Youth Chess News
Illinois Youth in USCF Top 100 as of September 2014
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- Written by Bill Feldman, data compiled by Mark Berezewski Bill Feldman, data compiled by Mark Berezewski
Despite one drop-off, with the addition of Jacob Furfine, Illinois continues to field 20 juniors at or above the Expert mark as of the third Wednesday in August -- the cut-off date for the official September USCF ratings.
Thanks to Duncan Shepherd's ascension above 2100, Illinois has three of the top 18-year olds in the country, and claims three of the top 25 in an age group for one of the rare times in recent history. Duncan joins Sam Schmakel and Jonathan Kogan.
Anshul Adve also broke 2100, giving us three of the top 35 14-year olds in the country as Anshul joins Alex Bian and George Li.
The Land of Lincoln also boasts three of the top 35 13-year olds, and a total of nine juniors in the 13-year old Top 100, whereas statistically we'd expect to have only four. That list is headed by Matthew Stevens, Jacob Furfine and Akhil Kalghatgi.
Peng Places 5th at World Youth in U12; Turgut 14th in U10
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- Written by Bill Feldman Bill Feldman
Candidate Master David Peng of Northbrook placed fifth at the 2014 World Youth Under 12 Boys competition completed today in South Africa.
An 11th-round loss to co-champion Viachaslau Zarubitski of Belarus dropped David from his perch as the sole leader. Rayan Taghizadeh of California also wound up in a four-way tie for first with 8.5 points, a half-point ahead of Peng.
David was the 21st-ranked U12 entrant based on pre-event FIDE ratings. He was sixth-ranked among 11 Americans in the section. Both his losses came to top 10 finishers playing as black. He was undefeated playing white, including 6th- and 10th-round draws.
Aydin Turgut was defeated by German Vincent Keymer in the final round of the U10 Boys competition, leaving Aydin with 7.0/11 points. With tiebreaks, Aydin finished atop a six-way tie for 14th.
Illinois Youth in USCF Top 100 -- August 2014
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- Written by Bill Feldman, compiled by Mark Berezewski Bill Feldman, compiled by Mark Berezewski
For the first time in history, Illinois hosts 20 juniors at or above the Expert mark, thanks to the addition of Akhil Kalghatgi. Quite a way to celebrate turning 13!
All tolled, Illinois has 101 USCF-rated players with recent activity and ratings above 2000.
Joining (or re-entering) the ranks of the national Top 100 lists this month were Naperville North's Bradley Guan and IMSA's Timothy Zhou, along with Aiden Carey and Brian Gong.
Zhou had been a regular on the lists before a 13-month absence from rated-play. After the cut-off date for this list, Zhou surpassed the 2000-mark himself with his performance at the 2014 Illinois Open.
Updated: Peng, Turgut Among 70 Americans At '14 World Youth
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- Written by Carl Dolson Carl Dolson
Illinoisans David Peng and Aydin Turgut are among 70 youth from the United States now in Durban, South Africa competing in the 2014 World Youth Championships. The tournament begins September 20th and continues through September 29th.
Candidate Master Peng (FIDE 2011) is competing against 111 others, including a dozen entrants from the US, in the U12 Open section of the tournament. Top rated in that section is Wisconsan Awonder Liang (FIDE 2323). Peng won the U10 Open section silver medal, behind Liang, at the 2013 World Youth Championships in the United Arab Emirates.
Turgut (FIDE 1851) is the official US representative in the U10 Open section, competing in his third World Youth Championships. His FIDE rating places him 14th among all competitors, second amongst Americans behind Californian Andrew Hong.
63 Compete at Northbrook Labor Day Scholastic
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- Written by Bill Feldman Bill Feldman
It took perfect scores to win both sections of the 2014 Labor Day Scholastic, held August 30 in Northbrook. 63 players competed in the five-round Quick-Rated event, organized by Chess For Life at the site of the 2014 Illnois Open.
The Illinois Chess Association received a generous portion of the event proceeds. Results can viewed in tiebreak order here and in pre-event rating order here.
In the Under 1200 section, Micah Hill prevailed head-to-head over previously undefeated Evan Liu to earn top honors. All of Evan's opponents on the day had plus-scores (3.0 or better) giving him the top tiebreak of four 4.0 scorers to place second.
Micah raised his USCF Quick Rating 162 points to 1165 while Evan went up 114 points to 1105.