The Illinois Chess Association has finalized the field for three invitational tournaments occurring in Schaumburg May 14-15.

The winners of these tournaments will become the Illinois representatives to the national Denker, Barber and Girls events occuring late summer in Indianapolis just prior to the US Open.

January 2016 rating issued by US Chess was the primary criterion for selection.

Masters George Li and Alex Bian are the top-rated invitees in the 12-player, Swiss-paired, five-round Denker.

Also in the field of high schoolers will be Anshul Adve, Nicholas Bartochowski, Jonathan Hrach, Spencer Lehmann, Daniel Bronfeyn, Hanson Hao, Rishi Narayanan, Jack Curcio (rated 2028) and state champion Whitney Young teammates Akhil Kalghatgi and Matthew Stevens. Hrach was the winner of the 2016 High School Individual Championships.

The Barber will feature a field of a dozen players in eighth grade or lower. 2016 World Youth participants David Peng, Jacob Furfine and Jason Daniels will head the field in the Barber, along with Experts Vincent Do and Ricky Wang. Also accepting invitations are Tom Bareket, Patrick Rao, Ishaar Ganesan, Peter Zheng, Sunny Boya, Brian Gong and Arthur Xu (rated 1768 at age 8).

In the six-player round robin Girls event, Shreya Mangalam, Miranda Liu and Marissa Li have all been over 1900 at times during 2016. They will be joined by Aria Hoesley and IMSA teammates Shayna Provine and Cassie Parent (rated 1588).

Senior Tournament Director and FIDE National Arbiter Bill Buklis will officiate the tournaments. The events will be rated by both US Chess and FIDE, the international organization of chess.