Youth News
2026 Illinois K-8 State Chess Championship
- Details
- Written by Jacob Plotnick - Editor in Chief Jacob Plotnick - Editor in Chief
- Published: 12 March 2026 12 March 2026
2026 Illinois K-8 State Chess Championship
The Illinois Chess Association is happy to congratulate Glenn Panner and Maret Thorpe from Chess Weekend for an impressive organization of our 2026 Illinois K-8 Chess Championship from March 6-8, 2026 in Schaumburg, Illinois.
Photo courtesy of Erik Czerin
The tournament had four sections:
- Lower Primary K-1: 7 rounds of G25d5
- Upper Primary 2-3: 7 rounds of G40d5
- Elementary 4-5: 7 rounds of G55d5
- Junior High 6-8: 7 rounds of G55d5
As well as bughouse, blitz, and puzzle solving side events – taking place during the nights of the tournament.
Pictured below are the trophies given out during the tournament: 1st - 25th individually in each section, 1 - 10th place teams in each section, class awards based on rating in each section, class awards based on grade in each section, and, of course, awards for each of the side events.
Photo courtesy of Erik Czerin
Kindergarten and First grade
Going into the last round, Shivakumara Vellapandi led with a perfect 6 points against Muhammadsaloh Ahmadaliev with 5.5 points. Muhammadsaloh defeated Shivakumara to win the K-1 outright with 6.5 points. Six players, Abir Sumbhate, Alexander Choi, Arjun Kolluri, Advaya Chingalwar, Vidhaatri Rao, and Shinsuke Yamaguchi, started the last round with 5 points.
Photo courtesy Muhammadsaloh's family
Here are the players that finished with at least five points:
Grades 2-3
Entering the final round, both Emily Tang and Ethan Li were tied with a perfect 6 points. Emily defeated Ethan to win outright with a perfect 7/7. Here are the players that ended up with at least 5.5 points:
Grades 4-5
Dylan Vogel entered the last round with a perfect 6 points and there was a three-way tie with a 5.5 points for second between Kavanvel Murugan, Tanish Zen and Krish Vegnesh. This created two exciting games where Kavinvel defeated Krish and Dylan drew Tanish to create a two way tie with 6.5 points for first place. Dylan was awarded first place due to tie-breaks.
Photo courtesy Dylan's family
Here are the players that finished with at least 5.5 points:
Grades 6-8
Three players entered the final round with a perfect 6 points: Aidan Baker, Sachit Srinivas Rajkumar and Kaden Kassim. Meanwhile, one lone player had 5.5 points: Anirudh Sai Jeeju. In the final round, Aiden defeated Kaden and Sachit defeated Anirudh causing a two way tie with a perfect 7 points. Aiden was awarded first place due to tie-breaks.
Here are the players that ended up with at least 5.5 points:
Linked here is a complete cross-table for the event, which will show tie-breaks and all side events, courtesy of Chess Weekend, and linked here is the US rating report. Following these links, you can view the full results across any sections instead of the abbreviated standings above.
Once again, we are happy to congratulate everybody who participated and gave it their best in this tournament and to congratulate Glenn Panner and Maret Thorpe along with Chess Weekend for running the tournament so smoothly on behalf of the Illinois Chess Association. We also want to thank the 58 Illinois Chess Association members out of nearly 700 players that came out and supported our K-8 State Championship.
We also want to thank Amy Greene, Henry Getz and Catherine “Kats” Poffenbarger of the Illinois Chess Association board for coming out and supporting this great state event. Please come out and support next year’s K-8 downstate. The event information will be published on the ICA website.
August 2025 Top Youth
- Details
- Written by WJS Director WJS Director
- Published: 17 August 2025 17 August 2025
August 2025 Top 100 Youth
Congragations to the following people for outstanding improvements for August 2025.
Shivakumaran Minor VelaPandi first time Regular Top Age 7 and Under
Reshmitha Sai Dabburi reaching #84 from #100 Top Girl Age 11
Rohan Dileep Menon reach #58 from #74 Top Age 15
Justin Lee reach #22 from #35 Top Age 13
Bishrelt Aiden Munkhsuld, Top 8, has played in 29 tournaments so far in 2025
The following young ladies made the Top Women category
Natalie Wisniowski #51
Stella Xin #60
Aria Hoesley #65
Robecca Cortez #76
Elizabeth Xia #96
Total players from Illinois 86.
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September 2025 Top Youth
- Details
- Written by WJS Director WJS Director
- Published: 17 August 2025 17 August 2025
September 2025 Top 100 Youth
Congragations to the following people for their remarkable accomplishments for September 2025.
Three new players reach the top 100
Shrinika Biswal Top Girl under 7
Adam Elgat Top Age 17
Adan Pena Faris Top Age 18
Movers and shakers
Banoth, Shanaya has reached #69 from #93 Top Girl Age 9
Hari, Nila has reached #64 from #79 Top Girl Age 14
Pittala, Ashvath Reddy has reached #63 from #77 Top Age 13
Cortez, Rebecca has reached #70 from #84 Top Age 18
Malladi, Sadkrith has reached #35 from #46 Top Age 18
Sun,Yuanli has reached #66 from #75 Top Girl Age 12
Total Top 100 Players 88
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22nd Susan Polgar Foundation Girls' Invitational
- Details
- Written by Jacob Plotnick - Editor in Chief Jacob Plotnick - Editor in Chief
- Published: 06 August 2025 06 August 2025
22nd Susan Polgar Foundation Girls' Invitational
The Illinois Chess Association proudly congratulates our two state representatives, Rebecca Cortez and Stella Xin, for representing Illinois at the 22nd Susan Polgar Foundation Girls’ Invitational (SPFGI), held from June 23–25, 2025. They earned their invitations by placing first and second, respectively, in the Haring Division at the 2025 Illinois Chess Association Youth Invitational. You can read the full write-up of that event here.
