Youth News
USCF Top 100 List as of February 2013
- Written by Bill Feldman
Nine-year old phenom David Peng has claimed the number one ranking of his age group, barely edging out frequent Illinois tournament participant Awonder Liang of Wisconsin. Awonder has since regained a higher rating, but as of the January 18th date when the official bi-monthly rankings were generated, David had the upper hand.
Aydin Turgut (3rd in age 8), Sam Schmakel (7th in age 16) and Adarsh Jayakumar (4th in age 18) are the other Illinois players in the top 10 of their respective age groups.
Aged 18 years or younger, Illinois currently boasts three masters, Sam, Adarsh, and Jonathan Kogan (age 17), along with eight experts.
Outstandin Longtime Chess Volunteer
- Written by David Mattox
Kyle Groters
Senior Kyle Groters is a Charter Member of the Timothy Christian School Chess Club in Elmhurst, Illinois. In high school, Kyle continued his involvement as a leader by attending all club meetings, advising younger players, preparing students for tournaments and teaching on occasion. His service as a member of our leadership team has been an invaluable as the team meets each week to promote chess in our school. Kyle’s dedication and service to our club has been a model of volunteerism in the scholastic chess community.
Top Scholastic Players as of December 2012
- Written by Bill Feldman
Congratulations to those in the top ten nationwide for their age group: Aydin Turgut(4th in age 8), David Peng (2nd in age 9), Sam Schmakel (8th in age 16), and Adarsh Jayakumar (8th in age 18).
Ages 7 and under
| Rank | Name | Rating |
| 24 (tie) | Stefan Musikic | 1377 |
| 69 (tie) | Aaron Gan (age 6) | 1147 |
Whitney Young Shines at the 2012 National K-12 Championship
- Written by Paul Kash
Members of the Whitney Young High School chess team arrived at school on Tuesday morning brandishing trophies representing their many accomplishments at the 2012 USCF National All-Grade Championship. Highlighting the event was the team winning their second National Blitz Championship. The first blitz championship was won at the 2011 National High School Championship.
Illinois Scholastic Players at the 2012 National K-12 Championship
- Written by Bill Feldman
Illinois Scholastic players acquitted themselves well at the 2012 K-12 Nationals completed December 2 in Orlando, Florida -- crosstable. Illinois natives finished with plus scores (at least 4.0 out of 7) in nine of the 13 age groups, including four top ten finishers. The Land of Lincoln also took home the hardware in side events with two top five finishers in both K-12 blitz and bughouse.
All tolled, over 1300 players participated in the three-day 2012 K-12 Nationals.