GREATER CHICAGO SCHOLASTIC CHAMPIONSHIP by Jeff Caveney
Over 150 enthusiastic young chess players came to the Crowne Plaza Hotel in Northbrook the weekend of February 27-28 to play in the Greater Chicago Scholastic Chess Championships. The kids and their families came from Chicago, the suburbs and all over Illinois, neighboring Wisconsin and Indiana, and even as far as Colorado and Maryland to compete for the beautiful and gigantic trophies for the top teams and individuals. Renaissance Knights Chess Foundation and the Kasparov Chess Foundation sponsored the event, modeled after the long-running successful New York tournament with the same format. This is the first time the event has been held in the Chicago area.
In the K-12 section, the competition was so tough that 6 players tied with 4 points out of 5 games. Shivram Chandramouli (Munster High School, Munster, Indiana) took 1st place with the best tiebreaks, an impressive result since he was rated 9th out of the 30 players in the section. James Bowen (University School of Milwaukee, Milwaukee, Wisconsin), Tyler Lerner, Lukasz Zak (Lane Tech High School, Chicago), Matthew Barbian (Libertyville High School, Libertyville, Illinois) and Eric Emer (Highland Park High School, Highland Park, Illinois) took 2nd through 6th places respectively. Especially notable was Lukasz Zak, who was unrated going into the tournament. Since Zak won an overall prize, Anud Dahiya (Naperville North High School, Naperville, Illinois) took the 1st unrated prize with 3 points, and his teammate Charles Coffman (Naperville North) took 2nd place unrated with 2 points.
Alex Yerukhimov (University School of Milwaukee, Wisconsin) took the 1st under-1500 prize with 3 points. His teammates dominated the Junior Varisty top prizes: Kern Khanna, Sam Schlesinger, John Venable and Ishan Sinha (all University School of Milwaukee, Wisconsin) took 1st through 4th. Charles Helding (St. Ignatius College Prep, Chicago) took 5th place JV. Thomas Grudzinski (Lane Tech, Chicago) took 1st place under-900 JV.
The 1st place K-12 team trophy went to University School of Milwaukee. Naperville North and Lane Tech took 2nd and 3rd place.
In the K-8 Varsity section, Yue "Penny" Xu (Urbana Middle School, Urbana, Illinois) took clear 1st place with 4 wins and a draw. Arjun Nandy (University of Chicago Lab School, Chicago) took clear 2nd place with 4 points, and Rohan Mhaskar (The Prairie School, Racine, Wisconsin) took clear 3rd place with 3.5 points. David Peng (Winkelman School, Glenview, Illinois), Jack Xiao (Laura Sprague School, Lincolnshire, Illinois) and Eamonn Moore (Elm Place School, Highland Park, Illinois) took 4th through 6th places with 3 points each. Alec Feygin (Glen Grove School, Glenview, Illinois) won the 1st place under-1200 prize with 3 points.
St. Gilberts School in Grays Lake, Illinois took the 1st place K-8 Varisty team trophy.
In the K-8 Junior Varsity section, John Lennon (Keystone Montessori School, River Forest, Illinois) took clear 1st place with 4 wins and a draw. Alfredo Rodriguez (Logandale Middle School, Chicago) took clear 2nd place with 4 points, and Andy Xu (Daniel Wright Junior High School, Lincolnshire, Illinois) took clear 3rd place with 3.5 points. Brian Davis and Sylvester Highley, Jr. (James Hart Junior High School, Homewood, Illinois) took 4th and 5th places with 3 points, and Billy Hoseman took 6th place with 2 points. Frederic Fosco (GIFT Homeschool Group, Elgin, Illinois) won the 1st place under-700 prize with 3 points. Durman Jackson (James Hart Junior High School, Homewood, Illinois) won the 1st place unrated prize with 3 points, Quentin Kakuda (Lake Zurich Middle School South, Lake Zurich, Illinois) took 2nd place unrated, and Joshua Chan (Thomas Jefferson School, Hoffman Estates, Illinois) took 3rd place unrated.
James Hart Junior High School in Homewood, Illinois won the 1st place K-8 Junior Varsity team trophy, and Logandale Middle School in Chicago took 2nd place.
