2026 Illinois Youth Invitationals

This past weekend (April 24-26) the ICA held the Youth Invitationals. This is when 20 of the top-rated players for each section get invited to compete for a chance to represent our state at the national level. Players were invited based on ratings to play in one of the following sections:

  • Denker – High School 9th to 12th grade
  • Haring – Girls K to 12th grade
  • Barber – 6th to 8th grade
  • Rockefeller – Kindergarten to 5th grade
  • Ashley – Kindergarten to 3rd grade

Denker

               Thanks to an exciting blitz playoff triumph, Anshul Shetty was named the 2026 Illinois Denker qualifier.  The Waubonsie Valley sophomore forced a playoff against Lane Tech senior Dario Pjevic after both finished with 4.0’s in the five-round event.

               Shetty won the first game of the playoff and successfully played for a draw in the rematch.  Anshul does not consider himself to be a strong blitz player – but suggested this was a strength of his opponent, and he felt fortunate to come away victorious.

               A three-way tie for third place included Stevenson sophomore Debarghya Das, Stephenson junior Hemanth Samayamantri and Rohan Menon, all with 3.5. Pjevic collected second place honors while Debarghya, who handed Shetty his lone loss in the third round, earned the third place trophy.

Anshul Shetty - 1st place                                                                                                  Dario Pjevic - 2nd place

Haring

               In the Haring Invitational for girls, top-rated Women’s Candidate Master Elizabeth Xia, compiled four wins before drawing in the final round against Gaofei Wang. Xia finished with 4.5, a full-point ahead of a four-pack of 3.5’s including Shivani Manimaran, Valerie Yan, Victoria Chen and Wang. On tiebreaks, Manimaran, an Oswego East sophomore, and Yan collected second and third place hardware.

Elizabeth Xia - 1st place

Barber

               In the middle school Barber competition, Artemii Khanbutaev compiled a pattern similar to Xia’s, winning his first four games before drawing in the last round.  Khanbutaev’s 4.5 score was a full-point better than a four-pack including strong players such as Aidan Baker, Justin Lee, Jacob Tran and Sachit Rajkumar. Baker brought home second place hardware; Lee took third on tiebreaks.

Artemii Khanbutaev - 1st place

Rockefeller

               The K-5 Rockefeller competition saw a pair of Candidate Masters require a blitz playoff after compiling 4.5’s and drawing head-to-head in the third round.  Aiden Li will represent Illinois in Grand Rapids, Michigan this summer after prevailing, while Matthew Yu nabbed the second place trophy.  Krish Vignesh was the lone 3.5 tally to earn the third place trophy.

               Vignesh finished ahead of a five-pack of 3.0’s including Vaibhav Juturu, Reyansh Singh, Tanish Sen, Bishrelt Munkhsuld and Dylan Vogel.

 

Ashley

               For the first-time ever, the Maurice Ashley section fielded competitors up to third grade. Top-rated Emily Tang opted to play against a field of 19 boys – and compiled a perfect 5.0 score.

               A full-point back, Adhvik Mohan came back from a first-round loss to win clear second place with his 4.0 result.  Ethan Li and Srihan Komarina tied for third with 3.5, with Li earning the third place trophy on tiebreaks.

               MoSaloh Ahmadaliev, Samarth Gupta, Tarak Jeyanthkumar, Nimalan Manmathasivaram and Ness Mehta comprised the youthful five-pack who tied for fifth place with 3.0’s.

Emily Tang - 1st place

               The national Denker, Barber Rockefeller, Ashley and Haring competitions will be held in early August.  Combined with the results from Senior winner GM Dmitry Gurevich, the youth representatives will vie for the top score with the other represented states.

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April - IL Top Girl Players

US Top 100 Girls From Illinois – April 2026

Illinois saw its allocation of Top 100 girls grow from 43 in March to 50 in April of this year!

Emily Tang, winner of the very first Ashley section of the Illinois Youth Invitational (IYI), remains the number one 8-year old girl in the United States this month.

10-year old Elizabeth Xia, winner of the Haring division of the IYI, dropped slightly from second to fourth for her age group across the US.

Gaofei Wang also dipped slightly, from third to fourth among 14-year olds.

Amazing 6-year old Vidhaatri Rao saw her rating climb over 200 points, raising her from 70th to 34th on the Ages 7 and Under list.

Celebrating birthdays this month, resulted in Madhuvanti Sathish and Suhana Sharad moving up age lists.

Joining (or rejoining) the Top 100 rosters were 18-year old Kaylee Zheng, 15-year old Joyce Zheng, 12-year old Reshmitha Dabburi, 11-year old Kinzie Chavez, 10-year old Shanaya Banoth, 8-year old Shrinika Biswal, and three 7-and-unders including Shreya Chakravarthy, Colette Christoff and Caroline Ekebrg.

