Left: Photo of the entire Lake Oswego Team.
Right: Photo of the B division champions, Sunset High School.
(Click on photos to enlarge.)

LAKE OSWEGO CAPTURES STATE TITLE!

The Oregon High School Chess Team Championship was held on February 23 & 24 at Portland Christian High School in Portland. This was the largest championship ever held in the history of the organization, which has been in existence for the last 44 years! 29 schools from throughout Oregon participated in the event, bringing 43 teams and over 250 players.

To contact a particular school or coach, visit the organization website http://ohscta.tripod.com and click on "Schools". Additional information and results are available on the website under the "History" link. The final results after tie breaks were:

DIVISION CHAMPIONS
5A CHAMPIONS Sherwood
4A CHAMPIONS Cottage Grove
1-3A CHAMPIONS Coquille

DIVISION B
1) Sunset
2) Lake Oswego
3) Portland Christian
4) Wilson
5) Coquille
6) Willamette

MIDDLE SCHOOL
1) International School of Beaverton
2) Portland Christian #2

INDIVIDUAL DIVISION
1) Caleb Kesey
2) Le Kiet
3) Andy Li
4) Tan Nguyen
5) Anthony Berger
6) Omar Flores

BOARD PRIZES (ALL WITH A PERFECT SCORE OF 5.0)
BOARD 1 CHAMPION: Corbin Yu, Lake Oswego
BOARD 2 CHAMPION: Michael Riches, Sherwood
BOARD 3 CHAMPION: Daniel Friesen, Sunset
BOARD 4 CHAMPION: Richie Kasem, Lake Oswego
BOARD 5 CHAMPION: Isaac Payne, Clackamas

ALL STATE AWARDS
BOARD ONE
Chris Griffin, Sherwood
Ethan Peake, Westview
Cory Black, Benson
Ryan Biasca, Marshfield
James Baldridge, Coquille
BOARD TWO
Marcus Robinson, Wilson
Joshua Carr, Portland Christian
Calvin Bohn, Lincoln
Aditya Arun, Westview
BOARD THREE
William Sercombe, Wilson
Conor O'Sullivan, Lake Oswego
Jacob Shadwick, Pleasant Hill
BOARD FOUR
Isaac Kim, Sunset
Wesley Kennedy, The Dalles
BOARD FIVE
Jason Cigan, Lake Oswego

TOURNAMENT NOTES:

LAKE OSWEGO GRABS OREGON STATE TEAM TITLE IN BIGGEST OHSCTA EVENT EVER

Over 250 players from almost 30 schools met Friday and Saturday at Portland Christian High School to take part in five highly competitive rounds of chess and to determine which five-person team could claim the title of champions of the Oregon High School Chess Team Association. When the dust had settled, Lake Oswego High School had won the event, but a decision by OHSCTA leadership meant that several other schools got to take home titles as well.

For the first time, the Association recognized that schools of various sizes could also be designated as state champions for their classifications based on school size, and awarded state 5A, 4A, and 3A-2A-1A championships as well as the overall championship. Those classification awards went to Sherwood, Cottage Grove, and Coquille High Schools, respectively.

The tournament featured ferocious play throughout all five rounds, with Lake Oswego, Wilson, and Portland Christian all entering the fourth round undefeated. Lake Oswego defeated Wilson 3-2, and Portland Christian beat Grant High School of Portland 4-1, to win the right to face the Lakers in the finals.

However, Portland Christian was going to have to play the championship match without their first board player, who had to leave because of a conflict requiring his presence at another state championship competition—one to which he had made a firm commitment before he knew that his team would qualify for the finals. He left and all the other members of the team had to "play up" one board in the state finals. Even though the Portland Christian team played valiantly, Lake Oswego came out ahead by a 3.5-1.5 score.

A three-way tie for second was broken by the tie-breaker, and that left Wilson as second, Sunset High of Beaverton as third, and Portland Christian as fourth. Westview and Grant High School rounded out the list of trophy recipients.

In the "B" division (mostly consisting of junior varsity and middle school teams), Sunset High dominated the proceedings, going without the loss of even one board in the entire event. Their +23 –0 =2 finish is more than likely a record performance for any team in the "B" tournament’s history.

An individual tournament was also held for those without teams, or for those whose teams already had the requisite five players. In that tournament, Caleb Kesey of Pleasant Hill was the winner with 4.5 out of 5.

It was a great event with a lot of really close games and matches. The players just seem to get better and better every year. Next year’s event is scheduled for February 22 and 23, 2008 at Roseburg High School. See you there!

Report from: Mike Wolfe, Executive Secretary 2005/2007 Oregon High School Chess Team Association.