In February we celebrate President’s Day. In Armenia, the president of Armenia’s Chess Academy and national Chess Federation is behind a plan underway that is making chess a mandatory school subject for children over 6. More can be found here. On the other side of the world, in the Chilean Championship, FM Pablo Salinas edged out FM Torres Bravo Christobal to defend his title. Going back to Europe, there was a three-way tie for first at the 2013 Reykjavik Open between Pavel Eljanov, Wesley So, and Bassim Amin. Here in the homeland, the Third Annual Inter-Ivy League Chess Tournament, had the A Teams from Brown and university of Pennsylvania tying for first.
Here was the breakdown of events throughout Illinois:
February 2: Sunnyhill 2013 Tournament in Carpentersville, IL drew 91 players and had a mix of scholastic and adult players. In the Primary Section, Shreya Bhagi went undefeated (5/5). In the Elementary Section, three players (Alan Hentrich, Thomas Gong, and Aidan Kitchen) tied for first with 4.0/4.0. Alan beat Thomas in the 5th round to tie everything up. In the Middle/High School/Adult Section, Lucian Bogdan went undefeated in all four rounds to come in first. Crosstables.
February 2: The Super Bowl Quads at Unam drew 14 players to the the three section event in Chicago, IL. In the Super Bowl Quad, Eric Paniagua edged out the competition to come in first. In the Rose Bowl Section, Vytautas Vitkauskas took a clear first place losing no games. In the Fish Bowl Section, there was an extra person in the mix and Armando Rodriguez took first with a single draw in the first round against Armel Peel. Crosstables.
February 2: The Prarieland 2013 Scholastic Tournament drew 222 kids to this four section event. The Junior High Section had Balaji Iyengar going undefeated in a field of 31 competitors. The Upper Primary Section had close to a 100 kids and two who went undefeated. They were Pierce McDade and Raghav Mukundan. The Lower Primary Section had Herbert Lim sweeping the section, and in the Elementary Section Advaith Prabu did the same. Crosstables.
February 2 to 3: The Greater Chicago Tournament in Northbrook, IL was put on by Renaissance Knights and drew 162 kids. In the K-12 Section Joseph Fennessey swept the section. In the K-12 (U1200) Section, Adam Rubinberg came in first and gained 120 points. The K-6 Section had Jeremy Margolin in sole first place. In the K-6 (U800) Section, Jonah Winter had 4.5/5.0 to finish above everyone else. The K-9 Section had Niall Gillen from WI beating several higher rated opponents and gaining 235 points. The K-9 (U1000) Section had Diana Shklover taking first place. The K-3 Section had Benjamin Friedlander finishing with an unblemished record. The same feat was accomplished by Miles Lokken in the K-3 (U600) Section. Crosstables.
February 3: The February Game-45 Tournament held in Skokie, IL had two sections and drew 13 players. In the Open Section, there was a three way tie for first between Chrstopher Girardo, S.E. Henderson Jr, and Henry McDonald. In the U1500 Section, Edmund Powers finished the highest with 3/4 points. Crosstables.
February 9: The James Hart Chess Fundraiser had 6 players in Homewood, IL. The times for the games were 20 with a delay of 5. One player had a perfect record. Douglas Middleton. Crosstable.
February 9: The February Game 60 tournament in Skokie, IL drew 16 players. In the Open Section, Avinash Rajendra and Anupam Rajendra, who I believe are related, tied for first with 3.0/4.0 points. Ryan Sieberg ran away with it in the U1500 Section. Crosstables.
Febraury 9: The Wheaton Christian Grammar Tournament in Winfield, IL drew 154 players. The Primary K-1 Section had 5 rounds and was G/25 D5. There were 21 players in this Section with Herbert Lim being the clear winner. In the Primary 2-3 Section, there was a lot tougher competition for first place, but Peter Ranchero avoided a loss to one of the second place finishers in the last round to stay in first. In the Elementary 4-5 Section, Milan Lazarevic went undefeated and gained 245 points. In the Middle School Section, a draw in the last round between Matthew Kosova and David Cimbalista would have meant a three way tie for first. Instead, Matthew beat David and had first all to himself. Crosstables.
February 10: The 2nd NSCC Scholastic Tournament in Skokie,IL had 18 kids. In the U1400 Section, Abdel Raoul was the clear winner. In the U1000 Section, Ram Potham lost to Evan Helbig in the 3rd round but got another couple wins to end up tying with him for first after all games had been played. Crosstables.
February 15: The NYCC 2013 0215 Tournament in Naperville had 30 players and 6 sections. That means one thing. A lot of winners. So here they are for each section: A1 (Christopher Xu), A2 (tie between Brian Hope Gong and Patrick Rao), B1 (Michael Lu), B2 (Alan Wei), C1 (Harrison Zhang), and C2 (Benjamin Leong). Crosstables.