 

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2026 KCF All-Girls National Chess Championship

2026 KCF All-Girls National Chess Championship

 

The Illinois Chess Association is happy to congratulate David and Sheila Heiser from Renaissance Knights on running their 21st annual All-Girls National Chess Championship. The event was held from April 10th to April 12th, 2026 in the McCormick Place and we want to thank the Renaissance Knights Chess Foundation, Kasparov Chess Foundation and United States Chess Federation for bringing the tournament to Chicago.

 

 2026-allgirls.png

 

The tournament was open to girls under 18 years old as of January 1, 2026 and participants competed in the following categories: Under 8, Under 10, Under 12, Under 14, Under 16, and Under 18. The Champion in each age group earned the honor of representing the USA at either the World Cadet or World Youth Championships, depending on their age, in accordance with US Chess Scholastic National and International Invitation Events and Awards.

 

The tournament had over 600 participants and all games were 90 minutes with a 5 second delay.

 

Under 18 Championship

 

Entering the final round, both Jasmine Su and Megan Paragua were tied with 4.5 points out of 5. However, they drew each other in the previous round and were forced to play other opponents, games which both of them won. By tiebreakers, Jasmine got first overall. Due to the 4 point players, Allyson Yu and Elizabeth Xia, losing, as well as other players, Chloe Zamoski was awarded third place alone with 4.5 points.

 

Here are the players that finished with at least four out of six points, listed in tiebreak order.  Players highlighted in yellow are from Illinois. The first 8 places received awards:

 

 2026 under18

Under 16 Championship

 

Entering the final round, Khanim Ismayilove was the only player with a perfect 5 points, while only Leah Yang had 4.5 points of a possible 5. Once they drew each other, Khanim won first outright with 5.5 points while Leah was joined with Audry Zhou, Evelyn Qiao, and Sunny Zhang with 5 points to tie for second place.

Here are the players that finished with at least four out of six points, listed in tiebreak order.  The first 8 places received awards:

 

2026 under16

 

Under 14 Championship

 

Entering the final round, only Alive Chovanec had a perfect 5 points, while 3 players – Pavithran Sajish, Anqing Wang, and Violet Duran – had 4.5 points. Alice and Pavithran drew while Anqing defeated Violet, leaving Alice and Anqing tied. However, Alice had stronger tiebreakers and was awarded first place overall.

 

Here are the players that finished with at least 4.5 out of six points, listed in tiebreak order.  Players in yellow are from Illinois. The first 16 places received awards:

 

2026 under14

Under 12 Championship

 

Entering the final round, both Alexandra Liu and Kate Stripunsky had a perfect 5 points, and they drew in the last round, leading to a tie for first between the both of them which Alexndra won based on tiebreakers. They were followed closely behind by 5 players tied with 5 points out of 6 possible, who you can see below.

 

Here are the players that finished with at least 4.5 out of six points, listed in tiebreak order.  The first 16 places received awards:

 

 2026 under12

Under 10 Championship

 

Entering the last round, only Giallian Gao was undefeated with a perfect 5 points, and she defeated Abigail Zhou in the last round to finish with a perfect 6 points. In the meanwhile, Charlotte Chang entered the last round with 4.5 points and defeated Grace Peng who had also entered the final round with 4.5 points – leading to Charlotte placing in second outright with 5.5 points.

 

Here are the players that finished with at least 4.5 out of six points, listed in tiebreak order.  Players in yellow are from Illinois. The first 16 places received awards:

 

2026 under10

 

Under 8 Championship

 

Entering the final round, there were 3 players with a perfect 5 points: Siddhishree Sundaram, Dhiriti Singh, and Aadya Pavithra Rajesh. Both Siddhishree and Dhriti won their games to tie for first with a perfect 6/6 points, but Siddhishree got first due to tiebreakers. After that, 9 players tied for third with 5 points out of 5, who you can see below.

 

Here are the players that finished with at least 4.5 out of six points, listed in tiebreak order.  The first 16 places received awards:

 

2026 under8

Illinois Chess Association would like to congratulate the following players that represented Illinois and received awards:

 

2026 individual

 

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 Amy Zhan - 8th place U14 - Courtesy Chess Community

 

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U12 top 900-1199 - Kaarthisha Vepari - Courtesy Chess Community

 

 ind3

Elizabeth Xia - U18 4th place  - Courtesy Chess Community

 

And we also want to give a shout out to the following teams from Illinois that won awards:

 

 2026 team

 

team

Gregory Middle School - U14 Champs  - Courtesy Chess Community

 

Linked here is a complete cross-table for the event, including all individual and team awards, courtesy of Renaissance Knights, and linked here is the US rating report. Following these links, you can view the full results across any sections instead of the abbreviated standings above. Once again, we are happy to congratulate everybody who participated and gave it their best in this tournament and to congratulate David and Shiela Heiser along with Renaissance Knights for running the tournament so smoothly. 