In the K-6 Varsity section, Allen Guo (Daniel Wright Junior High School, Lincolnshire, Illinois) took clear 1st place with a perfect score of 5 points. Ryan Toepfer (Decatur Classical School, Chicago) and Daniel Bronfeyn (Aspen Elementary School, Vernon Hills, Illinois) took 2nd and 3rd places with 4 points. Miranda Liu (Lake Bluff Elementary School, Lake Bluff, Illinois) took 4th place with 3.5 points. Derek Mizushima (Potomac Elementary School, Potomac, Maryland) and Josh Power (Bernard Zell School, Chicago) took 5th and 6th places with 3 points. Asher Borstein (Bernard Zell School, Chicago) won the 1st place under-1000 prize with 3 points.
In a very close competition between two Chicago schools, Decatur Classical School took the 1st place K-6 Varsity team trophy by a half point over Bernard Zell School, who took 2nd place.
The K-6 Junior Varsity was by far the largest section of the whole tournament, with 46 kids competing. Brody Frapolly (Wildwood School, Chicago) and Coleman McJessy (Alexander Graham Bell Elementary School, Chicago) both earned perfect scores of 5 points, with Brody Frapolly taking 1st place on tiebreaks and Coleman McJessy 2nd place. Erik Csima (Lone Tree Home School, Lone Tree, Colorado), Finn Buck (Homeschool, Cambridge, Wisconsin), Dylan Cotter (Crow Island School, Winnetka, Illinois) and Jacob Fox (Dewey Elementary School, Evanston, Illinois) took 3rd through 6th places with 4 points. Georgia Wolf (Thorp Scholastic Academy, Chicago) won the 1st place under-900 prize with 3.5 points. Nikita Smyrno (Ivy Hall School, Buffalo Grove, Illinois) won the 1st place unrated prize with 3.5 points, and Alex Ortiz (Galileo Math & Science Academy, Chicago) and David SIlva (Canty Elementary School, Chicago) took 2nd and 3rd place unrated with 3 points.
Dewey Elementary School in Evanston, Illinois won the 1st place K-6 Junior Varsity team trophy. Bernard Zell School in Chicago took 2nd place and Thorp Scholastic Academy in Chicago took 3rd place.
In the K-3 Varsity section, Derek Mizushima who came all the way from Potomac, Maryland took clear 1st place with a perfect score of 5 points. Ronin Moore (Sherwood School, Highland Park, Illinois) took clear 2nd place with 3.5 points. Ranadheer Tripuraneni (May Whitney School, Lake Zurich, Illinois), Megan Wei, Michael Wu (both Laura Sprague School, Lincolnshire, Illinois) and Kevin Wang (Oak View Elementary School, Fort Wayne, Indiana) took 3rd through 6th places with 3 points. Sean Li (May Whitney School, Lake Zurich, Illinois) won the 1st place under-900 prize.
Laura Sprague School in Lincolnshire, Illinois won the 1st place K-3 Varsity team trophy. May Whitney School in Lake Zurich, Illinois took 2nd place.
In the K-3 Junior Varsity section, 4 players tied for the best score with 4 points. Jesse Prilutsky took 1st place with the best tiebreaks. Erik Csima who came all the way from Lone Tree, Colorado took 2nd place, Edward Esgar (Sherwood School, Highland Park, Illinois) took 3rd place, and Vishay Ram (Fry Elementary School, Naperville, Illinois) took the 1st place under-500 prize -- all of them scored 4 points. Finn Buck (Homeschool, Cambridge, Wisconsin) took 4th place with 3.5 points, and Allan Lopez (Three Oaks School, Cary, Illinois) and Annie Xu (Half Day Elementary School, Lincolnshire, Illinois) took 5th and 6th places with 3 points. Sonny Zhou (May Whitney School, Lake Zurich, Illinois) and Annie Clement (Jane Addams School, Palatine, Illinois) won the 1st and 2nd place unrated prizes with 3 points, and Sam Zacks (South School, Glencoe, Illinois) won 3rd place unrated with 2.5 points.
Finally, Amanda Csima from Lone Tree, Colorado won the 1st place kindergarten prize with an amazing 3 points. William Zhu (Laura Sprague School, Lincolnshire, Illinois) won the 2nd place kindergarten prize with 2 points, and Colin Mizushima from Potomac, Maryland won the 3rd place kindergarten prize with 1.5 points.
Lone Tree Home School in Lone Tree, Colorado won the 1st place K-3 Junior Varsity team trophy.