Founded in 2004, the Susan Polgar Foundation Girls’ Invitational has been hosted at Webster University in Missouri since 2012, with the exception of several years during the COVID-19 pandemic.
This year’s tournament featured 62 players representing 33 states and the District of Columbia.
Stella Xin finished with 4 out of 6 points, tying for 8th place (11th after tiebreaks). Rebecca Cortez scored 3.5 out of 6 points, tying for 18th place (23rd after tiebreaks). Both players demonstrated impressive skill and determination on the national stage.
Partial standings from the main event are listed below, and a complete spreadsheet provided by SPFGI—including Blitz, Bughouse, and Puzzle competition results—is available here. The official US Chess crosstables can also be found here.
|
# |
Name |
Rd 1 |
Rd 2 |
Rd 3 |
Rd 4 |
Rd 5 |
Rd 6 |
Total |
T-Mod. Med |
|
1 |
FM Ruiyang Yan |
W16 |
W12 |
W10 |
W8 |
D2 |
W5 |
5.5 |
21.5 |
|
2 |
WIM Chloe Gaw |
W38 |
W41 |
W18 |
D5 |
D1 |
W12 |
5.0 |
20.5 |
|
3 |
Lilianna Gao |
W46 |
W26 |
L5 |
W13 |
W11 |
W14 |
5.0 |
19.5 |
|
4 |
WFM Aimee Yang |
W33 |
L18 |
W38 |
W41 |
W19 |
W8 |
5.0 |
17.0 |
|
5 |
Elizabeth Braddy |
W35 |
W44 |
W3 |
D2 |
W9 |
L1 |
4.5 |
22.5 |
|
6 |
Vivian Yang |
D42 |
W30 |
W31 |
L9 |
W22 |
W20 |
4.5 |
17.0 |
|
7 |
Wan Qin Li |
W59 |
D13 |
L9 |
W42 |
W29 |
W21 |
4.5 |
17.0 |
|
8 |
Emel Bayrambeyli |
W56 |
W23 |
W11 |
L1 |
W26 |
L4 |
4.0 |
21.0 |
|
9 |
Keya Jha |
W40 |
D27 |
W7 |
W6 |
L5 |
D10 |
4.0 |
20.5 |
|
10 |
Caroline Q Jiang |
W36 |
W17 |
L1 |
D20 |
W27 |
D9 |
4.0 |
20.0 |
|
11 |
WCM Stella Xin |
W34 |
W20 |
L8 |
W22 |
L3 |
W19 |
4.0 |
19.5 |
|
12 |
Joy Zhang |
W53 |
L1 |
W33 |
W43 |
W28 |
L2 |
4.0 |
19.0 |
|
13 |
Ellery Zhang |
W48 |
D7 |
D29 |
L3 |
W30 |
W39 |
4.0 |
18.5 |
|
14 |
WCM Anagha Aniket Sinkar |
W32 |
D31 |
D27 |
W37 |
W15 |
L3 |
4.0 |
18.0 |
|
15 |
Freya Austin |
W45 |
L19 |
W34 |
W16 |
L14 |
W35 |
4.0 |
17.5 |
|
16 |
Candice Liang |
L1 |
W53 |
W51 |
L15 |
W32 |
W26 |
4.0 |
17.5 |
|
17 |
Bonnie He |
W55 |
L10 |
W24 |
L26 |
W36 |
W28 |
4.0 |
16.5 |
|
18 |
Aarna Nitin Warekar |
W49 |
W4 |
L2 |
W29 |
L21 |
D24 |
3.5 |
20.0 |
|
19 |
Tanya Gurpur Madke Prabhu |
W60 |
W15 |
W21 |
D28 |
L4 |
L11 |
3.5 |
19.5 |
|
20 |
Parinya Jain |
W52 |
L11 |
W36 |
D10 |
W23 |
L6 |
3.5 |
19.0 |
|
21 |
WCM Khanim Ismayilova |
D30 |
W25 |
L19 |
W32 |
W18 |
L7 |
3.5 |
18.0 |
|
22 |
Marina Xiao |
W51 |
W37 |
D28 |
L11 |
L6 |
W44 |
3.5 |
17.0 |
|
23 |
Rebecca Cortez |
W43 |
L8 |
W39 |
D27 |
L20 |
W33 |
3.5 |
16.5 |
Please join us in congratulating Rebecca and Stella for their excellent performances and for representing Illinois with distinction at one of the most prestigious national girls’ chess events in the country.
July 2025 Top Youth
- Details
- Written by WJS Director WJS Director
- Published: 25 June 2025 25 June 2025
July 2025 Top 100 Youth
Congragations to the following people for outstanding improvements for July 2025.
Bishret Munkhsuld has reach #21 from #35 in Top Age 8.
Elizabeth Xia has reached #12 from #21 in Top Age 9
Stella Xin has reached #2 from #8 in Top Age 9
Total players from Illinois 91.
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