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April - IL Top Players

US Top 100 From Illinois – April 2026

Happiest of birthdays to Hardy Gu, rated 2201, as he transitioned from the US #1 9-year old in March to the #1 10-year old in April.

Illinois saw its total top 100 roster grow from 40 to 41 in April. 17-year old Michael Li returned to the top 100’s after a brief absence.

The 41 top 100’s include 37 boys and four girls: Gaofei Wang, Elizabeth Xia, Valerie Yan and Emily Tang.

In addition to Hardy, other Illinois top 10’ers this month include Dimitar Mardov, #2 17-year old, Artemii Khanbutaev, #6 13-year old, #6 11-year old Matthew Yu, #2 10-year old Aiden Li, and #6 8-year old, Emily Tang.

Altogether, Illinois enjoys 40 top 100’s on the dozen youth age lists this month.

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Call for Delegates to 2026 U.S. Open in Grand Rapids, Michigan

 

The Illinois Chess Association is calling chess enthusiasts to serve as Illinois delegates to US Chess' annual business meetings at the 2026 U.S. Open, which will take place August 8 in Grand Rapids, Michigan:

       Amway Grand Plaza in Grand Rapids, Michigan
       187 Monroe NW, Grand Rapids, MI 49503

The number of delegates Illinois is authorized to send to Grand Rapids this summer is expected to be six, along with several alternates. Delegates will represent Illinois as voting members of US Chess and will discuss updates to the US Chess rulebook and other matters of importance in the governance of US Chess.

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2026 Illinois K-8 State Chess Championship

2026 Illinois K-8 State Chess Championship

 

The Illinois Chess Association is happy to congratulate Glenn Panner and Maret Thorpe from Chess Weekend for an impressive organization of our 2026 Illinois K-8 Chess Championship from March 6-8, 2026 in Schaumburg, Illinois. 

 

 2026k8room.jpg

 

Photo courtesy of Erik Czerin

 

The tournament had four sections:

  • Lower Primary K-1:    7 rounds of G25d5
  • Upper Primary 2-3:    7 rounds of G40d5
  • Elementary 4-5:          7 rounds of G55d5
  • Junior High 6-8:          7 rounds of G55d5

 

As well as bughouse, blitz, and puzzle solving side events – taking place during the nights of the tournament.

 

Pictured below are the trophies given out during the tournament: 1st - 25th individually in each section, 1 - 10th place teams in each section, class awards based on rating in each section, class awards based on grade in each section, and, of course, awards for each of the side events.

 

2026k8triphy2.jpeg

 

 Photo courtesy of Erik Czerin

 

Kindergarten and First grade

 

Going into the last round, Shivakumara Vellapandi led with a perfect 6 points against Muhammadsaloh Ahmadaliev with 5.5 points. Muhammadsaloh defeated Shivakumara to win the K-1 outright with 6.5 points.  Six players, Abir Sumbhate, Alexander Choi, Arjun Kolluri, Advaya Chingalwar, Vidhaatri Rao, and Shinsuke Yamaguchi, started the last round with 5 points.

 

Muhammadsaloh_K-8.png

 

Photo courtesy Muhammadsaloh's family

 

Here are the players that finished with at least five points:

 

k1-2026stare.png

 

Grades 2-3

 

emilyk8

 

Photo courtesy Emily's family

 

Entering the final round, both Emily Tang and Ethan Li were tied with a perfect 6 points. Emily defeated Ethan to win outright with a perfect 7/7. Here are the players that ended up with at least 5.5 points:

                 

2-32026state.png

 

Grades 4-5

 

Dylan Vogel entered the last round with a perfect 6 points and there was a three-way tie with a 5.5 points for second between Kavanvel Murugan, Tanish Zen and  Krish Vegnesh. This created two exciting games where Kavinvel defeated Krish and Dylan drew Tanish to create a two way tie with 6.5 points for first place. Dylan was awarded first place due to tie-breaks. 

 dylank 8

 

Photo courtesy Dylan's family

 

Here are the players that finished with at least 5.5 points:

 

4-52026state.png

 

Grades 6-8

 

Three players entered the final round with a perfect 6 points: Aidan Baker, Sachit Srinivas Rajkumar and Kaden Kassim. Meanwhile, one lone player had  5.5 points: Anirudh Sai Jeeju.  In the final round, Aidan defeated Kaden and Sachit defeated Anirudh causing a two way tie with a perfect 7 points. Aidan was awarded first place due to tie-breaks. 

