Youth Chess News
146 Illinois High School Teams Migrate To Peoria
- Details
- Written by Bill Feldman Bill Feldman
Main Story: For the second year in a row, 146 eight-board teams are competing at the Illinois High School Association (IHSA) team championships. The two-day, seven-round event kicked off today, February 12, in Peoria. Crosstables are being posted here on the IHSA site.
After Round 5: Heading into Round 6 (of 7) three teams remain undefeated. IMSA (Aurora) plays the dark colors at table one against Stevenson (of Linconshire). Whitney Young (of Chicago) plays the dark colors on table two against Glenbrook North (Northbrook) who is one of 19 teams with 4.0/5.
Varga Wins K-12 Section at '16 Greater Chicago Event
- Details
- Written by Bill Feldman Bill Feldman
354 players competed in eight sections at the February 7 2016 Greater Chicago K-12 Championships, 98 of whom played in one of four "Varsity" divisions. US Chess crosstables are posted.
The event was organized by Renassance Knights Chess Foundation. According to its President David Heiser, the Foundation "sponsored 151 inner city students with free entry and one year USCF (US Chess) memberships."
Matthew Varga survived a second-round draw, winning his other four matches to post the highest score in the K-12 Varsity section, 4.5/5. Eric Starkman, Michael Dula and Eduard Danilyan all posted 4.0/5's.
Burbank Wins 2/16 HP Scholastic, Elder Tops Advanced
- Details
- Written by Bill Feldman Bill Feldman
By the narrowest of margins, Burbank (of Chicago) won team honors at the Highland Park February Scholastic. Paced by Angel Nunez's perfect 5.0 score, Burbank outpointed local school Indian Trail 24.0 to 23.0.
In additional to Angel's score, Johnny Tapia, Jose Onofre and Sigifredo Martinez all contributed 4.0's. Adrian Onfre and Santiago Sotomayor added 3.5's to the Burbank tally. Burbank entered 14 in the event with the top six scores counting towards the team total.
84 players competed in five divisions at the February 6 event.
Atop the 11-player Advanced competition, Eli Elder was a perfect 5-for-5, outpointing four players with 3.0's: Ari Koyfman, Lucas Acquasaliente, Dylan McDonough and Julian Wang.
Gran and Grandy Top '16 Wheaton Christian Grammar
- Details
- Written by Bill Feldman Bill Feldman
156 entrants faced off in four sections at the Wheaton Christian Grammar School February 6. In three of the four sections, perfect scores were necessary to claim top honors.
In the Lower Primary section, a three-way tie for first saw the top finishers beating each other: Leopold Kozlowski, playing in his first-ever US Chess-rated tournament, defeated Isabella Myung in the final round to enter that mix. Earlier, he'd lost to Anshul Shetty who in turn lost to Isabella in the fourth round.
All three posted 4.0/5's, with Leopold's superior tiebreaks, he brought home the biggest trophy.
Three Perfect Scores at BNASC '16 Benjamin Tournament
- Details
- Written by Bill Feldman Bill Feldman
273 competitors fought it out Feb. 6 at the Bloomington Normal Area Scholastic Chess event at Benjamin School.
Mohit Bayyarapu was a perfect five-for-five in the Lower Primary with 59 competing. Nine players posted 4.0/5.
Claiming first place, Zach Adkins won all five of his games in the Upper Primary with 95 entered. Harshal Joshi and Michael Xi were both a half-point back with 4.5's, drawing head-to-head in the last round. 11 players tallied 4.0 scores.
Shlok Kinikar posted the lone perfect 5.0/5 in the Elementary section.