Coed Team Championship a success, breaks Oregon record for girl participants (3/26/2025)

Written by  Jaskaran Singh
Grade 5, Scholls Heights Elementary School

The much awaited OSCF Coed chess tournament was held on March 16th 2025. Over 260 students participated from all over Oregon from grades K-12. They were all anxious about how their day would unfold,  whether they would come home victorious like a champion with a medal around their necks or would bring back experience & learning to improve their game. They were like gladiators fighting in the Colosseum. They showcased their finest skills in a battle to the death. There were 94 girls that participated in the tournament, many of which finished the tournament with astounding scores. That’s substantially more than the 78 girls that appeared in last year's tournament, which at that point was a state record. It was nice to see the number of girl participants going up year on year. The number of tables in the skittles room fell short of the number of teams participating in the tournament. I saw many teams sitting on the floors and practicing their games. My own team, despite arriving early, could not get a table inside the skittles room but we somehow managed to arrange some chairs.

Finally, at 10:15 am, the pairings were out. The players hurried to their tables and took last minute pictures. The time control was a short G25/+5. After the players had finished their games, there were many fun activities such as a Spin-the-Wheel and a mega chess to help entertain the players. Players were also reviewing their games with their team members and getting advice from parents and coaches. 

The highest rated team in K-5 Open/Reserve was Springfield Group A with a team rating of 1174. The  highest rated team for K-8 Open Reserve was Willamette Valley K8 with a team rating of 1106.3. The best rated team in K-12 Open/Reserve was Westview HS Team A with a team rating of 1788. The best rated team in the Mixed Reserve section were the Chess Champs with a team rating of 797. In the Individual Section the top player was William Ho (1429). 

You would be surprised to see that the teams and players that won in each section weren’t always the highest rated in the group, as everyone would later see during the award ceremony. I watched people go in and out of the game hall. There were some joyful and sometimes overconfident faces. There were humble faces which didn’t show either sadness or glee. And then there were the teary-eyed kids who had lost their games. Sometimes the overconfident faces lost their games while the disappointed players got a draw or won. The humble faces either drew or won. For them losing didn’t exist. A “loss” was an opportunity to learn and understand what they did wrong in the game.

After all of the games were over, it was time for the award ceremony. Players huddled around their team to see who would be the champion in their section. The team that won in the K-12 Mixed Open section was Westview HS Team A. The team that won in the K-8 Open Reserve was Stroller. In the K-5 Open Reserve, the winning team was Jacob Wismer K5 A. The team that won in the Mixed Reserve Section were the Chess Champs. In the Individual Section Standings, Phillip Volodkin in first place and William Ho in second. Sohum Paranjpe was the winner in the under 900 section. John Ayoub got first in the Under 600. Siddarth Bondhey got first in the Under 300 section. Kabir Shah got 1st in the Unrated section. Lastly, I would like to congratulate all the parents who put all of their work to the side to bring their children to this tournament. The tournament was a great experience where players got a lot of experience. Whether you are an experienced 1500 or a beginning 400, this is a tournament for all skill levels and age groups. See you at the Coed State Team Championship next year!  

Click here to see the full pairings and standings from the tournament.