Happy Summer, chess offers!

[Secretary]

Coaches,

Summer vacation is right around the corner, and the ICCA wanted to send you a quick send-off for the season.  It's been a great year for chess in Illinois, and we're very excited for next Fall.

The ICCA Officers met on Saturday, May 5th, and we talked about a great detail.  The Agenda and Minutes are posted on the Documents page of the website.

In the meantime, we wanted to share several opportunities, all are listed below.  As usual, check the website for updates, and of course, look into the ICCA Coaches Clinic in September!

Erik Czerwin

ICCA Secretary

Equipment Discounts for coaches:

• Mikhail Korenman, mkor...@yahoo.com
  
• I have some chess clocks and sets that I can offer for a discount price to the schools: Those clocks are $49.95 at USCF sale. Plus shipment, tax, etc. We sale them for $50 and I can offer to IL high schools for $45 (no taxes, shipments, etc). The chess sets with triple B/W peaces I can offer for $15 (we sale sets with single waited peaces for that price. I can do triple waited for the same price. No taxes, shipment, etc). Small bags are $5 each.
• I know some schools will be looking to get new equipment in a Fall. If any interest, I will be happy to help. I can deliver the equipment to most schools in Chicago area and will need to ship it to schools that are further than Aurora. Check payments are OK. As well as PayPal.

Chess Software deals, and more...

• Summer is a great time to hunker down and advance one's chess to the next level. Bill Feldman of the DeKalb and Fox Valley Chess Clubs has come up with several deals so that all coaches and players have opportunities for advancement prior to the onset of the next school year:
• 1) Chessbase 14 is a phenomenal program which has an amazing array of features for coaches and players alike -- with licensing fees approaching $199. With sufficient demand, we will be able to receive permanent licenses for $50 a piece -- a 75% discount. Bill is glad to explain the many benefits of the program. Although many players will want their own copy, there is NO DOUBT that each team should have at least one license.
• 2) Internet Chess Club (ICC) features well over 3,000 videos offering over a thousand hours of training materials -- ample material to raise one's game from 8th-board or alternate level to 1st- or 2nd-board territory. Best of all, with sufficient demand, the licenses can be as low as $8 a piece for the whole year. Yes, I know many of you enjoy Chess.com -- but they just aren't willing to be as flexible in their premium pricing (although I keep working on them!).
• 3) Remember with the 2019 US Chess National High School Championships coming next year to Schaumburg in March, the 2019 National US Amateur Team (North) a week after 2019 IHSA event and the 2018 Illinois All-Grade (K-12) coming to Naperville in November, participants will need US Chess memberships.  Those can cost $22 for freshmen, and generally $26 for sophomores on up.  Bill has a deal for $11 per membership -- and with sufficient demand, this could go down to $9 a person.  Sign up now and your membership is good for all three of those events -- as well as a full-year of eligibility against all-age competition in any of hundreds of US Chess competitions.
• Contact bi...@dekalbchess.com if you are interested in either CB14, ICC or US Chess memberships. (All three?  Happy to help level the playing field for all IHSA players and teams)
• PS: Aurora, Naperville, Plainfield -- or other high schoolers are welcome to play competitive matches Tuesday nights at 7:15pm with the Fox Valley Chess Club which meets at the Aurora Turners Club -- TOTALLY FREE FOR THE SUMMER -- contact in...@aurorachess.com

Illinois HS Chess News...

Thank you to Bill Feldman for contributing this news!

Illinois Scores Big at K-12 Nationals...

