Youth Chess News
Grandy Tops Illinois' May 2017 Junior Grand Prix List
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- Written by Bill Feldman Bill Feldman
Wheaton's Sarah Grandy, an ICA Rising Star, tops the Illinois list of US Chess Junior Grand Prix point earners as of May 2, 2017.
Sarah is the only Illinois player in the top 45 in the country, participating in five events.
Aren Emrikian and Arthur Xu, both heading to Brazil as World Cadet qualifiers, are also among the top 10 point earners from Illinois as of the one-third mark on the year. Both have also played in five JGP events thus far in 2017, and both are ICA Warren Scholars.
The complete top 10 for Illinois are listed below.
Jeremiah Davis Wins K-12 Open at Dubuque's Ice Harbor
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- Written by Bill Feldman Bill Feldman
Rockford's Jeremiah Davis has won the K-12 Open section of the Ice Harbor Scholastic competed April 30 in Dubuque, IA.
In its fifth year, Ice Harbor has become the de facto midwest youth championship with competitors from Minnesota, Iowa, Wisconsin and Illinois.
Davis, a Rockford Marshall 8th-grader who participates in the ICA's Rising Stars Program, was 4-1 in the section, losing only to Iowa's Barry Vigil who took second place on tiebreaks. Davis upped his rating 75 points to 1638. Jeremiah's father credits the Sunday event Rising Stars training sessions for sparking his son's recent improvement.
5 Different Teams Win Sections at Wildwood YCFC Event
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- Written by Bill Feldman Bill Feldman
Decatur, Skinner West, Ward, Irving Park CICS and Bateman were the team winners at the April 22 YCFC / CCF competition hosted by Wildwood International Baccalaureate Magnet School in Chicago. 261 competed according to organizer Mike Cardinale.
Fox Valley Chess Club's Anshul Shetty won the K-2 Novice section with a perfect 5.0 score, a half-point better than home-schooled Hili Bareket. There was a seven-way tie for third place with Kinzie's Isabella Patel-Garcia posting the the highest tiebreak.
Decatur's top four tied with Skinner North's top quartet with 12.0 apiece, winning the K-2 first place trophy on tiebreaks. Fox Valley was a half-point back in third place with 11.5.
2017 Illinois Youth Invitational
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- Written by Bill Buklis Bill Buklis
The 2017 Illinois Youth Invitational was held April 21 - 23 at the Schaumburg Hyatt Regency. The Denker section featured 12 of the top high school players in Illinois. The Barber included a dozen of the best K-8 players. The third section pitted eight of the highest-rated girls in the state. The winners of each section will represent Illinois at their respective national competition at the U.S. Open in Norfolk, VA this summer.
A three-way tie in the Denker saw George Li prevail in a blitz playoff. Aydin Turgut won the Barber with a clear 4.0/5 tally, a half-point better than runner-up Arthur Xu. Xu managed to eclipse the 2000-mark for the first time to earn his USCF Candidate Master title. Marissa Li won the Girls section outright with 3.5, ahead of four girls with 3.0's. Final standings and complete crosstables are listed below.
Nguyen & McDonough Tie At April Highland Park Event
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- Written by Bill Feldman Bill Feldman
Jim Nguyen and Dylan McDonough tied for first place at the April 2017 Highland Park event, both with 4.5/5 in the Advanced Section. Thanks to the slightly higher tiebreak, Bateman's Nguyen earned the championship trophy.
Julian Wang posted 4.0/5 to earn third place honors out of 17 participants in the Advanced, one of four sections of competition.
In the Fourth through Eighth Grade section, Adrian Onofre scored the lone 5-for-5 result to win clear first place.