Youth News
Friends, Lend Me Your Ears: Roman Wins 2014 Chicago Latino Scholastic Championship
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- Written by Bill Feldman Bill Feldman
- Published: 30 November 2014 30 November 2014
Ricky Roman won all five of his matches to top all comers in the age 14-and-under section of the 22nd Chicago Latino Championships.
The one-day tournament was organized by Hector Hernandez and was hosted at the Lozano Branch of the Chicago Public Library in the historic Pilsen neighorhood November 29. 31 players competed in the scholastic section of the tournament which has a powerful legacy dating back to 1993. Results for the Open Section were unavailable as of presstime.
Roman defeated Zabdiel Green in the final round to seal the championship. Green finished in a four-way tie for second with Layla Rodriguez, Christopher Gora and Terasence Mitten.
Alex Bian, Hanson Hao Achieve USCF Milestones; Illinois Youth in USCF Top 100 as of November 2014
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- Written by Bill Feldman Bill Feldman
- Published: 29 November 2014 29 November 2014
A pair of Illinois teenagers earned new USCF classifications as of the November official ratings.
Newly-minted USCF Master Alex Bian, age 14, cracked the 2200-mark with a 43-point bump.
13-year old Hanson Hao finally earned his USCF Expert stripes with a 53-point jump.
Congratulations to both Alex and Hanson!
Age eventually catches up with all of us and for USCF Master Jonathan Kogan, a regular participant of these top 100 lists for years, turning 19 graduates Jonathan from these compilations. Jonathan had ranked 11th among US 18-year olds prior to his latest birthday. He continues in the top 100 list for American youth Under 21, with a 2265 USCF rating.
300 Compete at 2014 All-Grade in West Chicago
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- Written by Bill Feldman Bill Feldman
- Published: 09 November 2014 09 November 2014
Peoria's Andrew Fei has added Illinois Champion to his chess resume sweeping all four rounds to claim the Grades 9-12 Championship of the 2014 All-Grade.
In the third round, Fei beat Dunlap High School teammate Yiliang Li. Yiliang had defeated Trevor Huang in the first round with both Yiliang and Trevor tying for second with 3.0/4 postings.
With Maxwell Jong contributing his 2.5 score to the tallies from Andrew and Yiliang, Dunlap won the team championship over Hinsdale Central.
Three schools won a pair of team championships: Indian Trail (Highland Park) won Kindergarten and First Grade, Wheaton Christian won Grades 4 and 7, and Highcrest (Wilmette) won Grades 5 and 6.
Daniels, Do, Liu and Mardov Win Polgar World Open Sections; Earn Invites to 2015 World Youth In Greece
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- Written by Bill Feldman Bill Feldman
- Published: 05 November 2014 05 November 2014
Overcoming competitors from multiple states, Illinois saw four of its natives winning their respective sections at the Susan Polgar World Youth, completed November 2 in Schaumburg.
The event was coordinated by ChessIQ, directed by Sevan Muradian and Vytautas Vitkauskas. Crosstables available here. Over 200 juniors competed in nine sections.
In the Under 14 section, Vincent Do prevailed on tiebreaks amid a six-pack of 4.5/6 scores. Vincent accepted a draw in the final round against Kansas' Joey Kelly, after an exciting endgame with promotion opportunities in both directions. Kelly was the section's highest-rated player entering the event. In their final matches, Jacob Furfine drew and Matthew Stevens won to join the top score group. Tej Rai finished a half-point back in a three-way tie for 7th. 32 players from six states competed in the section.
Illinois Youth in USCF Top 100 as of October 2014
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- Written by Bill Feldman, data compiled by Mark Berezewski Bill Feldman, data compiled by Mark Berezewski
- Published: 29 October 2014 29 October 2014
For the first time since Penny Xu left the national Top 100 lists, Illinois has a female junior rated above 1900, thanks to Miranda Liu. At 13, Miranda is already among the top two dozen American females under Age 16 and the fifth-ranked 13-year old girl in the US.
Re-entering the ranks of the national Top 100 lists this month were 6-year old Alex Zhao and 10-year old Aiden Carey.
Posting the highest rating enhancements from the September to October lists were seven-year olds Arthur Xu (141) and Vrishank Ramnath (116). Also showing strong improvements were Miranda Liu (76), George Li (72), Edward Zhang (71), Stefan Musikic (64), and Rishi Narayanan (57).