 

aiden

Photo courtesy Aidan's family

 

Here are the players that ended up with at least 5.5 points:

 

6-82026state.png

 

Linked here is a complete cross-table for the event, which will show tie-breaks and all side events, courtesy of Chess Weekend, and linked here is the US rating report. Following these links, you can view the full results across any sections instead of the abbreviated standings above.

 

Once again, we are happy to congratulate everybody who participated and gave it their best in this tournament and to congratulate Glenn Panner and Maret Thorpe along with Chess Weekend for running the tournament so smoothly on behalf of the Illinois Chess Association. We also want to thank the 58 Illinois Chess Association members out of nearly 700 players that came out and supported our K-8 State Championship.

 

We also want to thank Amy Greene, Henry Getz and Catherine “Kats” Poffenbarger of the Illinois Chess Association board for coming out and supporting this great state event. Please come out and support next year’s K-8 downstate. The event information will be published on the ICA website.  





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2026 Youth Invitational list

Below are the lists of invited players to this years 2026 Youth invitational and event informaiton.
All invites are based on US Chess ratings from the March Supplement.
The top 20 players (expanded if rating tied) have received email invites. 

All list of invites can be found HERE!

Denker (9-12th)
Barber (6-8)
Rockefeller (K-5)
Ashely (K-3)
Haring (Girls)

If you believe there was an error or if you were left off the invite list please reach out to This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

 

Event Info:

Location:  DoubleTree by Hilton-Lisle-Naperville
Dates:  April 24-26, 2026
Round Times
- Friday: 7:00 p.m.
- Saturday: 10:00 a.m., 3:00 p.m.
- Sunday: 10:00 a.m., 3:00 p.m.

Time Control:  G/90 plus 30-second increment

Format:  Denker (9-12), Barber (5-8), Rockefeller (K-5), Ashley (K-3), and Haring (Girls) will be 5-round Swiss.  All sections are US Chess rated and the Denker section is also FIDE-rated.

Entry Fee:  $75 by 4/16. Additional $10 after that. There are NO refunds for withdrawing. Anyone who registers who is not on the invitation list will be withdrawn and refunded minus a $15 processing fee.

Prizes:  The winners of each competition will be named as the Illinois representatives to the National Denker (High School), Barber (Middle School), Rockefeller (Elementary), Ashley (Primary) and Haring (Girls) Invitational championships, to be held during the 2026 U.S. Open, from August 3rd - 6th, 2026 in Grand Rapids, MI. They will receive a $300 travel stipend to attend, payable after the U.S. Open. In the event that the winner cannot attend the national event, the runner-up will be named the Illinois representative and will receive the travel stipend to attend the tournament. 

Links to detailed information about each of these tournaments are provided below:

The Arnold Denker National Tournament of High School Champions: https://new.uschess.org/denker/
The Dewain Barber National Tournament of Middle School State Champions: https://new.uschess.org/barber/
The John D. Rockefeller III National Tournament of Elementary School State Champions: https://new.uschess.org/rockefeller/
The GM Maurice Ashley National Tournament of K-3 State Champions: https://new.uschess.org/ashley
The Ruth Haring National Tournament of Girls Champions: https://new.uschess.org/haring/

 

 

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2025 Annual Meeting

On Tuesday December 16th   at 6:30pm we will be having our 2025 annual meeting, via zoom.

All members and afiliates will be getting a zoom link to their email.

 

2025 Annual meeting Agenda - https://drive.google.com/file/d/1RE0ml_PSVN4QaAJGrs9MfRgrwJvZFGfs/view?usp=sharing

 

ICA Board

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Call for Bids - 2026/27 Illinois State Championships

The ICA is seeking bids for the upcoming 2026/27 State Championships.

- IL Open Chess Championship
- IL Blitz Championship
- IL Quick Championships
- IL All-Grade Chess Championship (Upstate)
- 2027 IL K-8 Individual and Team Championship (Downstate)
- 2027 IL Girls State Championship

Bid due dates and award dates can be found at the Bid Schedule for 2026 Illinois State Tournaments.
The Bid & tournament guidelines can be found - Bid and Tournament Guidelines 02-06-2025 (PDF) 

Send completed bids to This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

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2025 Illinois All Grade Championship

2025 Illinois All Grade Championship

 

The Illinois Chess Association is happy to congratulate Emily Dawson from Greater Peoria Chess Association for brilliantly organizing our 2025 Illinois All Grade Championship at the historic Pere Marquette Hotel in Peoria, Illinois on November 15, 2025.

The tournament had thirteen sections: 2nd through 8th grade, while kindergarten was combined with 1st grade, each getting their own awards. Each grade for High School represented 9th through 12th grade. In total, almost 300 kids participated.

