by Ed Addis

The Portland Area League met on Wednesday, January 11th for the second round play in the second half of the season. The A Division leading Falcons of LaSalle College Prep faced off against the Trojans of Wilson High School. Wilson took the top board, but LaSalle got the rest of them. The Wolves of Sylvan Middle School, hoping to keep pace with LaSalle, tangled with the Wildcats of Westview High School but just came up short. Sylvan won on board 5 and drew on boards one and three, but lost both of the even numbered boards. The Cavaliers of Clackamas once again were bailed out by their three bottom boards and slipped by the Crusaders of Jesuit by a score of 3 to 2. The Lakers of Lake Oswego brushed aside the kids from Access Academy, yielding only a draw on board four. After two rounds LaSalle is the only team with a prefect match record. Next week they will face a tough test from Westview.

Divison B leader Clevland High School warriors were ready to take on Wilsonville, however, they were a no show and Warriors of Cleveland were the beneficiary of a forfeit. The Lincoln Cardinals only showed up with three players but that was enough as they sweep the top three boards to down Clackamas #2. LaSalle #2 won on boards one, two, and five to outlast Lake Oswego #2. The Bowmen of Sherwood took aim and shoot down Access Academy #2 on every board but the second. After two rounds of play Cleveland High School has not lost a game and is looking forward to taking on Clackamas #2 next week.

Divsion C leader Sherwood #2 was idle this week, but their players came and participated in the “extra games” section. Rumor has it that they did check out the games of Jesuit #2, their next opponent. Jesuit #2 lost a close match to Cleveland #2 by a score of 2 to 3. The two all middle school teams met with Sylvan #2 besting Access Academy #2 by a score of 5 to 0. Wilson #2 ruined LaSalle’s big day by downing their #2 team by a score of 3 1/2 to 1/12. Division C leader after two rounds is Sylvan #2 who faces off against LaSalle #3 next week.

The league awards the top individual performance for each board at the end of the season. Current leaders:

Board #1: Clemen Deng of Sylvan with 7.5; Bryce Eng of Jesuit with 7, and Dillon Murray playing for Wilson with 6.5.
Board #2: Charlie Summers of LaSalle with 7, Ben Halverson of Cleveland with 6.5, Leo Deng of Sylvan and Nathan Jewell playing for Wilson both with 6.
Board #3: Varun Sah of Jesuit with 7, Kevin Rhine of Clackamas with 6.5, and Cameron Fish of Cleveland with 6.
Board #4: Lamson Vu of Westview with a prefect 8 wins, Kian Patel of Access Academy with 6.5, Tucker Price of LaSalle with 6.
Board #5: Bryan Lucero of Clackamas with 6, Curtis Bush of Sherwood with 5.5, and Johannes Frieschuetz of Sylvan with 4.

League rules require that every teams line-up is such that their best player plays board #1, second best on board #2, and so. However, it is often difficult to determine who is the best player on a team so every team is required to change their line-ups, if necessary. Some of the teams allow players on a lower board to challenge a player on a higher board, and, if the challenge is successful, board positions are changed. Other teams rank their players by their ratings All teams are encouraged to have reserve players that can fill in if someone is absent. These requirements results in many of the players having games on various boards. With eight rounds already played a few individuals have played every one of the five boards. With five rounds left if is likely that a few more players may also have played every board. Many years ago the League established rules that gives different weights for each board. A win on Board #1 is worth a full point, on Board #2 only 0.8, on Board #3 you get 0.64, board #4 its 0.512, and board #5 is worth 0.4096. So someone on board #5 with only 4 wins (2 on board 1 and 2 on board 5 = 2.8192 Weighted Point Value) would be ahead of someone with 6 wins (2 on board #4 and 2 on board #5 = 2.6624). Players are only eligible for the board they played the most often.

League matches begin at 4 PM on each Wednesday until February 15th. We have an open section that can be entered by anyone in grades 6 to 12 and the cost is free. You must enter by 4 PM with the games starting shortly after that. All of the games are played using USCF rules with a time control of game in an hour with a 5 second delay. It is also still possible to join with an existing team by contacting Ed Addis at chessalot@aol.com.