ICA Tour
2025 Bradley Summer Open – Eighth ICA Tour event 2025
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- Written by Jacob Plotnick - Editor in Chief Jacob Plotnick - Editor in Chief
The Illinois Chess Association is happy to congratulate Patick Cohen from Greater Peoria Chess Foundation for running our eighth ICA tour event for 2025. The event was held on August 8, 2025. This tournament was held in Peoria, Illinois.
The tournament had one section with 12 participants. The tournament consisted of four rounds of game 80 with a 5 second delay.
Courtesy of Greater Peoria Chess Foundation
Open
We had a very exciting last round with David Long and Manoj Rudraboina tied with 2.5 points. Manoj requested a half point bye to finish with 3 points. There were 4 players with two points. They were Kamran Jaffer, Donald Dean Egan, Jad Arab and Andres Luca Maldonado. In the final pairings David defeated Andres to become the outright winner with 3.5 points. Kamran defeated Jad Ara, Donald defeated Matthew Hollaway who went into the last round with 1.5 points.
Here are the final standings
Linked here is the US rating report. Following these links, you can view the full results instead of the abbreviated standings above. Linked here are the 2025 Illinois Chess Tour Prizes. Here is a list of all 2025 Illinois Chess Association Tour Schedule. Once again, we are happy to congratulate everybody who participated and gave it their best in this tournament and to congratulate Patrick Cohen for running the tournament so smoothly.
Springfield Chess Club hosts our sixth ICA Tour Event
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- Written by Jacob Plotnick - Editor in Chief Jacob Plotnick - Editor in Chief
Springfield Chess Club hosts our sixth ICA Tour Event
On June 28, 2025, Springfield Chess Club hosted the Springfield Mid-Year Open, sixth in our ICA tour series. The Springfield Chess Club has a long history dating back to an early printed reference found in the Sangamo Journal in 1835, just 14 years after Springfield was founded and four years before it became the state capital. The current chess club formed in 1929 will be celebrating their centennial anniversary in just four short years.
The Illinois Chess Association would like to congratulate David Long on running the event that had 27 players playing a four round event of Game 60 with a five second delay.
Going into the last round there were two players with a perfect 3 points and two players with 2.5 points. The two players going into the last round were Anish Suddala and Evan Michael Gresen. The two players with 2.5 points were Simeon Ommen and Jeffery Smith. Anish defeated Evan to get outrigt first and Simeon defeated Jeffery to take second place.
Here are the final standings
A complete list of the event can be found by clicking here to bring up the results from the US Chess Website. Linked here are the 2025 Illinois Chess Tour Prizes. Here is a list of all 2025 Illinois Chess Association Tour Schedule. Once again, we are happy to congratulate everybody who participated and gave it their best in this tournament and to congratulate David Long on running the tournament so smoothly.
ICA Illinois Tour Contacts
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- Written by Emily Dawson Emily Dawson
2024 & 2025 Tour Commissioner
Emily Dawson
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ICA Illinois Tour Prizes 2026
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- Written by Danial Wilson Danial Wilson
Prizes
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Open: Awarded to players with the most Tour points accumulated in open or top-level sections, including the U2300 section at the Chicago Open.
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$500.00 1st
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$450 2nd
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$400 3rd
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$350 4th
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Reserve: Awarded to players who played in one or more reserve or class sections.
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$300 1st
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$250 2nd
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$200 3rd
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$100 4th
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Players will earn participation awards based solely on the number of tournaments entered, subject to the requirement of playing a minimum of at least one-half of the scheduled rounds (byes not included).
- 8 Tour events played - Free ICA Membership for the following year ($15.00 value)
- 10 Tour events played - $25 chess merchandise gift
- 12 Tour events played - $50.00 chess merchandise gift
- 13 Tour events played - $100.00 chess merchandise gift certificate
2025 ICA Illinois Tour Schedule Announced
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- Written by Emily Dawson Emily Dawson
The ICA Board of Directors has approved the 2024 & 2025 Illinois Tour Schedule.
If you are an ICA Affiliate and would like one of your events to be included in the 2026 tour, please email the Tour at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..
Complete 2025 Illinois Tour Schedule:
- Tim Just Winter Open January 3-5, 2025
- Bradley Winter Open, GPCF/Bradley University Feb 1, 2025
- Springfield March Checkmate Open, Springfield Chess Club, March 29, 2025
- Greater Peoria Open, GPCF, April,
- Chicago Open, Continental Chess Association, May 23-27
- Springfield Mid-Year Open, Springfield Chess Club, July
- Chicago Class, Continental Chess Association, July 19-21
- Bradley Summer Open, GPCF/Bradley University, August,
- Illinois Open, Aug-Sept
- Springfield Harvest Time, Springfield Chess Club, Nov 1
- Midwest Class, Continental Chess Association, Oct
- Illinois Class, Nov
GM Mitkov Wins 2017 Illinois Class Championship(s)
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- Written by Bill Feldman Bill Feldman
It's lonely at the top.
Grandmaster Nikola Mitkov was the lone GM entered in the 2017 Illinois Class Championship -- and he held form to win top honors at the one-day event held November 19 in the Chicago suburb of Lisle.
GM Mitkov defeated Derek Paitrick a Wisconsin Expert, in the final round to close out the tournament in the Masters / Experts section, the top of seven divisions.
Wisconsin's Alex Velikanov took second place after requesting a half-point bye in the final round, finishing with 3.5. IMSA's George Li took clear third with 3.0/4, and presumably the 2017 Illinois Chess Tour top honors with his points from the event.
ICA Tour Standings Updated: Peoria Tournament Participants Holding Leads in Open, Reserve and Scholastic Sections
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- Written by Bill Feldman Bill Feldman
2017 ICA Tour Coordinator Bill Buklis has updated the Tour standings giving downstaters Pete Kariagianis and Jason Daniels the lead in the Open Section -- both with 13.0 tallies after the Chicago Open.
Six more events remain on the Tour docket -- with the 7th Orwell Memorial coming up June 24 in DeKalb, followed by the Chicago Class in July.
In order to be eligible for prizes, participants must have ICA memberships by the half-way point -- and must maintain their memberships throughout the remainder of the season.
Grandmasters Mitkov and Liang Win '17 Midwest Class
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- Written by Bill Feldman Bill Feldman
Although neither could achieve a perfect score, Grandmasters Nikola Mitkov and Awonder Liang (of Wisconsin) posted the top 4.5 scores at the 2017 Midwest Class completed October 8 in Wheeling.
Mitkov's draw came in the fourth round against GM Priyadharshan Kannappan (Missouri) while Liang's came in the second round against long-time rival David Peng. Liang and Peng have grown up appearing on the US Top 100 lists for the same age group, frequently one-two.
IM Eric Rosen and Jacob Furfine entered the final round tied with Mitkov and Liang in the 3.5/4 score group, but lost their respective matches to the GM's.
Illinois Players Top 5 of 8 Chicago Open Sections
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- Written by Bill Feldman Bill Feldman
Daniel Jones has tied for first place in the Under 2100 section at the 26th Chicago Open concluded Memorial Day, May 29. Jones was 6.0 as was his New York co-champion. Dimitar Mardov and Arendal Markovic were a half-point back with 5.5's, tying for third place.
Hiro Higuchi was one of five players tying for first in the U1900, all with 6.0's. Cameron Heino was a half-point back, tying for sixth place.
Three Illinois players tied for second place in the U1700's, all with 6.0's: Nathan Fong, Max Heinrich and Dexter Dale, Jr. Jonathan Lee was a half-point back to tie for fifth place.