Mateusz and Bennett: Co-Champions at 3rd DuPage CCC

The 3rd Annual DuPage County Chess Championship, hosted by Elite Chess, was held at Benedictine University on Sunday, December 28th.

And for the third year in a row, the event set new records for attendance. 154 players competed in the end-of-the-year tournament, with 113 playing in the rated sections and 41 playing in the unrated grade-level sections. 

Crosstables from the tournament can be found here.

The field was also the strongest that the DuPage County event had ever seen, with eight players in the Championship Section boasting ratings over 2000.

The two previous D.C.C.C. Champions (Avinash Rajendra – 2012 & Bennett Joseph – 2013) were in attendance, vying to reclaim their title and to once again have their name engraved on the coveted cup.

The final round pitted NM Mateusz Bobula against defending champion Bennett Joseph with first place on the line. As the clocks wound down, their rook and pawn ending finished in a draw.

Thus, Mateusz and Bennett were crowned co-champions and split the first and second place prize money.

The Chicago Industrial Chess League section was won by Brian Smith, and the lunchtime bughouse tournament was won by Naperville North High School's Mark Reed and Danny Emge.

This is the third year in a row that players from Naperville North have won the single elimination team tournament, leading one to believe that their coach and owner of Elite Chess, Jeff DiOrio, might let them play a little too much bughouse!

For more information on tournaments and other events from Elite Chess, visit: www.elitechess.net or contact Jeff DiOrio, at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..