News
242 IL Players Enhance Ratings in September; 3 Up 300+ !!!
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- Written by Bill Feldman Bill Feldman
- Created: 02 October 2017 02 October 2017
Over 200 Illinois players enhanced their Regular USCF ratings in September, but none did so more than Abhi Majumdar. Abhi more than doubled his rating from 333 to 716, a difference of 383 points!
Two more individuals, Siddharth Swaminathan and Nitin Ramesh also enhanced their ratings more than 300 points. 42 players bumped their ratings more than 100 points and an additional 16 players saw enhancements above 75 points.
Aria Hoesley grew her rating over 200 points to 1938 as she became a Class A player. Whitney Young's Deniz Guecyuz also joined Class A (1800-1999) with a 131 point bump to 1861.
Benjamin Chen crossed into Class B (1600-1799) with his 176 point improvement to 1670. Jack Santner (+158) also accomplished that feat as did Nicholas Allison (+130) and Michael Staples, Sr. (+102).
2017 Illinois Open Hits FIDE October Ratings
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- Written by Bill Feldman Bill Feldman
- Created: 21 September 2017 21 September 2017
Those asking organizers when the Illinois Open will be rated by FIDE now have their answer!
http://ratings.fide.com/tournament_report.phtml?event16=166462&t= is the magic link providing the complete roster of those achieving FIDE differentials.
Marissa Li holds the distinction of the highest FIDE-rating improvement from the event with 85.6. Marissa won three of her five ratable games, climbing to 2110.
Jack Curcio grew his FIDE rating 57.6 points to 2161 while Wisconsin's Ritika Pandey bumped hers 50.0 points to 1923.
Five Illinois juniors, Ricky Wang, Akhil Kalghatgi, Roger Li, Edward Zhang and Natalie Wisniowski, all enhanced their FIDE rating more than 40 points.
All totalled 26 players enhanced their FIDE ratings ten points or more from the 2017 Illinois Open which was completed September 4. Despite the early in the month submission to US Chess who then submits to FIDE, the event is categorized with "October" results.
Election Season Begins For At-Large Board Members To ICA
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- Written by Bill Feldman Bill Feldman
- Created: 18 September 2017 18 September 2017
The multi-month election cycle regarding the five at-large ICA board members has kicked off.
Nominations should be sent to This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. including a statement of interest and 10 declarations of support from current ICA members aged 19 and older.
If interested in an appointment to an open seat between the present time and December 31, 2017, please contact This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..
Nominations should be submitted by Tuesday, October 10, 2017.
ICA Hosts Organizer Workshop With Tim Just (and Friends)
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- Written by John Porter John Porter
- Created: 12 September 2017 12 September 2017
In conjuction with the 2017 Illinois Open held at the Crowne Plaza in Northbrook, the Illinois Chess Association hosted an underpublized "organizer's workshop" with a trio of experienced organizers in attendance: Tim Just, Wayne Clark and Glenn Panner. The one-hour session was held September 2.
Relative organizing newcomer John Porter is making a name for himself with Chicago Chess Iniative and the recent Chicago Cup. Mr. Porter attended the workshop and submitted this to the ICA website:
Organizing chess events is a science!
While the 2017 ILLINOIS OPEN was a great success with over 200 players participating for cash and prizes, it was also a great tournament to learn from some of the best people related to organizing chess events!
GMs Georgiev and Mitkov Split $2400 at 2017 IL Open
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- Written by Bill Feldman Bill Feldman
- Created: 07 September 2017 07 September 2017
With a gentleman's draw in the final round, GM Vladimir Georgiev and GM Nikola Mitkov became co-champions of the 2017 Illinois Open, both with 5.5/6 tallies.
GM Georgiev had also been co-champion in 2016 with an outright championship in 2014, the first time it was held in Northbrook. For GM Mitkov, it represented the fourth time he has tied for the championship.
For the first time since 2003, the event drew over 200 players. The 214 entries represented a 15% increase over the 186 who played in the 2015 and 2016 events. The Labor Day weekend event concluded September 4 at the Crowne Plaza Northbrook.