Youth News
Whitney Young Scholastic Draws 390!
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- Written by Mike Cardinale Mike Cardinale
- Published: 09 March 2010 09 March 2010
390 students representing 45 schools established a record turnout for a Youth Chess Foundation of Chicago tournament at Whitney Young High School on Saturday, February 27th. Five rounds were completed in four grade-based sections (K-2, 3-4, 5-6, 7-8), with trophies awarded to the top five individuals and top two teams per section. First place trophies were awarded as follows:
| Individual | Team | |
| K-2 | Jeremy Margolin, Bell | Bell |
| 3-4 | Matthew Wong, Decatur | Jackson |
| 5-6 | Phillip Parker-Turner, Ray | Beasley |
| 7-8 | William Radak, home-schooled | Burbank |
Paul Kash of Whitney Young hosted the event, and arranged for food sales by Taco Bell, which evidently added to the tournament’s appeal.
This year has seen explosive growth for YCFC. The average number of entries in their six yearly tournaments from 2002-2008 was 110. Last year, the average jumped to 142, and this year, the past two tournaments have drawn 296 and 390 respectively. YCFC operates under a mandate of providing tournaments free of entry fees to reduce or eliminate socioeconomic barriers to chess participation in Chicago.
Players are set for the Denker Qualifier and Girls Invitational
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- Published: 18 February 2010 18 February 2010
Two invitational tournaments in March sponsored by the ICA Warren Junior Scholar Program will have the state’s top high school players and the state’s top youth female players vying for a chance to win travel to a national summer event.
Seven high school boys will participate in the Illinois Denker qualifier, with the winner moving on to become the state representative to the National Denker High School tournament of champions in Irvine, California in August. The state’s top six girls will play in the State Girls’ Invitational, and the winner will have her choice of traveling to either the National Girls’ Polgar Invitational Tournament in July in Lubbock, Texas, or the brand new National Girls Open that will be held in Irvine, California at the same time as the National Denker tournament.
2010 Illinois Denker Qualifier Announcement
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- Published: 26 October 2009 26 October 2009
The state’s top high school players will be invited to compete next March in the Illinois Denker High School Qualifier, where the winner is named the official state representative to the U.S. Denker High School Tournament of Champions. The national tournament will be held July 31 to August 3 in Irvine, California.
DATE: Friday, March 19 to Sunday, March 21, 2010
Reflections from the National Denker
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- Published: 06 August 2009 06 August 2009
While Trevor Magness was busy representing Illinois at the National Denker High School Tournament of Champions, his parents Phil and Cheryl Magness kept a lovely journal of Trevor’s participation in the event, and their reflections on his involvement in chess in general. On the next page are some excerpts. To read the whole thing, go to:
http://roundunvarnishedtale.blogspot.com/
Trevor did Illinois proud and came in fifth in a very strong field.
Phil from the Denker opening ceremony:
It really is a great honor to be here. The opening ceremony was about ninety minutes long and included several speeches and moving testimonies. This is the 25th Denker Tournament of Champions, and many former participants have gone on to great things--both in and out of the world of chess.
2009 Illinois Scholastic Chess Championship
- Details
- Written by Andi Rosen Andi Rosen
- Published: 04 July 2009 04 July 2009
More than 650 chess players from across the state met up at the Illinois State University student center in Bloomington the weekend of March 7-8 for the Illinois Scholastic K-8 championships. It was an exciting weekend of chess with many talented players.
Taking first place out of 100 players in the Lower Primary K-1 division was Vincent Do of Rockford. Vincent was the only player in the whole tournament to achieve a perfect score of 7-0.