Standings K-3 & K-8 Championships photos K-6 & K-12 Championships photos
Over 150 enthusiastic young chess players came to the Crowne Plaza Hotel in Northbrook the weekend of February 27-28 to play in the Greater Chicago Scholastic Chess Championships. The kids and their families came from Chicago, the suburbs and all over Illinois, neighboring Wisconsin and Indiana, and even as far as Colorado and Maryland to compete for the beautiful and gigantic trophies for the top teams and individuals. Renaissance Knights Chess Foundation and the Kasparov Chess Foundation sponsored the event, modeled after the long-running successful New York tournament with the same format. This is the first time the event has been held in the Chicago area.
In the K-12 section, the competition was so tough that 6 players tied with 4 points out of 5 games. Shivram Chandramouli (Munster High School, Munster, Indiana) took 1st place with the best tiebreaks, an impressive result since he was rated 9th out of the 30 players in the section. James Bowen (University School of Milwaukee, Milwaukee, Wisconsin), Tyler Lerner, Lukasz Zak (Lane Tech High School, Chicago), Matthew Barbian (Libertyville High School, Libertyville, Illinois) and Eric Emer (Highland Park High School, Highland Park, Illinois) took 2nd through 6th places respectively. Especially notable was Lukasz Zak, who was unrated going into the tournament. Since Zak won an overall prize, Anud Dahiya (Naperville North High School, Naperville, Illinois) took the 1st unrated prize with 3 points, and his teammate Charles Coffman (Naperville North) took 2nd place unrated with 2 points.
Alex Yerukhimov (University School of Milwaukee, Wisconsin) took the 1st under-1500 prize with 3 points. His teammates dominated the Junior Varisty top prizes: Kern Khanna, Sam Schlesinger, John Venable and Ishan Sinha (all University School of Milwaukee, Wisconsin) took 1st through 4th. Charles Helding (St. Ignatius College Prep, Chicago) took 5th place JV. Thomas Grudzinski (Lane Tech, Chicago) took 1st place under-900 JV.
The 1st place K-12 team trophy went to University School of Milwaukee. Naperville North and Lane Tech took 2nd and 3rd place.
In the K-8 Varsity section, Yue "Penny" Xu (Urbana Middle School, Urbana, Illinois) took clear 1st place with 4 wins and a draw. Arjun Nandy (University of Chicago Lab School, Chicago) took clear 2nd place with 4 points, and Rohan Mhaskar (The Prairie School, Racine, Wisconsin) took clear 3rd place with 3.5 points. David Peng (Winkelman School, Glenview, Illinois), Jack Xiao (Laura Sprague School, Lincolnshire, Illinois) and Eamonn Moore (Elm Place School, Highland Park, Illinois) took 4th through 6th places with 3 points each. Alec Feygin (Glen Grove School, Glenview, Illinois) won the 1st place under-1200 prize with 3 points.
St. Gilberts School in Grays Lake, Illinois took the 1st place K-8 Varisty team trophy.
In the K-8 Junior Varsity section, John Lennon (Keystone Montessori School, River Forest, Illinois) took clear 1st place with 4 wins and a draw. Alfredo Rodriguez (Logandale Middle School, Chicago) took clear 2nd place with 4 points, and Andy Xu (Daniel Wright Junior High School, Lincolnshire, Illinois) took clear 3rd place with 3.5 points. Brian Davis and Sylvester Highley, Jr. (James Hart Junior High School, Homewood, Illinois) took 4th and 5th places with 3 points, and Billy Hoseman took 6th place with 2 points. Frederic Fosco (GIFT Homeschool Group, Elgin, Illinois) won the 1st place under-700 prize with 3 points. Durman Jackson (James Hart Junior High School, Homewood, Illinois) won the 1st place unrated prize with 3 points, Quentin Kakuda (Lake Zurich Middle School South, Lake Zurich, Illinois) took 2nd place unrated, and Joshua Chan (Thomas Jefferson School, Hoffman Estates, Illinois) took 3rd place unrated.
James Hart Junior High School in Homewood, Illinois won the 1st place K-8 Junior Varsity team trophy, and Logandale Middle School in Chicago took 2nd place.
