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. 

 

 

 

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.

 

 

 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.

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

 

 

Grades 2-3

 

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:

                 

 

Grades 4-5

 

Dylan John 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 Durai Murugan Kavanvel, Tanish Zen and Vegnesh Krish. This created two exciting games where Durai Murugan defeated Vignesh and Dylan drew Sen to create a two way tie with 6.5 points for first place. Dylan was awarded first place due to tie-breaks. 

 

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

 

 

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, Aiden defeated Kaden and Sachit defeated Anirudh causing a two way tie with a perfect 7 points. Aiden was awarded first place due to tie-breaks. 

 

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

 

 

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.