The Illini Schmakelers win U.S. Amateur Team North

Congratulations to The Illini Schmakelers (in board order: FM Eric Rosen, NM Sam Schmakel, Michael Auger, and Akshay Indusekar), who won the 2013 U.S. Amateur Team North title this past weekend in Schaumburg with a team score of 4½-½ and 16 game points out of a possible 20.

Taking second on tiebreaks was another local team, Touch Move Chess Center: Mating Specialists (IM Angelo Young, FM Albert Chow, Florentino Inumerable, and Robert Loncarevic), who scored 4½ match points and 14 game points.

Many heavy hitters came to this amateur event. The average team ratings must be under 2200, but one can allocate power between boards in any fashion one pleases. This year, the balanced strategy did well.

Inscrutably, the best team name was awarded to "We Always Need a 4th," which is neither amusing nor groanworthy.

Final team standings are here; look for the ratings and individual performances soon.  Update: here are the individual performances on MSA.

Advance entries for US Amateur Team - North

It's already a very nice field!

Save a few bucks and enter your team before Friday!

US Amateur Team North and Illinois Blitz Championship

Take your Valentine to Schaumburg, romantic home of the Bundys, next month! Better idea, pay the requisite obeisance to your beloved beforehand—candlelight dinner on Thursday the 14th— in order to play guilt-free for the next three days.  (Even if one is part of a "chess couple," someone has to stay home to watch the kids, no?  Or you could both be on the same team and alternate rounds....)

The U.S. Amateur Team North is February 15-17 at the Hyatt Regency Schaumburg. I played for Evanston in the 2012 event with the late Jon Burgess and the late Isaac Braswell.  Free advice: your friends won't be here forever, so find three or four friends, form a team, and spend time with them while you can.

The Illinois Blitz Championship will be on the evening of February 16th.

Hope to see you there!

"Chess X-Men Win USAT North"

Two smilers and three tough guys

Maret Thorpe reports on the ICA website.

Credit where credit is due for this great event: "The tournament was organized by Tim Just and Glenn Panner, directors were Just, Panner, Maret Thorpe and Keith Ammann. Bookseller was Checkmate Chess Supply and sets and clocks for the event were supplied by North Shore Chess Center."

US Amateur Team North - well, that was fun!

It's tax season, so this post is going to be far shorter than it deserves to be.  

171 players on 39 teams had a lot of fun this weekend!  GM Alexander Shabalov played for a team from Pittsburgh: GM Dmitry Gurevich (who won Saturday night's Illinois Blitz Championship) was a constant spectator.

GM Dmitry Gurevich 

2012 Illinois Blitz Champion

(swiped from Brad Rosen's Facebook page)

Full team results are here.  The event is already rated: MSA reports here.
Congratulations to the Chess X-Men (NM Mariano Acosta, MN Tenzing Shaw, NM Scott Allsbrook, and Dmitri Sergatskov) for keeping the USAT North title in Chicagoland!

Maret Thorpe was both an assistant TD and the sponsor of two Evanston Chess Club teams: her report is here. If you friend the South Suburban Chess Club of Greater Chicago, you can see lots of cool event photos! Thanks to TDs and organizers (who I'm not naming only because I'm afraid I'll leave a key person out!) for a very smooth and enjoyable event!

U.S. Amateur Team North results!

Andi Rosen reports at Chess Life Online.

 The uchicago.edu team finished 2nd on tiebreaks

Next year, why not "Straight outta Quadrangle"?

Here's the list of prizewinners and here are the MSA results by player.

Chess Party of the Year starts tonight / tomorrow!

You still have a few hours to put together a team for the U.S. Amateur Team North (Crowne Plaza, 2875 N. Milwaukee, Northbrook).  Seriously....there's a split first round: if you can't play tonight at 7 p.m., your team can begin play tomorrow a.m.

Enter here!

Read all about it here!

Andi Rosen tells us that there's a Wisconsin team with GM Friedel on first board and former Wisconsin champion Alex Betaneli on third board!

Trying to form a team for the US Amateur Team?

I'm not able to play myself, except possibly as an alternate on Sunday (and for that I already have a standing invitation, thanks!)

If you'd like to play and you want to form a team (four players plus one optional alternate), feel free to post a request in comments here or on the Illinois Chess Association message board.

The U.S. Amateur Team returns to Chicago!

Another cut-and-paste from my email:

U.S. AMATEUR TEAM NORTH February 18-20, 2011 or February 19-20, 2011 Crowne Plaza, 2875 N. Milwaukee, Northbrook, Il 60062 $79 Room Rate + FREE BREAKFAST BUFFET! 847-298-2525 February 19 Si de Events: Scholastic Team & Illinois Blitz Championship USAT North 2 playing schedules: 3-day or 2 day Early EF $140 per team (4 player team + 1 alternate) Individual EF (we assign team), $35 early EF G/90 inc 30 On-line entry USPS entry SETS-BOARDS-CLOCKS provided by NACA Book Dealer scheduled to be t here Team rating = average of top 4 boards Team's average rating must be U2200 Top team plays for National Championship Team awards: Top Team with average rating U1900 Top Team with average rating U1600 Top Team with average rating U1300 Best Team Name Best Junior Team (HS & younger) Best individual score on each board Side Events 2/19/11 Scholastic Team (daytime) Team rating = average of top 4 boards Team average rating must be U1600 $120 Early EFIndividual EF (we assign team) G/60 Club and mixed school teams welcome! Bring Boards-Sets-Clocks Team awards Top Team Top 3 High School Teams Top 3 Middle School Teams Top 3 Elementary School Teams Best Individual Score On Each Board BLITZ  (pm) $500 b/30 $25 Early EF Bring sets-boards-clocks More USAT Info USAT on-line entry USAT USPS entry Scholastic Team Info & Entry IL Blitz Chmp Info & Entry Team Rules Team FAQ Contact

US Amateur Team: February 18-20, Crowne Plaza, Northbrook!

More info at the ICA website!  Tim Just and Glenn Panner are organizing, so you know it'll be a quality event.