Only the tournament's end could stop Christopher Gora and Andrey Novikov at the Chicago Latino Chess Championship conducted November 28.

The five-round long-time annual event was once again organized at the Rudy Lozano Branch of the Chicago Public Library by Hector Hernandez, the Branch Manager and long-time friend to chess. The event provided free entry with trophies to the top 10 and medals to all others with the best score for their grade level in school. 51 competed in the Age 14 and Under section.

Novikov defeated previously unbeaten Joshua Johnson in the final round to finish 5.0. Nonetheless, Gora finished with the higher tiebreak with four of his five opponents finishing in the top 10. Johnson received the third place trophy with the highest tiebreak in the 4.0/5 scoregroup.

Others with 4.0's included Marcel Kubik (4th), Layla Rodriguez (5th), Izella Ortiz (6th), Daniel Roman (7th), and Jim Nguyen (8th). Technically all tied for third place, but received trophies based on the mathematically-calculated tiebreaks.

At 3.5, Umair Ahmed and Lizzy Brahin tied for 9th place, with Umair claiming that trophy and Lizzy earning 10th place hardware. Umair lost to Christopher in the final round while Lizzy had fallen victim to Andrey in the penultimate round.  Both Umair and Lizzy had incurred draws in the third round.

11 players tied for 11th place with 3.0/5 scores. They were all awarded medals for their efforts, along with Erik Tolbert (2.5) who was the top 8th Grade finisher. Gabriel Luna was the kindergarten champion.

First Grade champion: David Cotofrea

Second Grade champion: Matthew Kim

Third Grade champion: Anne Regalado

Fourth Grade champion: Zubair Ahmed

Fifth Grade co-champions: Sarah Regalado & Anthony Luna

Sixth Grade champion: Juan Fugencio

Seventh Grade co-champions: Cristian Luna & Samantha Glowacki

Ninth Grade champion: Carrey Nguyen

The Knight Moves Chess Club meets Thursdays at the Lozano Branch. Free tournaments such as the Latino Championship are supported by donations. Contact This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. for more information.