Illinois Makes a Splash at 2024 US Chess Invitationals

Just over two months ago, in late May of this year, the Illinois Chess Association ran our Youth and Senior Invitationals – used to determine the strongest player in their respective age section to represent Illinois in the US Open Championship Invitationals. The five players representing Illinois are pictured below: Larry Cohen (Irwin-Senior), Rebecca Corez (Haring-Girls), Avi Kaplan (Denker-High School), Anjaneya Rao (Barber-Grades 6-8) and Aiden Li (Rockefeller-Grades K-5). 

 

From left to right: Rebecca, Larry, Aiden, Anjaneya, and Avi.

 

In the combined state team category, there was a four-way tie for first between Connecticut, Texas, Illinois, and Arizona. Based on tiebreaks, Illinois was awarded third place. Each player played a total of six games in their respective tournaments, their individual results are below:

 

Rebecca Cortez scored 3.5 points.

Avi Kaplan scored 5.0 points and finished as co-champion

Anjaneya Rao scored 5.5 points and finished as champion

Aiden Li scored 4.0 points

Larry Cohen scored 3.0 points

Below are the results of all of the teams who tied for first:

 

 Place  Code    Name                                           Score  TBrk[M]  TBrk[S]  TBrk[C] 
  1    1-4  CT      CT (2167.0)                                     21.0       72    110.5     78.5 
                    IM Maximillian Lu (2479) 4.5                  
                    Jasmine Su (2241) 4.5                         
                    Lilianna Gao (1931) 4.5                       
                    Lacey Wang (1961) 4.5                         
                    Mikhail Koganov (2223) 3.0                    
  2         TX      TX (2177.8)                                     21.0       70    104.5       75 
                    IM Eric Chang Liu (2446) 5.0                  
                    FM Sharvesh R Deviprasath (2540) 5.0          
                    Ellery Zhang (1821) 4.0                       
                    Oscar Yihang Zhang (1997) 3.5                 
                    Scott Alan Elliott (2085) 3.5                 
  3         IL      IL (2074.4)                                     21.0       69      102       75 
                    Anjaneya Sripathy Rao (2205) 5.5              
                    Avi Harrison Kaplan (2319) 5.0                
                    Aiden Linyuan Li (2024) 4.0                   
                    Rebecca Cortez (1824) 3.5                     
                    Lawrence S Cohen (2000) 3.0                   
  4         AZ      AZ (2166.6)                                     21.0       66       98       73 
                    IM Sandeep Sethuraman (2479) 5.0              
                    Roshan Sethuraman (2223) 4.5                  
                    Aishwarya Lakshmi Ganapathy (1844) 4.0        
                    Sharvesh Arul (1959) 4.0                      
                    FM Robby Adamson (2328) 3.5                

Click here to view the results of all teams who competed.

 

To help cover fees to travel to the tournament, all scholastic representatives received a $250 travel stipend from the Illinois Chess Association. In addition, Anjaneya Rao received a $5000 scholarship and Avi Kaplan received a $3000 scholarship to the colleges of their choice for their performance in their sections. 

 

The Illinois Chess Association would like to congratulate all of our players for their amazing performance at the Championship Invitationals and extend our greatest appreciation for representing our state at such a great level.