paul Carey and Jacob Plotnick, all with 1.5 points.

Jacob was also the champion of the four-round non-rated tournament which attracted a pair of Nate's teammates, several chess dads among others.

After profound consideration and consultation with multiple valuation experts, Jacob opted to forgo the "cash prize" in favor of a generously-sized trophy. Shrewd move, Jacob!

Genoa's Tom Stewart, recovering from a near-fatal car accident, played in his first chess tournament ever, enjoying a couple rounds of competition before calling it a day. Tom credits his daughter with finding out about the tournament on the internet. Welcome, Tom! 

Many in the field were preparing for the Midwest Class occuring in early October in Wheeling. Registration for that event continues.