De La Salle Results: YCFC Expands to Five Sections!

With YCFC expanding to five sections from three, a lot more players were in contention for trophies. The competition was held December 13 at De La Salle Institute with 280 competing.

Bateman took three of the five team championships including Novice 3-4, Novice 5-6 and the Advanced Sections. Decatur won K-2 Novice and Cook claimed 7-8 Novice.

With Decatur teammate Aria Hoesley off in Orlando at USCF K-12 Nationals, Joey Buklis earned the Advanced Championship with a perfect 5.0 score. Tying for second place with 4.0 scores was Ignace Bielobradek of Komarek (North Riverside) and Bateman teammates Umair Ahmed and Jimmy Nguyen.

Bateman outpointed Edgebrook 10.5-9.0 among 18 teams with players in the Advanced.  Carrey Nguyen's 2.5 and Leonard Rionaula's 2.0 solidified the Bateman total. 37 players were entered in the Advanced.

In the Novice K-2, Decatur teammates Jenna Cinco and Andrew Nguyen claimed the top two spots with Jenna posting a perfect 5.0 score and Andrew a half-point back at 4.5.

Teammates Journey Jackson, John Seward and Ethan Ding all posting 4.0's to tie for third place, with Edgebrook's William Wang also sneaking in there with 4.0 to claim the third place trophy on tiebreaks. 

Decatur finished with 17.5, six points ahead of second place Skinner North in the youngest section.

With a perfect 5.0, Bateman's Zubair Ahmed was the outright champion of Novice 3-4, with Jaiden Lulla of Skinner North a half-point back for second. A 10-way tie for third saw Megan Wong with the top tiebreak to claim the third place hardware.

Bateman literally "one-upped" Skinner North in the 3-4 grouping, 16.0-15.0.  In addition to Ahmed's 5.0, Matel Contefea contributed a 4.0 and three players, Andrew Tebbe, Chris Salas and Luke Roasado each posted 3.0's for Bateman. 76 players competed in the 3-4.

Esteban Taboada blitzed Bateman teammate Layla Rodriguez in a one-game playoff to claim top honors in the Novice 5-6 after both Esteban and Layla posted perfect 5.0 scores. St. Joseph's Dylan Davis earned third place with a 4.5 result, ahead of a pack of nine players with 4.0's.

78 competed in the 5-6, with Bateman outpointing Bell and 18 other teams in the section. In addition to Esteban and Layla's contributions, Jeremy Encisco posted a 4.0 and Frankie Salas added 2.0 to give Bateman 16 points and the championship.

St Joseph's Javier Castillo compiled a 4.5 score to win the Novice 7-8 section. Beasley's D'Varsiya Rush, Burbank's Destini Palmas and Cook's Archie Grant all had 4.0's, tying for second place.

Gallistel's Daniel Bolano and Roman Perez along with Farnsworth's Max Ryan all had 3.5's tying for 5th place.

Davion Thrower and Curtis Thomas contributed 3.0's to the Cook team total. Alfort Gordon and Steven Collins contributed 2.0's. Cook had 12.0 points, 2.5 points ahead of Waters in a 12-team field.

December 13th Tournament at De La Salle

Location: 3434 S. Michigan (100 East), NW corner of Michigan and 35th St.

Parking:  we have access to the IIT (Illinois Institute of Technology)  parking lot adjacent to the west side of the school on the north  side of 35th Street.  If you are proceeding east on 35th street  from the Dan Ryan expressway, you will see the lot entrance on  your left just before the school and Michigan Ave.

Schedule:

•     Registration   8:30 - 9:30
•     Tournament  10:00 - 3:15
•     Trophy Presentation  3:30 (est.)

All players must check-in at the tournament site by 9:30!  Late arrivals will not be paired in the first round.

5 Sections:  Novice K-2, Novice 3-4, Novice 5-6, Novice 7-8,  Advanced

•     Non-rated, no entry fee
•     Swiss-style, 5 rounds, USCF standard tiebreaks
•     Game/20 + 5 sec. increment in Advanced section when clocks are available  
•     Notation required in the Advanced section

Awards:  Individual trophies to the top 7 in all novice sections, and to the top 6 in the advanced section.  Team trophies to the top two teams in all sections.  Team score calculated by top four scores in novice sections, top three scores in advanced.

Entries:  YCFC uses a roster system for tournament entries.  All players on submitted rosters are eligible to play in any YCFC tournament during the scholastic year.  Submit rosters, including name, grade, school and section, no later than Thursday, December 11th:

by email to accounting@apartmentpeople.com, or

by fax to 773-248-1007, attn: Mike Cardinale,

All players must check in on site by 9:30.

Coaches:  Please let me know if you plan on attending with a rough estimate of the number of players by Thursday, December 11th.

Thanks once again to coach George Dzuricsko of De La Salle and his Meteors chess team for all of their hard work, and to Kelli Moore of St. Columbanus for her outstanding food sales!

Moving Up!

The following players will move up to the advanced section on December 13th according to YCFC rules:

•      Amani Mugadili, St. Ethelreda, Novice 5-8, champion
•      Max Ryan, Farnsworth, Novice 5-8, 2 trophies

Important Note:  The players above are required to move to advanced, but any and all novice players are welcome and encouraged to move to our advanced section at any time!

Stronger competition usually leads to sustained growth.