Kindergarten through third grade had a g/30;d5 for 5 rounds

Fourth grade and fifth grade had a g/45;d5 for 4 rounds

Sixth grade through high school had a g/60;d5 for 4 rounds

allgade-peoria.jpg

 ica-all-grade-workarea.jpg

 

Listed below are the results for the different sections:

12th grade, Senior in High School

Washington Community High School senior Brandon Adams secured the top 3.5/4 score in the 12th Grade section with a fourth-round victory over schoolmate Landon Scott.  Classmates Samuel Zekany and Nicholas Winchell, secured a runner-up tie with 3.0’s, Samuel drawing Brandon in round three, Nicholas losing to the champion in round two.  Brandon increased his rating 78 points to 533 in the event.

The 12th grade had 7 players.

Below are the results for all 7 players.

 12-grade.png'

 

11th grade, Junior in High School

In the 11th Grade section, Arnav Gupta of Palatine Fremd High School and Savan Giri of Peoria-area Dunlap High School shared the top 3.5 score, drawing head-to-head in the third round.  Arnav’s rating dropped to 1559, down slightly, while Savan boosted his rating 53 points to 1140.

The 11th grade had 11 players.

Below are the results for all 11 players.

11-grade.png

 

10th grade, Sophomore in High School

10th Grade competition also saw a shared championship with 3.5/4, as Dunlap’s Andres Maldonado and classmate Nathan Pulley both enjoyed three wins and a draw, but did not face-off head-to-head.  Andres added a point to his previous 1492 rating while Nathan enhanced his rating 129 points to 996.

The 10th grade had 10 players.

Below are the results for all 10 players.

10-grade.png

 

9th grade, Freshman in High School

Dunlap’s Varun Gurramkonda defeated Normal Community’s Srikar Jayam in the final round of the 9th Grade section to finish with a perfect 4.0/4.  Varun’s rating climbed to 1886, up 17 points.  Srikar, the highest rated entry of any player in the tournament saw his rating decline 14 points from 1931, as the freshman finished in a four-way tie for second.

The 9th grade had 18 players.

Below are the results for all players that scored at least 2 points out of 4.

9-grade.png

 

8th grade

St Philomena (Peoria) classmates Ben Ibeck and Evan Van Ryn were co-Eighth Grade champions, notching perfect 4.0 scores. Lucas Mideros of Champaign’s Next Generation was third with 3.5/4 .

The 8th grade had 40 players.

Below are the results for all players that scored at least 3 points out of 4.

8-grade.png

 

7th grade

Top-rated Sean Pepper scored the lone 4.0 for 7th Graders, bringing the championship trophy back to Peoria’s Reservoir Gifted School.  A three-way tie for runner-up included Srivibhav Rayasam of Dunlap Middle, Lohith Reddy Gongati of Normal Chiddix  and Kaushi Dheeravath of Bloomington’s Evans Junior High.

The 7th grade had 43 players.

Below are the results for all players that scored at least 3 points out of 4.

7-grade.png

6th grade

Dunlap’s Nabhya Shah brought the highest rating into 6th Grade competition and finished 4.0/4, ahead of a four-way pack at 3.5

The 6th grade had 38 players.

Below are the results for all players that scored at least 2.5 points out of 4.

6-grade.png

 

5th grade

Fifth-grader Rowan Neye of Oak Terrace Elementary in Highwood posted the lone 5.0/5 tally, ahead of a four-pack of downstaters at 4.0.

The 5th grade had 35 players.

Below are the results for all players that scored at least 3 points out of 4.

5-grade.png

 

4th grade

Naperville’s Eesha Kumar of Peterson Elementary was the 4th Grade champion thanks to a fifth-round draw against challenger Tanish Sen of Normal’s Grove Elementary. With the draw, Eesha finished 4.5/5 while Tanish finished in a two-way tie for runner-up with Naperville Patterson’s Brendan Raferty. 

The 4th grade had 19 players.

Below are the results for all players that scored at least 2.5 points out of 4.

4-grade.png

3rd grade

Third grade competition saw Peterson’s Samarth Gupta of Naperville post the lone 5.0/5 score, ahead of co-runners-up Larin Zeff Rajeev and Yurman Yesuntumur, both with 4.0’s. Larin attends Peoria’s Wilder-Waite and Turman is a student of Earl Pritchett of Buffalo Grove.

The 3rd grade had 20 players.

Below are the results for all players that scored at least 2.5 points out of 4.

3-grade.png

 

2nd grade

Normal’s Vis Santhoshrajan was the solo 5.0/5 scorer in 2nd Grade chess, ahead of runners-up Deekshith Bravin and Shamuel Daniel Raj, both of Dunlap’s Hickory Grove, who compiled 4.0’s. Vis of Normal’s Grove Elementary beat Deekshith in the third round and Shamuel in the fourth round. It was Deekshith’s first rated event.