January 11 thru February 15: The G/45 Tournament in Oak Lawn had 22 players. A lot of people came close to first (6 people tied for second). But the sole person with an undefeated record was Steven Tennant. Crosstable.
February 16: The BNASC Tournament at Crosspointe had 176 players for this scholastic event in Bloomington. In the Lower Primary Section, Pugazhendhi Saravanan went undefeated, and in the Upper Primary Section, two players, Jai Mahajan and Jacob Davis, also went undefeated. In the Elementary Section, Vishnu Anagani gained 35 points by not losing any games. A single draw in their records meant a three way tie between Balaji Iyengar, Tanner Gillam, and Ishaar Ganesan in the Junior high Section. Crosstables.
February 16: The Orland Park February Tournament had 11 players, all of whom were under 1200. The winner was Deniz Gulecyuz. Crosstable.
February 16: The Illinois Blitz Championship 2013 had 53 players in Schaumburg. The ten round event had Denes Boros from Missouri edging out some tough competition and finishing 9/10. Crosstable.
February 15 to 17: The US Amateur Team North 2013 Tournament in Schaumburg had 231 players. The three individuals who helped their respective teams the most (by winning all their games) were Levan Bregadze, Ratko Bojanovic, and David Peng. Crosstable.
February 18: The Naperville Scholastic – 5 Tournament had three sections and 38 players. In U600, William Richards only had one draw to take first place and gain 206 points. Joseph Isaac and Jonathan Moore tied for first in the U1000 Section, and in the Open Section Brian Gong and Marissa Li tied for first. Both ties were 4/5 points. Crosstables.
January 28 to February 18: 15 players took part in the Last Chance Qualifier Tournament in Peoria. Adam Ford lost to Wayne Zimmerle in the last round for them to tie with Randy Crum for first place. All with 3/4 points. Crosstable.
February 5 to 19: The Illowa Feb. 2013 Tournament had 18 players in Moline, IL. Iowa took it with Steve Killian winning all three rounds. Crosstable.
February 22: The Friday Night Blitz Tournament in Champaign had 7 players. Even though there was few players, the competition was fierce. In the end, three players tied for first: Eric Rosen, Michael Auger, and Aakaash Meduri. Crosstable.
February 23: The Glennepiphany Tournament in Bloomington had 172 scholastic players and 4 sections. In the Elementary Section, Vishnu Anagani won all five rounds, and in the Junior High Section there was a three way tie for first between Ishaar Ganesan, Vishal Chandrasekar, and Nithin Sebastian. The Lower Primary Section had Surya Nookarapu and Avighnav Vasudevan tying for first with 4.5/5.0 points. The Upper Primary Section had Pierce Mcdade winning all his games and gaining 50 rating points. Crosstables.
February 23: The Tarrasch Memorial Open in DeKalb had 30 players for this Oscar themed chess tournament. The Best Picture Section had Robert Loncarevic sweeping all three rounds, and Armel Peel pulled off the same feat in the Best Actor Section. Not to be outdone, the Best Score Section had two people with perfect records, Josh Sandine and Aaron Weber. Crosstables.
February 23: The Kumbaya 53 Tournament had 32 scholastic players in Skokie, IL. For the 1200 and Above Section, Michael Geohas finished first with 2.5/3.0. In the four round U1200 Section there was a three way tie at 3.0 points between Diana Shklover, Nicholas Salahi, and Ram Potham. In the U700 Section, Ethan Salazar-Sobin swept all four rounds. Crosstables.
February 24: The 1st Annual Skyrocket Chess Tournament drew 9 players to Glenwood. Joe Emole took first place. Crosstable.
February 24: The Renaissance Knights had their 86th Quest in Northbrook, IL. There were 112 players total for this four section event. In the Open Section, Avinash Rajendra from WI had a lot of tough competition but was able to fend them off and end with a 4/4 record. The U1400 Section had 30 players and two to end with a perfect record: Emmett Madigan and Aaron Gan. The U1000 Section had one player with a 4/4 and that was Aidan Carey. The U600 Section had two tying with perfect records: Wylie Warren-Boulton and Matthew Berner. Crosstables.
February 24: The Illinois Youth Invitational had three sections and 24 players who competed in Skokie, IL. The full write up can be found on the ICA website. Or you can see results at the USCF Crosstables.
February 6 to 27: The 2013 TV Club Championship had 36 players in Downs, IL. After four weeks and four rounds, Isabel Mata came out unscathed with a 4/4 record. Crosstable.