Youth News
Illinois Hosts 4 Junior Masters, 17 Experts Aged 11-18
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- Written by Bill Feldman Bill Feldman
- Published: 26 April 2016 26 April 2016
Today marks the resumption of the publishing of a time-consuming but much-requested feature of the ICA website: a listing of the Illinois youth on the monthly top 100 lists of the US Chess Federation.
Many good players have come through these lists and enhanced their ratings over time. 48 youth managed to make one of these twelve lists this month.
The four US Chess Masters with ratings above 2200 are David Peng (Age 12), George Li (Age 16), and Jacob Furfine along with Alex Bian (both Age 15). Several other Experts (rated 2000+) are getting close to joining them.
Li Is Under 14 National Girls' Champion, Liu 2nd in U16
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- Written by Bill Feldman Bill Feldman
- Published: 24 April 2016 24 April 2016
Some times tiebreaks can be your best friend and some times they are your mortal enemy.
In the case of Marissa Li, she's probably a fan now after the 2016 National All-Girls completed April 24 at Chicago's McCormick Place. Despite losing her sixth-round match with Sophie Morris-Suzuki of New York, Marissa prevailed via tiebreaks over the challenger from the Empire State, to win the Under 14 National championship.
Shreya Mangalam -- and frequent Illinois player Ritika Pandey of Wisconsin -- both tied for third place, a half-point back (4.5), with Shreya taking fourth place hardware and Ritika fifth on tiebreaks.
Whitney Young's Parker-Turner Wins $12,000 Scholarship
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- Written by Bill Feldman Bill Feldman
- Published: 23 April 2016 23 April 2016
Whitney Young's Phillip Parker-Turner has won a $12,000 college scholarship from the David R. MacDonald Foundation thanks to his winning performance at the Chicago Public School's MVP tournament.
The April 19th event was held at the Washington branch of the Chicago Public Library. The tournament was conducted in two high school and four K-8 sections with 118 players competing.
Parker-Turner was a perfect five-for five. Mark Jungo finished second with 4.0/5, earning a $6,000 scholarship.
Illinois Earns 8 Individual Trophies at 2016 K-8 Nationals; Whitney Young Team 4th in K-9; Davis 2nd in K-9 Under 1250
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- Written by Bill Feldman Bill Feldman
- Published: 17 April 2016 17 April 2016
Three Illinois players have tied for 11th place in the K-8 section at the National Junior High Championships completed April 17 in Indianapolis.
Ricky Wang (13th), Vincent Do (15th) and Shreya Mangalam (16th) all posted 5.5/7 and received trophies based on their tiebreak, but essentially tied for 11th out of 271 full-fledged entrants.
A half-point back, tying for 21st place with a 5.0 score, receiving 25th place trophies on tiebreaks were Kevin Ho, Siddharth Acharya, Jason Daniels, Peter Zheng and Patrick Rao.
Illinois Nabs 7 of Top 10 at Junior High National Blitz; Nikhil Kalghatgi Wins National Title; Whitney Young Is Top Team
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- Written by Bill Feldman Bill Feldman
- Published: 15 April 2016 15 April 2016
191 players from across the country faced off in the six-round, two-matches-per-round Blitz competition at the 2016 Junior High Nationals in Indianapolis held April 14.
Heading into the final match, a pair of Illinoisians were one-two with Nikhil Kalghatgi a perfect 10.0/10 and Aydin Turgut at 9.0/10. Aydin denied Nikhil a perfect score but couldn't deny Nikhil the match, 1.5 to 0.5, so the Whitney Young freshman is now National Blitz Champ!
Nikhil's brother, Akhil, placed second with the top tiebreak among a quartet of 10.0's. Aydin placed sixth with the top tiebreak among a fab five of 9.5's.
Rounding out the top 10 were Jason Daniels (10.0 for 5th), Vincent Do (9.5 for 7th), Matthew Stevens (9.5 for 9th), Siddharth Acharya (9.5 for 10th).