 The 2nd grade had 19 players.

Below are the results for all players that scored at least 2.5 points out of 4.

2-grade.png

 

Combined Kindergarten and 1st grade

Kindergarteners and First Graders were combined for competition purposes, but separate awards were distributed. Nonetheless, kindergarteners were competitive in the 15-player section.  Abir Sumbhate of Normal’s Thomas Metcalf was First Grade Champion with a 4.5 tally, drawing Peoria Academy Kindergartner Vijayav Reddivari in the final round. Vijayav was crowned the state Kindergartner Champion, while Meera Patel of Washington’s Lincoln Grade School was the runner-up with a 3.5 score.

The Combined Kindergarten and 1st grade had 15 players.

Below are the results for all players in the kindergarten and 1st grade combined section.

k1-grade.png

 

Linked here is a complete rating report cross-table for the event. Following these links, you can view the full results across any sections instead of the abbreviated standings above.

Once again, we want to congratulate everybody who participated and gave it their best in the tournament and to congratulate Emily Dawson from  Greater Peoria Chess Association for running the tournament so smoothly on behalf of the Illinois Chess Association.

Illinois' other annual scholastic championship, the two-day K-8's, will be held in March 2026 in upstate Schaumburg.

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US Top 100 Girls From Illinois – April 2026

Illinois saw its allocation of Top 100 girls grow from 43 in March to 50 in April of this year!

Emily Tang, winner of the very first Ashley section of the Illinois Youth Invitational (IYI), remains the number one 8-year old girl in the United States this month.

10-year old Elizabeth Xia, winner of the Haring division of the IYI, dropped slightly from second to fourth for her age group across the US.

Gaofei Wang also dipped slightly, from third to fourth among 14-year olds.

Amazing 6-year old Vidhaatri Rao saw her rating climb over 200 points, raising her from 70th to 34th on the Ages 7 and Under list.

Celebrating birthdays this month, resulted in Madhuvanti Sathish and Suhana Sharad moving up age lists.

Joining (or rejoining) the Top 100 rosters were 18-year old Kaylee Zheng, 15-year old Joyce Zheng, 12-year old Reshmitha Dabburi, 11-year old Kinzie Chavez, 10-year old Shanaya Banoth, 8-year old Shrinika Biswal, and three 7-and-unders including Shreya Chakravarthy, Colette Christoff and Caroline Ekebrg.

 

US Top 100 From Illinois – April 2026

Happiest of birthdays to Hardy Gu, rated 2201, as he transitioned from the US #1 9-year old in March to the #1 10-year old in April.

Illinois saw its total top 100 roster grow from 40 to 41 in April. 17-year old Michael Li returned to the top 100’s after a brief absence.

The 41 top 100’s include 37 boys and four girls: Gaofei Wang, Elizabeth Xia, Valerie Yan and Emily Tang.

In addition to Hardy, other Illinois top 10’ers this month include Dimitar Mardov, #2 17-year old, Artemii Khanbutaev, #6 13-year old, #6 11-year old Matthew Yu, #2 10-year old Aiden Li, and #6 8-year old, Emily Tang.

Altogether, Illinois enjoys 40 top 100’s on the dozen youth age lists this month.

US Top 100 Girls – March 2026

43 Illinois girls are in the US Top 100 for their respective age as of the March 2026 rankings.  14-year old Gaofei Wang is top-rated female youth in Illinois – ranking third in the US with a 1980 rating.

10-year old Elizabeth Xia, 1977, is the second-rated US female of her age, leading an amazing pack of six others from Illinois: Valerie Yan, Avidha Biswas, Sahasra Nali, Sri Gopal, Sadhvi Amreddy and Madhuvanti Sathish.

At age 16, Linda Pham is the third-rated Illinois girl, fronting a group of six age-mates in the US Top 100 – Shivani Manimaran, Wayra Sheridan, Megan Gansukh, Palakh Patel and Kristen Hou.  Linda is 16th in the country with her 1810 rating.

Emily Tang, age 8, has posted a 1784 rating – one of five girls in the 1700’s, along with Valerie, Victoria Chen, Deborah Bowman and the venerable Ria Raj.  Emily is also the 4th rated 8-year old in the US irrespective of gender.

These ratings are based on tournament games submitted mid-February, and are published towards the end of March by US Chess.

US Top 100 From Illinois – March 2026

Illinois proudly boasts two of the top-rated players by age in the US – 10-year old Aiden Li and 9-year old Hardy Gu.  Aiden’s 2243 is 15 points higher than that of US #2 Matthew Yu.

Hardy’s incredible 2201 rating represents a 150-point increase since March of 2025.