In the K-6 Varsity section, Allen Guo (Daniel Wright Junior High School, Lincolnshire, Illinois) took clear 1st place with a perfect score of 5 points. Ryan Toepfer (Decatur Classical School, Chicago) and Daniel Bronfeyn (Aspen Elementary School, Vernon Hills, Illinois) took 2nd and 3rd places with 4 points. Miranda Liu (Lake Bluff Elementary School, Lake Bluff, Illinois) took 4th place with 3.5 points. Derek Mizushima (Potomac Elementary School, Potomac, Maryland) and Josh Power (Bernard Zell School, Chicago) took 5th and 6th places with 3 points. Asher Borstein (Bernard Zell School, Chicago) won the 1st place under-1000 prize with 3 points.
In a very close competition between two Chicago schools, Decatur Classical School took the 1st place K-6 Varsity team trophy by a half point over Bernard Zell School, who took 2nd place.
The K-6 Junior Varsity was by far the largest section of the whole tournament, with 46 kids competing. Brody Frapolly (Wildwood School, Chicago) and Coleman McJessy (Alexander Graham Bell Elementary School, Chicago) both earned perfect scores of 5 points, with Brody Frapolly taking 1st place on tiebreaks and Coleman McJessy 2nd place. Erik Csima (Lone Tree Home School, Lone Tree, Colorado), Finn Buck (Homeschool, Cambridge, Wisconsin), Dylan Cotter (Crow Island School, Winnetka, Illinois) and Jacob Fox (Dewey Elementary School, Evanston, Illinois) took 3rd through 6th places with 4 points. Georgia Wolf (Thorp Scholastic Academy, Chicago) won the 1st place under-900 prize with 3.5 points. Nikita Smyrno (Ivy Hall School, Buffalo Grove, Illinois) won the 1st place unrated prize with 3.5 points, and Alex Ortiz (Galileo Math & Science Academy, Chicago) and David SIlva (Canty Elementary School, Chicago) took 2nd and 3rd place unrated with 3 points.
Dewey Elementary School in Evanston, Illinois won the 1st place K-6 Junior Varsity team trophy. Bernard Zell School in Chicago took 2nd place and Thorp Scholastic Academy in Chicago took 3rd place.
In the K-3 Varsity section, Derek Mizushima who came all the way from Potomac, Maryland took clear 1st place with a perfect score of 5 points. Ronin Moore (Sherwood School, Highland Park, Illinois) took clear 2nd place with 3.5 points. Ranadheer Tripuraneni (May Whitney School, Lake Zurich, Illinois), Megan Wei, Michael Wu (both Laura Sprague School, Lincolnshire, Illinois) and Kevin Wang (Oak View Elementary School, Fort Wayne, Indiana) took 3rd through 6th places with 3 points. Sean Li (May Whitney School, Lake Zurich, Illinois) won the 1st place under-900 prize.
Laura Sprague School in Lincolnshire, Illinois won the 1st place K-3 Varsity team trophy. May Whitney School in Lake Zurich, Illinois took 2nd place.
In the K-3 Junior Varsity section, 4 players tied for the best score with 4 points. Jesse Prilutsky took 1st place with the best tiebreaks. Erik Csima who came all the way from Lone Tree, Colorado took 2nd place, Edward Esgar (Sherwood School, Highland Park, Illinois) took 3rd place, and Vishay Ram (Fry Elementary School, Naperville, Illinois) took the 1st place under-500 prize -- all of them scored 4 points. Finn Buck (Homeschool, Cambridge, Wisconsin) took 4th place with 3.5 points, and Allan Lopez (Three Oaks School, Cary, Illinois) and Annie Xu (Half Day Elementary School, Lincolnshire, Illinois) took 5th and 6th places with 3 points. Sonny Zhou (May Whitney School, Lake Zurich, Illinois) and Annie Clement (Jane Addams School, Palatine, Illinois) won the 1st and 2nd place unrated prizes with 3 points, and Sam Zacks (South School, Glencoe, Illinois) won 3rd place unrated with 2.5 points.
Finally, Amanda Csima from Lone Tree, Colorado won the 1st place kindergarten prize with an amazing 3 points. William Zhu (Laura Sprague School, Lincolnshire, Illinois) won the 2nd place kindergarten prize with 2 points, and Colin Mizushima from Potomac, Maryland won the 3rd place kindergarten prize with 1.5 points.
Lone Tree Home School in Lone Tree, Colorado won the 1st place K-3 Junior Varsity team trophy.
Standings K-3 & K-8 Championships photos K-6 & K-12 Championships photos
