Youth Chess News
Chess Taking Montessori School of C-U By (Pawn) Storm
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- Written by ICA Staff ICA Staff
“Infinite potential within finite structures”
"That's what chess is. That's what children are."
The Montessori School of Champaign-Urbana has undertaken a new Chess Enrichment Program this school year under the guidance of US Chess-certified Instructor Rachel Schechter, Administrator George Cook, and School Manager Rick Dunn.
The mission statement of the program calls for "using the chessboard to develop student potential in relation to math, verbal, and social skills, logic, focus, planning, problem solving, critical thinking and abstract reasoning in a caring, child-centered environment. "
40 Illinois Girls Among US Top 100; 3 in Top 10
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- Written by Bill Feldman Bill Feldman
A huge thank you to Smitha Acharya for compiling these lists of Illinois girls among the top 100 of their respective age group nationwide.
US Chess recently started publishing these lists in hopes of rewarding and motivating more girls to thrive in chess competition.
If the recently-held National All-Girls is any indication, it's working! The Chicago competition saw 89 additional entries this year, approximately 25% more than in 2015.
Marissa Li, age 13, leads all girls with a remarkable 1939 rating. Li won the National All-Girls U14's this past weekend.
Illinois Hosts 4 Junior Masters, 17 Experts Aged 11-18
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- Written by Bill Feldman Bill Feldman
Today marks the resumption of the publishing of a time-consuming but much-requested feature of the ICA website: a listing of the Illinois youth on the monthly top 100 lists of the US Chess Federation.
Many good players have come through these lists and enhanced their ratings over time. 48 youth managed to make one of these twelve lists this month.
The four US Chess Masters with ratings above 2200 are David Peng (Age 12), George Li (Age 16), and Jacob Furfine along with Alex Bian (both Age 15). Several other Experts (rated 2000+) are getting close to joining them.
Li Is Under 14 National Girls' Champion, Liu 2nd in U16
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- Written by Bill Feldman Bill Feldman
Some times tiebreaks can be your best friend and some times they are your mortal enemy.
In the case of Marissa Li, she's probably a fan now after the 2016 National All-Girls completed April 24 at Chicago's McCormick Place. Despite losing her sixth-round match with Sophie Morris-Suzuki of New York, Marissa prevailed via tiebreaks over the challenger from the Empire State, to win the Under 14 National championship.
Shreya Mangalam -- and frequent Illinois player Ritika Pandey of Wisconsin -- both tied for third place, a half-point back (4.5), with Shreya taking fourth place hardware and Ritika fifth on tiebreaks.
Whitney Young's Parker-Turner Wins $12,000 Scholarship
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- Written by Bill Feldman Bill Feldman
Whitney Young's Phillip Parker-Turner has won a $12,000 college scholarship from the David R. MacDonald Foundation thanks to his winning performance at the Chicago Public School's MVP tournament.
The April 19th event was held at the Washington branch of the Chicago Public Library. The tournament was conducted in two high school and four K-8 sections with 118 players competing.
Parker-Turner was a perfect five-for five. Mark Jungo finished second with 4.0/5, earning a $6,000 scholarship.