84 preregistrants for Illinois Open

Are you coming to the DoubleTree in Oak Brook this weekend? The State Championship begins at noon Saturday (three-day section) or, if you're too busy to spend three days playing chess, 11 a.m on Sunday (two-day section). If you haven't preregistered, I'd suggest that you arrive a full hour before the game starts.

Mail registration is closed, of course, both online preregistration is still open until 6 p.m. tomorrow: why not do it now? You can sleep in a bit later on the day of the tournament and save money!

As always, there's a reserve section if you don't feel up to facing the big guns, although Michael Penway, who picked up 96 ELO in August by winning the Under 1800 section of the Chicago Class, is a big gun in his own right (thanks for the eggroll)!

The 3-day Open section is FIDE-rated, and clocks, sets, and boards are provided by Sevan Muradian of the North American Chess Association. The bookseller, Checkmate Chess, has a new owner, our own Mikhail Korenman. Checkmate Chess and ICA are providing a $20 gift certificate to all who finish the event with a plus score!

Here are the GMs, IMs, and NMs in each section so far:

THREE-DAY Sat/Sun/Mon

Mesgen Amanov 2592
Dmitry Gurevich 2555
Aleksandar Stamnov 2283
Albert C Chow 2217
Tenzing W Shaw 2210
Sam A Schmakel 2202

TWO-DAY Sun/Mon

Nikola Mitkov 2603
Angelo Young 2395
Eric S Rosen 2359
Aung Thant Zin 2260
Ken Wallach 2222

Don't forget your other playing options: the Game/25 event this Saturday evening (open to all), and the five-round scholastic event on Saturday afternoon. Register here!

The prize structure is interesting: there are generous Under 2400, Under 2200, Under 2100 (!), and Under 2000 prizes; in the Booster, there are Under 1600, Under 1500 (!), Under 1400, and Under 1200 prizes.

You'll find detailed information for all three events on the Chess for Life site and on the ICA Tournament Calendar.

See you this weekend!