Forty-one scholastic chess players took one day of a three day weekend to try five rounds of competitive chess in a new venue. The Tigard Grange building dates back to 1925 but this is the first time in as long as anybody can remember that there were this many young families in the facility playing chess.

The results:

Rooks High
1. Grant Yu – Cedar Park
2. Cameron Kocher – Whitford
3. Colin Liu – Jacob Wismer

Rooks Strong
1. Chase Morgan – Forest Grove
2. Stephen Nguyen – Portland Lutheran
3. Samuel Nguyen – Portland Lutheran

Bishops High
1. Jinho Kim – Bethany
2. Angela Decker – Laurel Ridge
3. Sophia Kahl – Franciscan MES

Bishops Elementary
1. David Han – CF Tigard
2. Sharon Cousineau – CF Tigard
3. Zach Yuzon – CF Tigard

Sportsmanship Awards:
Avi Gupta, Derek Liu, Victoria Liu

Fantastic Notation Award:
Angela Decker

Biggest Upset on the day:
Quinlon Eisenhauer (205 point)

Tigard Presidents' Day Tournament

Rooks High Section Winners: Grant, Cameron, Colin

Rooks Strong Section Winners: Chase, Stephen, Samuel

Bishops High Section Winners: Jinho, Angela, Sophia

Bishops Elementary Section Winners: David, Sharon, Zach

Benjamin recaps this year’s event:
The third annual Chess for FA tournament was a tremendous success! This year’s tournament was attended by eighteen participants from eight different schools throughout the Portland metro area. The tournament raised over $800 for the Fanconi Anemia Research Fund. The Fund will use the money to support research to find better treatments – and a cure – for Fanconi anemia, a rare genetic disease.

The tournament was, once again, NWSRS rated. The pairing program required for rating was donated by SwissSys. Prizes were donated by Jazzy Bagels, Off the Charts Games, iCandy, and Coldstone Creamery and food & beverages were donated by Wall Street Pizza and Odwalla Juice. Corbett School District donated the use of the tournament space.The tournament received publicity from the Outlook newspaper, Chess for Success, and the Oregon Scholastic Chess Federation.

The tournament consisted of five rounds with Swiss system pairings. The tournament ended with four players all having four out of five possible points, Nathan Smith, Joshua Wentzel, Blaise Gilbride (the winner of the first Chess for FA tournament), and Dan Perry. One game in the first round, between Spencer Gilbride, Blaise’s older brother, and Austin DeWolfe, ended in a stalemate after Spencer promoted two pawns to knights. “I was having fun,” Spencer said after the game. “I wanted to have a giant army of knights.”

The Facts
Money raised: over $800
Participants: 18
Schools: 8

Thank you for participating and helping make this year’s tournament such a success!

Thanks,

Benjamin

The Portland Area League met for the final matches of their season on February 15th. The League had been scheduled for 14 rounds, but decided to cancel the last round so that they would be completed prior to the Oregon High School Team Championship. Each of the final matches in Division A would determine a teams final standings. The Crusaders of Jesuit slipped by the Trojans of Wilson by a score of 3 to 2 taking 5th and leaving Wilson at the end of the pack. The LaSalle College Prep Falcons faced off against the kids from Sylvan. LaSalle needed a win to have any chance at moving up in the standings. Sylvan needed a win to place ahead of LaSalle. LaSalle took the match early winning on the bottom three boards. Sylvan won on the top board and the last game to finish was on board #2 when Sylvan’s Leo Deng who at one time had 2 minutes remaining on his clock to LaSalle’s Charlie Summers’ had 20 minutes remaining. The post ion was very complicated with Charlie having a Queen and two Rooks against Leo’s Queen, Rook, and Knight with both players having numerous pawns. Rooks were exchanged and Leo’s clock was under a minute and Charlie’s under five. With less than 30 seconds left on each clock Charlie’s Queen left the defense of his King to hunt down some pawns. With 11 seconds left Leo found a mating net as Charlie’s clock ran out of time. The Lakers of Lake Oswego needed to win their match against Westview to have any chance of catching Clackamas and to also stay ahead of LaSalle. Westview needed to win the match to keep from slipping further down the standings. The Lakers down the Wildcats of Westview by a score of 4 to 1. Division Leading Clackamas lost on board won but won the rest to take first place.

In Division B Wilsonville was a no-show against Clackamas #2. The Cardinals of Lincoln edged out Lake Oswego #2 by a score of 3 to 2. LaSalle #2 ecked by Access #2 by winning on boards 1 and 3 and drawing on boards 4 and 5. The Cleveland Warriors proved their dominance in this section by blowing out the Bowman of Sherwood by a score of 5 to 0.

