Youth News
2012 K-8 Chess Championship Scheduled for Rockford
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- Written by Maret Thorpe Maret Thorpe
- Published: 13 April 2011 13 April 2011
The Illinois Chess Association is pleased to announce that the 2012 Illinois K-8 State Chess Championship will be held in Rockford, Illinois at the Clock Tower Resort on March 2-4, 2012, with State Blitz and Bughouse Championships on the evening of March 2.
The ICA Board of Directors unanimously approved the ICA Bid Committee's recommendation of the bid from BubbaCat Chess and organizers Tim Just and Glenn Panner. Just and Panner are both USCF National Tournament Directors and have organized a variety of scholastic and open chess tournaments.
Rockford Area Chess will be assisting the event with volunteer support. The Rockford Area Convention and Visitors Bureau and the City of Rockford have both extended an enthusiastic welcome to the event.
2011 Illinois All Grade Chess Championship Scheduled for Peoria
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- Written by Maret Thorpe Maret Thorpe
- Published: 13 April 2011 13 April 2011
The Illinois Chess Association is pleased to announce that the 2011 Illinois State All Grade Chess Championship will be held in Peoria, Illinois at the Pere Marquette Hotel on November 5, 2011.
The ICA Board of Directors unanimously approved the ICA Bid Committee's recommendation of the bid from the Greater Peoria Chess Federation. GPCF has organized and hosted a variety of scholastic and open chess tournaments over the years, including national events.
Magness, Bian, Holecek Win Illinois Youth Invitationals
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- Published: 31 March 2011 31 March 2011
All three Illinois Youth Invitational Championships were held March 26 and 27 at the North Shore Chess Center. Trevor Magness joins Kayin Barclay and Yelena Gorlin as a two-time winner of the Illinois High School Invitational Championship title. As in 2009, Trevor will represent Illinois in the Denker Tournament of High School Champions. After losing to freshman Sam Schmakel in round 2, Trevor reeled off consecutive wins against Michael Auger, Jonathan Kogen, and NM Eric Rosen to take clear first with a 4-1 score.
I expect Tommy Ulrich to earn his master title soon. He was leading the tournament until losing to Rosen in round 4, and took second on tiebreaks with 3½-1½. NM Adarsh Jayakumar was essentially eliminated from contention after being held to half a point by Kogen and Rosen in the first two rounds, but won out to tie for second with Ulrich.
K-8 Championship Draws 520 to Bloomington
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- Written by Pete Karagianis Pete Karagianis
- Published: 22 March 2011 22 March 2011
The 2011 K-8 Scholastic Championships were held the weekend of March 5-6th in Bloomington, Illinois at the Bone Student Center on the Illinois State University campus. Over 520 students from all over the state of Illinois participated in the tournament, organized by Bloomington-Normal Area Scholastic Chess (BNASC.org). The event traditionally rotates between a downstate and upstate host and this marked the fourth time since 2001 that the BNASC had organized the K-8 Championships at Illinois State University.
The weekend kicked off Friday night with the Blitz and Bughouse championships. The blitz tournament saw just under 70 participants test their skills on the clock and in the final round Jimi Akintonde edged out Maximilian Zinski to take the state championship trophy.
Max didn't have to wait long to get back into the thick of things, however. Teaming with Nathaniel Krinjc he took first in the bughouse, just ahead of second place tandem Benjamin Nielsen and Hanson Hao and third place Shanku Nair and Sidhu Krishnamoorthi.
IESA Holds First Tournament
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- Written by Mike Zacate Mike Zacate
- Published: 22 February 2011 22 February 2011
Forty-three schools were represented in the inaugural Illinois Elementary School Association’s Chess Championships. The tournament was held Feb. 18th and 19th in the U.S. Cellular Coliseum in Bloomington, IL. The tournaments of the IESA are open only to students of member schools. As with most IESA events, there was an 8th grade championship (open to students in the 5th to 8th grades) and a 7th grade championship (open to students in the 5th to 7th grades). A total of 289 students competed in the two divisions. The tournament format was a Board Swiss with each school allowed one student at each of the boards 1 through 4 and up to three at board 5 (only the top scorer counting for team purposes on board 5) in each division.
The top four teams in each division received a trophy as did the top 5 scorers at each of the five boards in both divisions. Daniel Wright (Lincolnshire) dominated the competition while becoming both the 7th and 8th grade team champions and capturing 10 individual medals. Four individual medals were won by students from Bloomington JHS, Washington (Rockford), Washington (Peoria), and Chiddix (Normal). Complete results can be located at http://www.iesa.org/activities/chs/