After wading my way through National Guard trainees and bridal expo attendees I made it to the basement of the Oak Brook, Illinois Doubletree where the 2010 Chicago Class was underway.  

As I was checking the standings I was greeted by several of Illinois’ top young players.  Talk soon turned to Illinois native son Eric Rosen who just finished the US Junior Championship at the Chess Club and Scholastic Center of Saint Louis.   Michael Auger, one of Rosen’s long term chess buddies had been following Rosen’s games daily like many of the others I talked to.  

Regardless of distractions the players were happy to be playing chess.  The tournament ran smoothly, as it was run for Bill Goichberg by three of Illinois’s many talented National Tournament Directors Tim Just, Jeff Wiewel and chief Wayne Clark. Some non-chess players might ask "Why are chessplayers so happy to be indoors with no windows and their heads down over a chess board?" But this weekend it was easy to understand as it was the hottest Illinois weekend of the year so far.  

GM Nikola Mitkov’s hot streak of three wins in a row cooled in round four when GM Dmitry Gurevich held Mitkov to a draw. 

 

Gurevich must have spent himself on round four as he lost his final round game to Timur Aliyev giving Aliyev second place while he settled into third.  

Mitkov finished strong with a win over Peter Gilruth (correction from earlier version, which stated, Indiana native Sean Vibbert).  This allowed Mitkov to end the tournament a half point ahead of the rest of the field with 4.5/5. See the complete crosstable and rating changes on MSA.