• Illinois wins team or individual championship in four of the six sections at 2018 US Chess K-12 Nationals completed April 29 in Columbus, OH.
• David Peng of New Trier, National Champion, George Li of IMSA, Tied for 2nd, Akhil Kalghatgi of Whitney Young, Tied for 6th.
• Overall trophies to: Decatur-area 8th-grader Aydin Turgut, and Whitney Young teammates Nikhil Kalghatgi & Matthew Stevens (all tied for 13th place).
• Class trophies to: Abe Sun and Sawyer Harris (New Trier), Eli Elder (Highland Park), Alex Federici & Spencer Chubb (IMSA) and Isabella Buitrago (Evanston Township)
• K-12 Championship Team: Whitney Young, Co-National Champions! IMSA 10th, Highland Park 14th, New Trier 16th.
• K-12 Under 1900: No Illinois awards.
• K-12 Under 1600 Team: Whitney Young -- 9th, Highland Park -- 14th
• K-12 Under 1600: Joseph Harrington (Highland Park) and Alex Parkel (Whitney Young) -- Tied for 2nd, All tying for 7th place: Junliang Liu of British International School (Chicago), Jacob Davis (Normal Parkside), Clayton Davis (Normal Community West), and Alexander Fogel (Evanston)
• K-12 Under 1200 Team: Argo High School of Summit -- 1st Place, Benet Academy of Lisle, 7th Place, Normal Community West 16th, Evanston Township 25th
• K-12 Under 1200: Carl Widmann (Benet), and Argo's Christian Diaz, Justin Turziak, and Moises Cornejo all tied for 4th place; Henry Lovellette of Normal Community West tied for 17th place.
• K-12 Under 800 Team: Thornton High School, Harvey: Tied for 3rd Place, 4th Place Trophy, De La Salle 14th, Gallistel Language Academy of Chicago 15th place
• K-12 Under 800: Zabdiel Green (De La Salle) -- 1st Place (perfect score); Ignatius Rainey (Thornton) -- Tied for 3rd Place, Adrian Gonzalez (Thornton) Tied for 13th, Chris Williams (De La Salle) and Shane Stevens (School unknown) Tied for 21st, 
• K-12 Unrated Team: Benet Academy -- 1st Place, Thornton -- 2nd Place 
• K-12 Unrated: Dominic Salvino (Benet) -- 1st Place; Roan Pluta (New Trier) and Conor Richards (Benet) -- Tied for 2nd Place; Antonio Butler (Thornton) -- Tied for 5th Place; Airion Edmondson and Gustavo Lopas (Thorton), James Marshall IV (Benet), Nicholas Mirabile (Oak Park River Forest)  -- Tied for 7th
• Blitz Championship: 2018 K-9 National Blitz Champion Aydin Turgut, 8th Grader, Tied for 3rd; Nikhil and Akhil Kalghatgi, and Matthew Stevens (all three of Whitney Young), Tied for 5th
• Team Blitz: Whitney Young -- 2nd Place, Highland Park -- Tied for 5th Place, New Trier 9th, Naperville North, Tied for 10th, Argo 15th.
• Around 170 players -- over 11% of the 1500 entrants -- were from Illinois -- next year's K-12 Nationals will be in Schaumburg, IL in March!

Illinois Players score big...

• New Trier's David Peng wins the Illinois Youth Invitational completed May 6 in Schaumburg, earning the Winnetka sophomore the right to represent Illinois in the national Denker competition to be held this summer in Wisconsin.
  
• The three-day event was sponsored by the Illinois Chess Association, the state affiliate of US Chess.
  
• Naperville North's Marissa Li earned the right to represent Illinois in the Girls competition while runner-up Shreya Mangalam of Barrington will get to represent Illinois in the prestigious Susan Polgar competition held at Webster University in St. Louis this summer.
  
• Dimitar Mardov will represent Illinois in the Barber competition for players K-8 winning a blitz playoff to break a five-way tie.
  
• Last year, Illinois' combined score (Denker, Barber, Girls) was the top mark in the nation thanks to Marissa, George Li (IMSA) and Aydin Turgut (of the Decatur area).
  
• In the Illinois qualifying event, 12 players faced off in the Denker high school section, 12 in the Barber, with eight girls competing in that section.  Minimum ratings were 1860, 1600 and 1700 respectively with several qualifiers declining to compete due to scheduling conflicts.