International Master Dimitar Mardov is the 2nd rated 17-year in the US at 2579, leading a talented pack of four other Land of Lincoln age-mates in the top 100’s: Sreekar Gangavarapu, Andrey Dmitriev, Justin Zhang and Dario Pjevic.

Aiden is one of seven Illinois 10-year olds in the top 100’s along with Matthew, Elizabeth Xia, Edward Tang, Valerie Yan, Vaibhav Juturu and Kavinvel Murugan.

Altogether, Illinois enjoys 40 top 100’s on the dozen youth age lists this month.

Congratulations to the following players in the top 100 list on the USCF April 2011 supplement:

Age 7 and under

Rank Name Rating
2 David Tianjian Peng 1850
18 Jason Scott Daniels 1329
31 Susanna Ulrich
1229
36 Leonard Liu
1213
66 Vishal Chandrasekar
1085
87
Ricky Wang
1026

Age 8

Rank Name Rating
7 Harrison He
1352
36 Ranadheer Tripuraneni 1328
69 Joshua Liu
1208
79 David Wallach
1187
84 Ishaar Perumal Ganesan 1209
100 Charlie Aronov
1144

Age 9

Rank Name Rating
11 Vincent Do
1765
34 Miranda Liu
1532
37 Chetan Reddy
1523
39 Hanson Hao
1510
84
Nikhil Kalghatgi
1367

Age 10

Rank Name Rating
19 James Wei 1856
21 Alex Bian
1839
38 Jack Curcio
1720
39 Abe Sun 1717
40 Matthew Stevens 1715
59 Haoyang Yu 1595
63 Lorenzo Barbin
1589
72 Jack Xiao
1562
97 Balaji Krishna Iyengar
1504

Age 11

Rank Name Rating
21 Conrad Oberhaus
1888
22 Zhaozhi Li  
1878
27 Bryce McClanahan 1845
47 Anshul Adve 1726
78 Ian Gilchrist 1640
91 Andrew Yueyang Fei 1575

Age 12

Rank Name Rating
37 Zachary Holecek 1907
95
Joey Bikus
1694
100
Philip Parker-Turner
1679

Age 13

Rank Name Rating

Age 14

Rank Name Rating
16 Sam Schmakel 2099
40 Gavin McClanahan
1958
69 George Ruan
1853
80 Yue Xu
1812
94 Nathaniel Kranjc
1778
97 Max Zinski
1770
100 Maxim Sigalov
1765

Age 15

Rank Name Rating
11 Tommy Ulrich
2197
26 Jonathan Kogen
2069
61 Charles Swan
1930
77 Chengliang Luo
1878

Age 16

Rank Name Rating
6 Adarsh Jayakumar
2271
22 Matthew Wilber 2104
50 Kent Cen 2003

Age 17

Rank Name Rating
11
Eric Rosen
2278
35 Michael Auger 2111
55
Aakaash Meduri
2013
71
Josh Dubin
1953

Age 18

Rank Name Rating
12 Trevor Magness
2206
26
Zach Kasiurak
2099
46 Sebastian Bibat
1982
50
Frankie Swindell III
1957
93 Fedor Titov 1804

Girls Under 13

Rank Name Rating
35 Miranda Liu
1532
37 Shayna Provine
1504
50 Rachel Ulrich
1462
75 Alice Hu 1367
93 Cassie Parent 1321
98 Sanjan Ramrajvel 1292

Girls Under 16

Rank Name Rating
26 Yue (Penny) Xu 1812
77 Miranda Liu
1532
82 Victoria Bian
1516
85 Shayna Provine 1504
99 Rachel Ulrich 1462

 

Congratulations to the following players in the top 100 list on the USCF February 2011 supplement:

Age 7 and under

Rank Name Rating
2 David Tianjian Peng 1779
13 Jason Scott Daniels 1314
32 Susanna Ulrich
1160
58 Ricky Wang 1075
71 Leonard Liu
1029
92
Nikolai Rhodes
967

Age 8

Rank Name Rating
7 Vincent Do 1643
33 Harrison He
1357
36 Ranadheer Tripuraneni 1348
42 Joshua Liu 1304
59 David Wallach 1209
96 Eric Gan 1146

Age 9

Rank Name Rating
11 Matthew Stevens
1770
42 Chetan Reddy
1532
44 Miranda Liu 1524
56 Jack Xiao
1488
59
Hanson Hao
1475
85 Nikhil Kalghatgi
1369

Age 10

Rank Name Rating
17 James Wei 1856
18 Zhaozhi (George) Li 1848
20 Alex Bian
1839
36 Anshul Adve 1722
40 Abe Sun 1697
47 Jack Curcio 1658
63 Lorenzo Barbin
1593
88 Haoyang Yu
1523
93 Rachel Ulrich
1497
99 Blair Hu
1484

