Kauffman and Adams Prevail at It's A Wonderful Life Classic

A four-way tie for first place in the Open Section hardly captures the full picture of the It's A Wonderful Life Classic. The four-round, dual-rated event was held May 18 in DeKalb, attracting 27 competitors.

Warren Junior Scholars Max Zinski and Vincent Do along with Bloomington-Normal area's Scott Schmidt all earned two victories while drawing each other. Naperville North High School Coach Jeff Di Orio lost to Vincent in the second round, but won his three other rounds to grab a spot in this 3.0/4 score group.

Freeport Chess Club's Zachary Kauffman won the Reserve Section with a 3.0/4 result, drawing two and winning two. Zach has raised his USCF rating 400 points over the past year to an impressive 1389.

Aurora Naperville Chess Club's Mike Flynn grabbed second in the section with a 2.5/4 tally. Suraj Ramanathan claimed the Under 1400 prize in that section, also with 2.5.

Local legend Cliff Adams claimed the top spot of the Booster section with a 3.5/4 score. Danny Emge, Gene McPhail and John Werkheiser all split second place prize money with 2.5/4 points. Crosstables
 
The "It's A Wonderful Life Classic" honored what would have been the 116th birthday of film director Frank Capra. The Sicilian-born Capra left Italy before his sixth birthday and earned an engineering degree before making quite a name for himself in the motion picture industry.

The club will next host the Third George Orwell Memorial on June 22nd. For the first time, the Orwell will be an Illinois Chess Tour event. It will feature four rounds of regular-rated chess.

It's A Wonderful Life -- and a Wonderful Spring Day for Chess

The Sicilian Defense is not the only export from the largest island on the Mediterranean Sea.  American film director Frank Capra was also born there near the turn of the 20th Century... before coming over to the United States at age 6.

Settling in the southern California area with his family, Frank went on to earn an engineering degree before entering the film industry shortly before talking pictures appeared. It's A Wonderful Life is just one of the American classic films he created. In honor of Capra's birthday, DeKalb Chess Club (as if we needed an excuse) is hosting yet another chess event.

Registrations are flowing in like ZuZu's petals to Saturday's four-round tournament to be held in DeKalb.

At last count I've received around 20 RSVP's... which projects to a field of 28-30, comparable with the size of the other tournaments held in DeKalb this year. This portends a high likelihood that three sections will be created with plenty of "Under" prizes to make sure all participants have a shot at winning something.

No doubt some entrants will be gearing up for the Chicago Open which starts next week.

Early registration discounts are available through this evening... but on-site registration closes precisely at 9am (unless a first round bye is requested). All play should conclude by 6pm for those who have evening plans.

Bring your A-game... even if you're a Class B through E player!