Jason Shi wins Rated Beginners' Open #6

Thirty-two players played in the Chicago Chess Center's Rated Beginners' Open #6 at UIC's Student Center East. Jason Shi (1169) took clear first with a perfect 5-0 and is no longer a beginner: his post-event rating is 1242! Four players tied for second with 4-1 Andres Mauricio Celis, Ronald Gil Areeola,  Noah Tilton, and Dansen Wang. Celis's provisional post-event rating is 1269 based on 8 games.

Out of the winners' circle, but with very respectable 3½-1½ scores, were Edgar Bering IV and Dustin Stump. Jason Barrette was among the 3-2 finishes, but was playing on top boards throughout the event, and finished with a post-event rating of 1195.

Here is the full tournament crosstable. For those of you who are new to US Chess's Member Services Area (MSA for short), be sure to click on your name in the crosstables. As you play in more tournaments, you'll be able to track your progress. For example, it took Fabiano Caruana a few dozen tournaments to break 1000!

All the participants received a chess book of their choice, with extra books to the top finishers and a chess clock for first place.

Bill Brock directed for Chicago Chess Center. Special thanks to Bill Smythe & Maret Thorpe (yet again) for their help throughout the day!

 

Robert Perez wins Plus-Score #11, Aguinaldo, Brewley & Mueller win Under 1700

The 26-player Open Section of Saturday's  Plus-Score #11 featured a showdown between the top two non-Grandmasters in Illinois. Robert Perez (2485) beat Sam Schmakel (2471) in the last round to score a perfect 4-0 and earn $240. While peformance ratings for a short event should be taken too seriously, Robert's was something like 2622!

Schmakel scored 3-1 to tie for second with NMs Jonathan Hrach & Steve Szpisjak, as well as Experts Adam Chambers & Zheyuan Fan: each won $60. Experts Aakaash Meduri and David Franklin and Class A players Tom Bareket & Jim Abbott all won $40 each for their 2½-1½ score.

In the 17-player Under 1700 Section, Terrence Aguinaldo (1680), Malik Brewley (1583), and Steven Mueller (1509) tied for first with 3½ points, winning $80 each. Jim Webb won $40 for his 3-0 score, and Caelan Burke-Kaiser, Nimrod Bareket (1219!), & Nick Gutierrez (provisional 619!!) won $20 each.

Here is the full crosstable.

Sometimes chess parents win money, too! (Photo credit: Tom Bareket)

Daniel Parmet directed seamlessly for Chicago Chess Center.

July 8...up to 55 players

One entry came in while I was typing and does not appear below. Registration will still be open for a couple hours tonight.: still time to join us at a bargain price!

Enter the Plus-Score here.

Enter the Rated Beginners' Open here.

We have at least two Senior Masters: Robert Perez  (2485) and Sam Schmakel (2471). And in the Rated Beginners' Open, Associate NTD Maret Thorpe (1006) is playing for a change of pace!

Reminder: if you are driving, we sell parking validations for the Halsted & Taylor parking structure (entrance at 760 W. Taylor) for $7. You can buy them online or onsite.