Division C Wilson #2 played even against Cleveland #2 on the first three boards but got the last two by forfeit winning the match by a score of 3 1/2 to 1 1/2. Jesuit #2 took down Access #3 by a score of 3 to 1. Sherwood #2 won the top two boards against LaSalle #3 but gave away the last 3 games by forfeit.

The cross table for the three divsions follow:

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The League also recognizes individual performance. The top performers by board were:

Board #1. Clemen Deng an 8th Grader at Sylvan with 11.5; Phillip Weiss a Freshman at Lincoln with 10.5, Bryce Eng a Senior at Jesuit and Dillion Murray a Freshman at Gresham playing for Wilson both with 9 wins.

Board #2: Leo Deng a 6th Grader at Sylvan with 11, Ben Halverson a Junior at Cleveland wih 9.5, and Charlie Summers a Junior at LaSalle College Prep with 9 wins.

Board #3: Varun Sah a Sophmore at Jesuit with 10, Cameron Fish a Junior at Cleveland with 9.5, Kyle Larkin a Freshman at Sherwood and Kevin Rhine a Junior at Clackamas with 8.5 wins.

Board #4: Kevin Phuong a Senior at Clackamas, Lamson Vu a Junior at Westview, and Kian Patel a 7th grader at Access Academy each with 10.5, and Luke Meyer a Junior at Lincoln with 9.5 wins.

Board #5: Sagnik Bhadra an 8th Grader at Sylvan with 10, Bryan Lucero a Junior at Clackamas with 8, and Curtis Bush a Junior at Sherwood with 7.5 wins.

The Portland Area League is growing and we would like to see even more growth next year.

Season Schools Teams Students Participating
2008/9 11 12 84
2009/10 12 14 103
2010/11 11 16 129
2011/12 13 24 177

This season we also offered an “extra rated game” section for those students that were brought as alternates or for those whose league opponents were no-shows and 115 students participated in these games.

If your Middle School or High School has a chess club you really should consider joining in on the fun. If you don’t have an active chess club at your school that can join the League we also accept individaul players which will be assigned to teams based upon various factors. We will start up matches again for the next school year in November of 2012 so we really need to have teams and individuals committed to play by October 15, 2012. If you would like to join for next year or just want to know more about the League contact Ed Addis at chessalot@aol.com.

If you believe the list is in error, contact us so we can straighten it out as soon as possible.

Play is divided into four sections: Varsity teams, JV teams, Open teams, and Individuals. Varsity teams consist of five players from the same high school or home-school students living in the school’s attendance area. JV teams are open to players in grades 6-12 but team members must all be students the same high school or reside in the school’s attendance area. Teams in the Open section may be comprised of any Oregon or Washington players in grades 6-12. The Individuals section is open to all Oregon and Washington players in grades 6-12.

For more information, visit the OHSCTA website.

Register online and check out who’s registered so far.

This weekend, Coquille Varsity Chess Team went to tackle the 3A school, Pleasant Hill, that took the 3A state varsity championship away from them last year. Coquille attended the Al Leong memorial Chess Tournament at Pleasant Hill’s home turf. Before 2011, Coquille had been the 3A state varsity champion for many years but Pleasant Hill became a force to reckon with and won it for 2011. Both schools are anticipating fighting it out at the 2012 Oregon High School Chess Team State Championships later this month so this gave them a chance to practice and size each other out.

Coquille’s Varsity team did not manage to bring down Pleasant Hill, but Coach Keller hopes that it was based on their team not being up to full strength. Coquille was missing two members of their team but had some fairly strong alternates. Willamette High School, Eugene, won the event, beating Pleasant Hill by 1 point and beating Coquille by 2.5 points. Coquille Varsity Team took third place.

However, Coquille did well in individual and the other team divisions.

The Coquille Junior Varsity Team continues to look exceptionally strong. Two of the Coquille Junior Varsity players elected to “play up” out of the K-8 division and into the high school section for harder competition. Aaron Grabinsky was undefeated but drew in the final game to tie for second place in the K-12 division. Josiah Perkins after a single loss tied for fourth place in the K-12 division and he was the youngest competitor as a sixth grader.

Coquille Junior Varsity Chess Team did well in the K-8 division despite missing their top two boards playing up a section and yet snared first place. Hailey Riley was in a three way tie for first place and ended up in second place after blitz (5 minutes per player speed chess) playoffs. Kaden Johnson and Mason Collard were awarded Honorable Mention plaques for their performance.

Coquille Elementary Team won first place in the K-5 division. Joshua Grabinsky, despite being only in third grade, snared third place. Marino Santoro from Bandon won second place. Vincent Thrash and Johnathan Huffman helped Joshua Grabinsky with the great team result.

