2025 KCF All-Girls National Chess Championship

 

The Illinois Chess Association is proud to congratulate David Heiser from Renaissance Knights for organizing the 20th Annual All-Girls National Chess Championship. The event took place from April 4–6, 2025, at McCormick Place in Chicago. We extend our gratitude to the Renaissance Knights Chess Foundation, the Kasparov Chess Foundation, and the United States Chess Federation for bringing this tournament to Chicago.

 

 

The championship was open to girls under 18 years old as of January 1, 2025. Participants competed in the following sections: Under 8, Under 10, Under 12, Under 14, Under 16, and Under 18. The champion in each age group earned the honor of representing the USA at the World Cadet (U8, U10, U12) and World Youth (U14, U16, U18) Championships, in accordance with US Chess Scholastic National and International Invitation Events and Awards.

 

Over 500 players participated in this national event. All games were played with a time control of 90 minutes and a 5-second delay.

Under 18 Championship

 

We had a very exciting final round with two players entering with 4.5 points out of 5: Iris Mou and Megan Althea Apragua. Close behind them were six players with 4 points: Sophie Li, Aradh Kaur, Stella Xin, Tori Porat, Irene Fei, and Hema Vikas.

 

In the last round, Iris defeated Irene Fei, and Megan defeated Tori, resulting in both players finishing with 5.5 points out of 6. Megan was awarded first place on tiebreaks.

 

Photo of Megan courtesy of Eric Ortega

 

Here are the players who finished with at least 4 points out of 6, listed in tiebreak order. The top 8 players received awards.

 

Under 16 Championship

 

The Under 16 section also came down to an exciting final round. Jasmin Su and Chloe Gaw both entered the last round with a perfect 5 out of 5. Jasmin defeated Chloe to become the Under 16 Champion.

 

Additionally, Eight players entered the final round with 4 points: Evelyn Oiao, Gaofei Wang, Marina Xiao, Emel Bayrambeyli, Aarna Nitton Warekar, Lisa Sun, Patricia Ian, and Fiona Tushman.

 

 

Here are the players who finished with at least 4 points out of 6, listed in tiebreak order. The top 8 players received awards.

 

Under 14 Championship

This section had four players entering the final round with 4.5 points: Audry Zhou, Nethra Vinayagaram, Leah Yang, and Audry Keyan Li. Audry Zhou defeated Audry Keyan Li to become the outright champion with 5.5 points.

 

Nethra drew with Leah, and Anjyu Fujita and Asha Silva both won their final games to create a four-way tie for second with 5 points.

 

 

Here are the players who finished with at least 4.5 points out of 6, listed in tiebreak order. The top 16 players received awards.

 

Under 12 Championship

 

Two players entered the final round with perfect scores: Emma Yang and Aadya Kakarla. Emma defeated Aadya to become the Under 12 Champion.

 

Vaisali Garnepudi and Christine Nguyen both had 4.5 points entering the final round. Vaisali defeated Christine to take clear second place.

 

 

Here are the players who finished with at least 4.5 points out of 6, listed in tiebreak order. The top 16 players received awards.

Under 10 Championship

 

In another thrilling finale, Melanie Liang and Celine Chen entered the last round with perfect scores. Melanie defeated Celine to become the Under 10 Champion.

 

Wan Oin Li, Allyson Yu, and Elizabeth Zhou had 4.5 points each before the final round. Celine drew with Wan to finish with 5 points, resulting in an eight-way tie for second place with Alexandra Liu, Kayra Ananya Ganesh, Olivia Xu, Diya Balamurugan, and Dana H. Wang.

 

 

Here are the players who finished with at least 4.5 points out of 6, listed in tiebreak order. The top 16 players received awards.

 

Under 8 Championship

 

In the Under 8 section, Emma Ge entered the last round as the only undefeated player with 5 points. Three players — Emily Jiaying Tang, Irene Lin, and Hanwen Lu — had 4.5 points.

 

Emily defeated Emma to win the championship, while Irene defeated Hanwen and tied with Emily at 5.5 points. Emily was awarded first place on tiebreaks.

 

 

Here are the players who finished with at least 4.5 points out of 6, listed in tiebreak order. The top 16 players received awards.

 

Illinois Representation

 

The Illinois Chess Association congratulates the following Illinois players who received awards:

 

 

Picture of Stella 4th place Under 18 Courtesy WJS Director Edwin Walker

 

 

Picture of Elizabeth 7th place Under 16 Courtesy WJS Director Edwin Walker

 

 

Picture of Victoria 9th place Under 14 Courtesy of her family

 

Picture of Emily 1st place Under 8 Courtesy of her family

 

Linked here is a complete cross-table for the event, including all individual and team awards, courtesy of Renaissance Knights, and linked here is the US rating report. Following these links, you can view the full results across any sections instead of the abbreviated standings above. Once again, we are happy to congratulate everybody who participated and gave it their best in this tournament and to congratulate David Heiser along with Renaissance Knights for running the tournament so smoothly.