Youth Chess News
Dimitar Mardov Wins Naperville Scholastic
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- Written by Bill Feldman Bill Feldman
With three wins and a couple byes, 7-year old Dimitar Mardov won the Naperville Scholastic Championship held April 2. 79 competed in four sections.
Dimitar defeated Sam Fayn in the final round to secure the championship. Sam, in turn finished in a tie for second place with Pradeep Senthil, both with 4.0 points. Tiebreak information was not available at press time.
Umair Ahmed won the Under 1000 with a 4.5 score. Layla Rodriguez and Felipe Garcia tied for second with 4.0's. Umair defeated Layla in the third round and Felipe in the second of five rounds. This looks to be Umair's last U1000; he raised his rating 142 points to 1105.
Illinois Juniors Score at Cincinnati Open
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- Written by Bill Feldman Bill Feldman
Although Ohio US Chess Master Yuri Barnakov was the ultimate winner at the 2016 Cincinnati Open, several Illinois players had strong showings at the five-round, two-day event concluded April 3.
Max Zinski posted a 2.5/5 in the Open section finishing in a three-way tie for fifth place.
Marissa Li and Peter Zheng both posted 3.0's in the Under 2100 section, tying for fourth place.
Peter raised his rating 47 points above 1800 once again. He drew a US Chess Expert from Michigan in the second round after defeating Marissa in the opening match.
Kalghatgi Twins Win 2016 National Bughouse Championship, Illinois High Schools Win Four of Top 12 Team Blitz Trophies
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- Written by Bill Feldman Bill Feldman
Whitney Young freshmen Akhil and Nikhil Kalghatgi have claimed the Bughouse Championship at the 2016 High School Nationals in Atlanta. The US Chess Experts finished in a three-way tie with 9.0 points but had the top tiebreak to claim the first place trophy.
The Arizona team of Kahl and Twitchell actually had better tiebreak numbers on three of the tiebreak formulas... but the Illinois twins had a one-point higher Modified Median, which was the first factor considered.
Kahl-Twitchell earned second place and Minnesotans Wahl-Tang, whom the Kalghatgi's split with in the second of five rounds, will be bringing home third place trophies.
John Bielobradek Wins April 1 Event at Lozano Branch
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- Written by Bill Feldman Bill Feldman
With three hundred thousand-plus Chicago school children left teacherless due to a one-day strike, the Lozano Branch of the Chicago Public Library opened its doors for a free chess tournament April 1.
38 juniors participated in the five-round event, but the awards were largely a family affair with three families taking home eight of the ten medals!
John Bielobradek posted the lone perfect 5.0/5 score to win first place.
IL Pre-schooler Wins National High School Blitz (April Fools)
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- Written by AFD Reporter AFD Reporter
Illinois pre-schooler Evan "Rain" Dumas, a relative newcomer to chess, has won the National High School Blitz Championship in Atlanta, defeating players more than four times his age.
Playing exotic openings like the Sokolsky, the Grob, the Hippopotamus Defense and the Basman Counterattack, Evan won 11 of his twelve games while accepting a draw offer in the twelfth game. That match against the top-rated player in the event, a high school senior from New York city, secured the championship.
The four year old has only been playing chess about nine months and had never entered a formal tournament before. After learning the basics from his parents, Evan has been secretly taking lessons from three of Illinois' resident Grandmasters.