In the novice section, Tianna Huffman was awarded an Honorable Mention.

Between rounds, Pleasant Hill provided some wonderful side events of “Lucky Chess” and “Bughouse” that kept the kids entertained.

The B Division leader Cleveland Warriors had a much tougher match than expected against Clackamas #2 losing on board two, behind on board one for most of the game, but when the dust settled the Warriors took the match by a solid 4 to 1 margin. The Bowman completely dominated the Lake Oswego #2 taking every board and winning by a score of 5 to 0. The Lincoln Cardinals bested Access Academy #2 also by a score of 4 to 1. Wilsonville could only muster three players for their match against LaSalle #2, but that was enough as they took the match by a score of 3 to 2.

In the C Division Sylvan #2 ran over the high school students on LaSalle #3 by a score of 5 to 0. Cleveland #2 only brought two players to their match against Access Academy #3, but that was enough as their opponents were a no show resulting in a 2 to 0 match win. Sherwood #2 got a 2 to 1 win over Jesuit #2 with both teams forfeiting the bottom two boards and Jesuit the third board also.

Round 4 of the Round Robins was played on January 25th was marred by many forfeits due possibly in part to the classroom finals at some of the High Schools . LaSalle College Prep along with Clackamas, Westview, and Wilson decided to delay the playing of their matches due to the finals weeks at their schools. The middle school kids of Sylvan took 2 and 1/2 points on the top three boards, but the older players of Lake Oswego held on to the bottom boards to get a drawn match. Jesuit routed the Access Academy boys by a score of 4 to 1 losing only on the 4th board to Kian Patel.

In the B Division Cleveland surrender three draws to Lincoln but with wins on board 2 by Ben Halverson and board 4 by Adrain Hinkle took the match by a score of 3 1/2 to 1 1/2. Sherwood lost the top two boards against Wilsonville but won the match by a score of 3 to 2 when Wilsonville forfeited on board #5. Lake Oswego #2 won on board 1, but lost to Access Academy #2 by a score of 4 to 1 when they forfeited the bottom four boards.

In the C Division Jesuit #2 won the the top two boards against Wilson #2, but forfeited the bottom two losing the match by a score of 3 to 2. Sherwood #2 won 2 out of 3 on the top boards to win the match by a score of 2 to 1 over Access Academy #3 as both teams forfeited on boards 4 and 5. Sylvan #2 beat Cleveland #2 by a score of 4 to 1 with Cleveland forfeiting the bottom 3 boards.

Round 5 of the Round Robins was played on February 1st. Division A leader LaSalle Falcons faced off against the always tough Lakers of Lake Oswego. The Lakers prevailed with Pranav Sharan, Daniel Seitz, and Patrick Butenhoff winning on the middle boards for a 3 to 2 victory. The Cavaliers of Clackamas prevailed over the Trojans of Wilson by a score of 4 to 1. Sylvan took down Jesuit by a score of 3 to 2. Access Academy played Westview even on the first four boards but won the match by a score of 3 to 2 since Westview forfeited their last board.

Division B leader Cleveland only gave up a draw on board 3 to rout the youngsters of Access Academy #2. Sherwood blew away Clackamas #2 by a score of 3 to 0 as both team only arrived with three players each. Lincoln won the first four boards to down LaSalle #2 by a score of 4 to 1. Wilsonville called minutes before their match with Lake Oswego #2 that they were not going to make it giving the Lakers a 5 to 0 win.

In Divison C co-leaders Sherwood #2 and Sylvan #2 met with short handed Sherwood winning by a score of 3 to 2, losing the first board and forfeiting the fifth board. Wilson #2 gave up only a draw to win their match against the two player short Access Acadmey #3. Cleveland #2 was a no show giving LaSalle #3 an easy 5 to 0 match win.

On February 3rd Clackamas took their two teams to the LaSalle College Preparatory to play their matches originally scheduled for January 25th. Dennis Peterson, the Falcons chess coach had 22 chess boards and clocks set up and ready to go in the Library with another 3 sets outside in the hall for after game analysis. The Cavaliers brought 13 players including their top five players. Alexandra Botez (Oregons’s highest rated Scholastic player) was on board #1 for Clackamas but could only manage to draw against the very tough Dmitri Murphy. Clackamas’ third board Gavin Megson also could only find a draw against LaSalle’s Alex Peterson. Hai Dao, Kevin Rhine, and Kevin Phuong won their games for Clackamas giving them a 4 to 1 match win. LaSalle #2 won on board #1 and drew on board #2, but Clackamas #2 prevailed on the bottom three boards for a 3 1/2 to 1 1/2 match victory.

With only 2 matches left Team Standings are:

Division A