Chicago Chess Center: A taste of what's to come

The Chicago Chess Center is proud to announce its first preview event! Thanks to our friends at the Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México's Chicago campus, we're able to offer our Founders' Court members a sample of the kind of events we plan to hold.

On Saturday and Sunday, May 11 and 12, we're holding the Chicago Chess Center UNAM Invitational, an exclusive event open to masters, junior experts and Founders' Court members. This USCF-rated, two-day, four-round Swiss will have a time control of G/75 plus 30-second increment, with rounds beginning at 10 AM and 2:30 PM each day. Entry is $25, $15 for CCC members, and we're giving out a guaranteed $600 in prizes (five place prizes of $250, $150, $100, $60 and $40). Sets and duplicate scoresheets will be provided; someday we'll be able to provide clocks as well, but for now we ask you to bring your own.

UNAM Chicago is at 350 W. Erie St. in River North (map). Off-street parking will be available for $5 per day in the lot on the northeast corner of Erie and Orleans streets. UNAM Chicago is also an easy five-minute walk from the CTA's Chicago/Franklin Brown Line 'L' station.

If you're not a master or junior expert and would like to participate, it's not too late to join our Founders' Court! Any interested player may donate at the Founders' Court level ($250 or more) right up to the day of the event. Remember, we still need your help to open our doors and begin offering events to the Chicagoland chess-playing public in our own space. Please give generously and become a founding member of this new civic, educational and recreational institution.

P.S. As a bonus, we plan to hold a thank-you reception for our Founders' Court members around the time of the tournament; details coming soon. And for everyone else, be on the lookout for another Chicago Chess Center preview tournament -- open to all -- this June!

Kasparov to appear at All-Girls Nationals

Story at Chess Life Online.  Kasparov's last Chicago appearance was at the same event in 2006.

Supernationals 2013

Once every four years, all of USCF's scholastic national individual & team championships (high school, junior high, elementary) are held simultaneously in Nashville: this was the weekend for "Supernationals."

Results are in, says Chess Life Online.  And Illinois students did more than OK.

Congratulations to two National Champions from Illinois!!

Aydin Turgut of Decatur took the K-3 Championship with a perfect 7-0.

David Peng won the K-6 Championship with an undefeated 6½-½ score.

I was renewing library books at Harold Washington yesterday when I ran into Phillip Turner, father of Whitney Young's Philip Parker-Turner, who was kind enough to send the below picture of the Whitney Young team (here collecting hardware at the MVP tournament).  Whitney Young did more than OK, finishing in a tie for 5th-7th with 18 points, only 2½ points behind the winners.  Sam Schmakel tied for 2nd in the individual championship (7th on tiebreaks) with a 6-1 score, losing only to tournament winner Atulya Shetti of Michigan.