Illinois Chess Association

The team comprised of Filipinos spearheaded by IM Angelo Young, FM Camilo Pangan, NM Florentino Inumerable, Expert Rene Ancheta and Virgillio Forro won the US Amateur Team Championship North with a total of 4.5 pts. /5 games. They gave only one draw and never looked back from beginning to end winning match after match. Crosstable

In the first round they were undefeated against a group of young college students (The left hand of God), then in round 2 routed Downers chess club by a score of 3-1. Next round they almost blanked the R3P0 by winning 3.5-.5 and in round 4 they drew a rejuvenated CICL chess team exchanging blows on board 3 and 4. In the final round they rebounded in a style with an impressive win against the University of Chicago, while the CICL ( the only team that could catch them) only drew the team of GM Yermolinsky ( Peasants of Midwest) to take the second place.

“Chess,” a rock musical using international chess tournaments and a love triangle as metaphors for the Cold War, is the final production of the 2009-2010 season produced by Theo Ubique Cabaret Theatre in association with Michael James.

Tom Sprandel, president of the Illinois Chess Association (ICA), is providing expert chess counsel for the production, and ICA members will be involved in post-show Talk Backs and pre-show Blitz Chess exhibitions.

Opening night is 7 p.m., Sunday, March 7 at the No Exit Café, 6970 N. Glenwood Ave. in Chicago’s Rogers Park neighborhood.

Tim Rice wrote the lyrics for “Chess” in 1986 with music by former ABBA members, Björn Ulvaeus and Benny Andersson. The Theo Ubique production is based on an award-winning 1988 Broadway version of the musical, featuring a book added by playwright Richard Nelson. Notable songs from the musical are “I Know Him So Well,” as well as “One Night in Bangkok,” a pop dance single covered by Murray Head that peaked at #3 in the U.S. in 1985.

Congratulations to 36 talented youth chess players across the state who were named as ICA 2010 Warren Junior Chess Scholars.   The group of players includes 30 boys and 6 girls, ranging in age from 6 to 17.  For nine of the students, this is the first time they’ve received the honor, which has been given annually since 2006.  To qualify, the students needed to be among the top-ranked youth chess players for their age in the country.

Most of the eight high school students among this year’s Warren Scholars were present to receive special recognition for the honor at the awards ceremony of the Illinois high school team championships on February 13.  The 28 elementary students will receive their awards at the state K8 championships that will be held in St. Charles the weekend of March 13-14.  A letter is also being sent to each student’s school principal about this special achievement.

The ICA Warren Scholar program provides some funding for individual instruction, and arranges group instruction with high-level masters and grandmasters to further develop the players talents and help them be competitive on a national stage.  All 2010 Warren Scholars have been invited to participate in a special group seminar on Sunday, February 28 with Grandmasters Dmitry Gurevich, Nikola Mitkov and Mesgen Amanov.  The Warren Scholar program also sponsors two competitive invitational tournaments for the state’s top high school and top female players, and provides funding for the winners to travel to national competitions.

GM Mesgen Amanov swept the Open section of Tim Just's Winter Open XXIV, defeating Hongshun Xu, Gavin McClanahan, Gregory Bungo, Andy Appelbaum and Michael Auger. Experts Auger and Appelbaum shared second at 4 points with NM Eric Rosen.

Bryce McClanahan similarly swept the Reserve Section, with Nathaniel Kranjc, Tony Christian, Joe Delay, Gee Leong and Kevin Davenport tying for second with 4 points. Bryce defeated Adream Liang, Rachel Ulrich, Christopher Girardo, Christian and Davenport.

Crosstables

The ICA Bid Committee recently went through its initial trial, reviewing two bids for the 2010 Illinois All Grade Championship. Six committee members had input on the bid and participated in a thorough and lively email discussion of the options before us. The committee ultimately recommended to the Executive Board that it approve the bid submitted by Paul Kash (Whitney Young), Zack Fishman (Chess Education Partners) and Michael Cardinale (Youth Chess Foundation of Chicago). The Executive Board unanimously approved our recommendation at its February 11th meeting.

The Winter Open, January 16

Chess Club and Scholastic Center of Saint Louis

After finishing 2009 with two strong tournaments, the Chess Club and Scholastic Center of Saint Louis was geared up for 2010. The newest addition to the CCSCSL staff, Grandmaster Ben Finegold, was slated to participate in the inaugural event to kick off the 2010 tournament schedule. The Winter Open brought other changes as well, as annual members were required to pre-register to receive the typical discount. This change had an immediate impact with 26 players registered before the day of the event. One might have expected another 10-15 players, which would have been considered a successful Winter event, but what happened on the morning of January 16 was pretty spectacular. Despite the cold Saint Louis weather, 31 more players came out to compete and meet the newest chess celebrity in Saint Louis! The 57-player field represented the second largest ever for the CCSCSL and continued the successful trend of 40-plus player tournaments the club has been enjoying.

Joint efforts by dedicated people from the Illinois Chess Association and CoChess led to the establishment on November 11th of two new standing committees in the ICA. The Youth Committee will focus on building youth chess in the state. The Bid Committee will manage the procurement of bids and awarding of contracts for ICA events, both youth and adult.

The two new committees are the result of recommendations from two temporary task forces set up by the two groups in early September.

I think everyone has experienced this feeling, you go to a tournament and you’re the lowest rated player in the event. Your confidence then goes way down and you are in somewhat awe of your fellow opponent’s rating.

Well this is what is happening to me at Sevan’s tournament in January 2010. The field has been set it is a 10 round 5 player double round robin tournament. Five games on a weekend in January and five on a weekend in February.

It is unusual being a Master and all to be the lowest rated player and it hasn’t happened to me for a long time. I will be playing with IM’s Felecan, Pasalic and Vishnuvardhan. FM’s Admason and Shankar. Then me the lowly untitled player.

[game follows . . .]

FM Andrew Karklins scored 4/6 in the Open Section of the 2009 Kings Island tournament last weekend and tied for first place.

Andrew has of course been playing chess for while and despite not playing too often he always seems to do well when he does.

Andrew took a draw in the first round against an Ohio expert. He then proceeded to defeat 3 expert players and draw with an IM.

Congratulations to Andrew for a fine performance. He gained 16 rating points from the tournament to move up to 2263.

In other news from the tournament expert Zach Kasiurak scored 4/6 in the U2100 section to tie for second place. Zach gained 27 rating points to move up to 2061.

Expert from Evanston chess club Matthew Pullin scored 3.5/6 in the U2100 section for a tie for fourth place only losing one game to the section winner. Matthew gained 10 rating points to move up to 2049.

The state’s top high school players will be invited to compete next March in the Illinois Denker High School Qualifier, where the winner is named the official state representative to the U.S. Denker High School Tournament of Champions.  The national tournament will be held July 31 to August 3 in Irvine, California.

DATE: Friday, March 19 to Sunday, March 21, 2010