Illinois Sends Ten Top 10 Finishers to 2014 World Open in VA, Kochemirovskiy Wins Under 1600 Co-Championship, Chicago Kelly's Jungo Undefeated, U1400 Co-Runner Up

The Land of Lincoln was well-represented in the Continental Chess Association's World Open, completed July 6 in Arlington, Virginia. Over 1100 players competed in the nine-round event. Crosstables can be viewed here.

Top 10 finishers included Alexey Kochemirovskiy tying for the championship in the U1600, Mark Jungo tying for 2nd in the U1400 and IM Angelo Young tying for third in the Under 2400. 

Max Haugh-Ewald tied for third in the U1600 and Sam Zschack tied for fourth place in the U1400. Ishaar Ganesan tied for 8th in the U1600, Brent Young also tied for 8th in the U1200. Jon Winick tied for 9th in the U1800 while Karthikeyan Pounraj tied for 10th in the U2000.

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Former ICA President Produces Long-Awaited 6th Edition

6th Ed CoverTournament Directors -- and players alike -- can finally enjoy an updated USCF rulebook after more than a decade.

The Sixth Edition of the USCF's "Official Rules of Chess" was recently released in Kindle format and is scheduled to be published in old-fashioned print August 5.  

Long-time organizer and National Tournament Director Tim Just served as the Editor for the Sixth Edition after co-editing its predecessor in 2003.

 

 

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Morgan Park, Naperville Attract Strong Fields June 21

Nothing says "first day of summer" better than a pair of competitive northern Illinois tournaments with sizeable fields. Both events attracted nearly 100 competitors. 

In the western suburbs, Elite Chess offered its Summer Open in conjunction with its camp season, featuring relatively quick time controls: Game/45 with a 5-second delay in four rated sections. There were also several unrated competitions held simultaneously. Naperville North High School Coach Jeff Di Orio's four-round tournament attracted 16 to the "Championship" section including two USCF-experts.

As the dust settled, Di Orio's past and present students nabbed three of the top four spots. Bradley Guan took clear first, beating Experts in the final two rounds. Anuj Dahiya and Tony Zhou finished in a three-way tie for second along with Guan's fourth-round victim, Greg Bungo.

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Turgut Shares Bill Wright Open Title With 4 GMs

The Chicago Blackhawks are not the only clan from Illinois invading St. Louis these days. A slew of Illinois entrants participated in the recent Bill Wright Open at the St. Louis Chess Center held April 11-13.

Amid world-class competition, Dr. Tansel Turgut staked a claim among top finishers with a 4.0/5 result. Dr. Turgut beat a fellow master and two experts before defeating New York-based International Master Justin Sarkar in the final round. Turgut shared top honors with two US-based GM's as well as GM's from Mexico and Germany. 

The tournament field included five of the top 60 players in the US as well as several strong international players.

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Illini Foursome Competes in NYC 2014 Collegiate Final Four; Chess IQ Hosts GM Analysis Free to Public

Basketball isn't the only activity featuring a collegiate final four this weekend. For the second year in a row, four University of Illinois undergrads will compete in the President's Cup. This year's event is being hosted at the New York Athletic Club -- yes, the same venue where they annually announce the football Heisman award.

In honor of the event, ChessIQ in Skokie is fielding its own team of chess pundits to analyze the games for the benefit of the public. Organizer Sevan Muradian is offering free admission on a first come, first served basis.

The analysis lineup kicks off with GM Yury Shulman at 10am Saturday (4/5). Shulman has worked with the Illini squad which has reached out to the public for underwriting, raising 90% of its $9500 goal at last report.

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