Natalie Wisniowski now above 1900

The Chicago Open in May was a great tournament for many of our female junior players including WCM Natalie Wisniowski of Chicago, who achieved a personal best by entering 1900 territory for the first time. All of our other 13-year olds also boosted their ratings over last month: Sruthi Bharath Kumar (from 1615 to 1636), Stella Pashyan (from 1343 to 1437), and Shakira Luster (from 1107 to 1278 – a whopping 171 points!).

Twelve-year old Saanvi Adusumalli playing in the U1900 section gained a solid 100 points, climbing from rank 54 to rank 38. A big shoutout also to Michelle Pankov, who was a prizewinner in the U1000 section.

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Illinois Girls Continue to Improve

 

US Chess has compiled the most recent Top 100 lists for girls (with a cutoff date of May 15) and the results of female players from Illinois can be found below.

Two girls stood out this month with noteworthy performances: Mehak Jiandani, age 7, who increased her rating from 803 to 939 and climbed 14 ranks to reach a spot in the top 20 nationwide. The second one is 8-year old Angela Hu, who went from rank 79 to rank 50 in the country with a USCF rating gain of 165 points. Congratulations to both!

Others who crossed a major ratings milestone for the first time include Nandini Prakash (now a 1700 player) and Ria Raj (achieving a 1600 rating)—both of whom, like Mehak, are members of the Fox Valley Chess Club—as well as Whitney Young student Maggie Tsyganova, likewise a 1600 player now.

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Stellar Performance for May 2019 Top 100

 

Congratulations to the 50 girls from Illinois, who are in the top 100 for their age group this month, including our first-timer Angela Hu.

Four girls started the month with ratings in the 1200s and have now crossed to the 1300s: Saanvi Adusumalli and Sophie Hong (11), Stella Pashyan (13) after having an excellent performance at the All-Girls Championship, and Lizzy Brahin (15), who gained almost 100 rating points at the Hales Corners Challenge.

Our 10-year-olds Ria, Egshiglen, Siri and Enkhjin climbed a combined 69 ranks (or 325 USCF rating points) over last month, even topping the group of 11-year-olds, which continues to hold our largest number of female players, namely 7.

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April 2019 Top 100 Lists for Girls

 

The new lists reflect the rating changes after the 2019 National High School Championship, where many of our top-rated girls - Miranda Liu, Aria Hoesley, Shreya Mangalam, Marissa Li, Nandini Prakash and others - performed well.

Several female players from Illinois had such a good tournament that they crossed a major threshold for the first time:

  • Ashley Mei Yan entered 1900 territory, her new rating putting her in the top-10 nationwide for her age group.
  • Anisha Oberai gained more than 100 points bringing her rating well above 1400.
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A Classic Success in Champaign-Urbana

Champaign Urbana Classic #4

 

Location: University of Illinois,Urbana IL

Number of players: 58 

 

Sixty chess players clashed at the K-8

Scholastic held at the Illini Union in Champaign-Urbana on March 31,

  1. The result? Another chess success keyed by the efforts of organizers John Klein and Steve Polley with special thanks to the Illini Chess Team for graciously hosting this event.

 Results

: Open Section  (4 rounds, g/60 d5)

1st Aaron Cho (4.0);

2nd Bruce R Tang (3.0)

3rd Yao Chang (3.0)

4th Elbert Fang (2.5);

5th Vivaan Reddy (2.5).

 

Under 1200 (4 rounds, g/60 d5)

Ist Jazz Sinclair Anders (4.0)

2nd Jackson D Groves (3,0)

3rd Robert Tu (2.5)

4th  Boyou Huang (2.5)

5th  Joyce Zheng (2.0).

 

Under 700 (5 rounds, g/30,d5)

1st Shri Senthilkumar (5.0);

2nd Chinmay Binger Jr (4.0);

3rd Christopher Chen (4.0)

4th Varun Gurramkonda (4.0);

4th Krishiv Chivukula (4.0).

Sponsoring Affliate: Greater Peoria Chess Federation

TD: Patrick Cohen

Founders of the C-U Chess Academy, Polley and Klein seek to advance scholastic chess in the C-U area. And they do! This is their 4th Scholastic to date; their Classic Tournaments are garnering attention and gaining momentum.

What’s next on the agenda? A summer chess camp last week of July at the Champaign Public Library. Interested? Contact:cuchessacademy@gmail.com.

Congratulations, everyone!