Age 11

Rank Name Rating
17 Conrad Oberhaus
1888
31 Bryce McClanahan   
1813
71 Ian Gilchrist 1643

Age 12

Rank Name Rating
43 Zachary Holecek 1868
91
Joey Bikus
1701

Age 13

Rank Name Rating
43
Gavin McClanahan 1923
77
Yue (Penny) Xue 1812

Age 14

Rank Name Rating
15 Sam Schmakel 2084
62 George Ruan 1853
79 Max Zinski 1817
91 Nathaniel Kranjc
1780
95 Maxim Sigalov
1765
100 Jimi Akintonde
1747

Age 15

Rank Name Rating
15 Tommy Ulrich
2160
31 Jonathan Kogen
2069
71 Chenliang Luo
1905

Age 16

Rank Name Rating
8 Adarsh Jayakumar
2241
21 Matthew Wilber 2104
45 Kent Cen 2003
57 Josh Dubin
1953

Age 17

Rank Name Rating
12
Eric Rosen
2259
36 Michael Auger 2127
58
Aakaash Meduri
20105

Age 18

Rank Name Rating
12 Trevor Magness
2206
27
Zach Kasiurak
2086
46 Sebastian Bibat
1982
53
Frankie Swindell III
1957
93 Fedor Titov 1804
97 Eric Emer 1794

Girls Under 13

Rank Name Rating
32 Miranda Liu
1524
34 Rachel Ulrich
1497
53 Shayna Provine
1423
75 Alice Hu 1359

Girls Under 16

Rank Name Rating
26 Yue (Penny) Xu 1812
79 Miranda Liu
1524
80 Victoria Bian
1516
84 Rachel Ulrich
1497

 

Congratulations to the following players in the top 100 list on the USCF December 2010 supplement:

Age 7 and under

Rank Name Rating
2 David Tianjian Peng 1751
16 Jason Scott Daniels 1330
32 Susanna Ulrich
1172
49 David Wallach
1092
61 Leonard Liu
1059
72
Ricky Wang
1019
86
Sean Yu Li 968

Age 8

Rank Name Rating
7
Vincent Do 1644
36
Harrison He
1388
68
Joshua Liu
1231
74 Ranadheer Tripuraneni 1212
88 Henry Curcio 1151
96 Eric Gan
1139

Age 9

Rank Name Rating
13 Matthew Stevens
1724
24 William Radak
1612
42 Chetan Reddy
1522
54 Hanson Hao
1465
56 Jack Xiao
1453
66 Nikhil Kalghatgi
1412
70 Miranda Liu
1409
84 Jonathan Tan
1351

Age 10

Rank Name Rating
20 Conrad Oberhaus 1866
21 Alex Bian
1847
22 James Wei 1845
31 Zhaozhi (George) Li
1795
39 Anshul Adve
1721
55 Abe Sun
1642
64 Jack Curcio
1598
74 Rachel Ulrich
1556
94 Shayna Provine
1503
97 Blair Hu
1481

Age 11

Rank Name Rating
21 Zachary Holecek 1852
35 Bryce McClanahan   
1767

Age 12

Rank Name Rating
91
Joey Bikus
1701

Age 13

Rank Name Rating
46
Gavin McClanahan 1904
72
Max Zinski
1817
73 Yue (Penny) Xue
1812
79 Nathaniel Kranjc
1787

Age 14

Rank Name Rating
24 Sam Schmakel 2051
72 George Ruan 1848
91 Maxim Sigalov 1783
99 Jimi Akintonde
1766

Age 15

Rank Name Rating
20 Tommy Ulrich
2098
28 Jonathan Kogen
2064
85 Chenliang Luo
1859

Age 16

Rank Name Rating
10 Adarsh Jayakumar
2247
24 Matthew Wilber 2104
46 Kent Cen 2003
61 Josh Dubin
1953
64 Jason Chien
1939

Age 17

Rank Name Rating
11
Eric Rosen
2260
32 Michael Auger 2123
50
Aakaash Meduri
2010
90
Michael Chinitz 1857

Age 18

Rank Name Rating
13 Trevor Magness
2194
17
Gordon Ruan 2147
27 Zach Kasiurak
2072
43
Sebastian Bibat 1982
52 Frankie Swindell III
1957
82 Jeremy Berman 1841
95 Eric Emer 1809

Girls Under 13

Rank Name Rating
29 Rachel Ulrich 1556
36 Shayna Provine 1503
57 Miranda Liu 1409
71 Alice Hu 1357
80 Elliana Faletsky
1319

Girls Under 16

Rank Name Rating
26 Yue (Penny) Xu 1812
54 Sonya Vohra 1637
68 Rachel Ulrich 1556
78 Victoria Bian 1516
85 Shayna Provine 1503