Youth Chess News
Lou, Carey, Jungo Earn Honors at Oak Park Library
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- Written by Bill Feldman Bill Feldman
More than 20 junior competitors battled it out in three sections at the Oak Park Library in a four-round event August 23.
The tournament was directed by Keith Ammann.
In the 18-and-under section, 16-year old Mark Jungo of Chicago posted the top score, 3.5/4. Mark had recently competed at the World Open in Virginia. Darak Nowak of Park Ridge took second with a 3.0 result and local Oak Parker Philip Linninger, 18, nabbed third place honors.
In the 13-and-under division, Aidan Carey went undefeated with three wins and a draw for a 3.5 result. Aidan is also from Oak Park. Desi Nainar of Lake Bluff had 3.0/4 while 7-year old William Cahill of Wheaton was 2.5/4.
Liu Ties for 6th At National Girls', Schmakel 6th in Denker
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- Written by Bill Feldman Bill Feldman
With three wins, a loss and a pair of draws in the last two rounds, recent Whitney Young graduate Sam Schmakel's remarkable high school chess career came to a close at the 2014 Denker Championships in Orlando.
With 4.0/6, Sam finished in an eight-way tie for 6th, placing 7th on tiebreaks. His loss came at the hands of California's Nicky Korba who finished third. Sam entered the invitiational event as the top-rated player, 18 points higher than the outright champion, Christopher Gu of Rhode Island.
Miranda Liu also posted a fantastic 4.0/6 in the 44-player Girls' Invitational finishing in another eight-way tie for sixth, also placing 7th on tiebreaks.
Illinois Youth in USCF Top 100 -- July 2014
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- Written by Bill Feldman Bill Feldman
With ascendancy above USCF ratings of 2000 for 14-year old Anshul Adve and 15-year old Jonathan Hrach, for the first time ever, Illinois has 15 junior experts and four masters (or greater) as of the official July listings. This quota comes despite the loss of Chengliang Luo who aged out of the 18-and-under report.
With Hanson Hao at 1999 and Jacob Furfine at 1996, it's likely this strong crew will soon have some additional company.
Anshul's rating climbed 92 points while Jonathan's was up 52. Dramatic increases also came from Martin Stukan (130) and Nikhil Kalghati (138). Others with strong USCF rating enhancements this month were Marissa Li (99), Jason Daniels (71), Akhil Kalghatgi (also 71), Alex Bian (61), Max Zinski (51) and George Li (40).
Illinois Youth in USCF Top 100 -- June 2014
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- Written by Bill Feldman Bill Feldman
Several changes in how the USCF processes its top 100 lists, as well as a change in personnel, lead to the delay in publication of this month's tallies. The rules also changed regarding the timing of the birthday calculation.
On the local front, numerous birthdays transitioned many top Illinois players to its incremental counterpart: Aaron Gan, Martin Stukan, David Peng, Shreya Mangalam, Edward Zhang, James Wei and Sam Schmakel. Happy Birthday to you all!
For David Korobov, turning 19 means the end of his run on the youth top 100 lists but I'm sure we'll continue to see great things from David, an expert, who tied for seventh out of 86 at the recent Fineberg Memorial.
Arthur Xu Enhances OTB Rating at Online ChessKid Nationals
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- Written by Bill Feldman Bill Feldman
7-year old Arthur Xu was one of 30 American juniors to participate in the Third Annual ChessKid National Invitational completed June 8. Arthur received his invitation before his most recent birthday and therefore competed in the 6-and-under section where he finished 2.5/5, raising his USCF rating 36 points.
Even though the event was held entirely online, the USCF sanctioned the round robin as if it were an over the board tournament. Juniors competed in five sections over three days.
In the final round, Arthur drew the section's runner up, Lucas Foerster-Yialamas of New York, despite being outrated by 300 points.