03.26.13 Eighty-four scholastic chess players gathered at the University of Maine Orono Memorial Union on March 23rd to duel for individual honors in K-3, K-6, K-8, and K-12 championship and Under 1200 sections. The hard-fought games often went down to the last moment of the allotted time, and saw both interesting and surprising results. Here's the tournament report, USCF crosstables, images and selected games from the day including the concurrently played Sidekick tournament.

Thanks to Ron Lewis for contributing to this report.

Individual Scholastic Chess Titles Decided

Eighty-four scholastic chess players gathered at the University of Maine Memorial Union on March 23 to duel for individual honors in K-3, K-6, K-8, and K-12 championship and Under 1200 sections. The hard-fought games often went down to the last moment of the allotted time, and saw both interesting and surprising results.

Winners of the K-6, K-8 and K-12 championship sections become the 2012-13 State Elementary, Junior High and High School Champions. Trophies are awarded to the top three finishers in each section. In cases of ties, the top players become co-champions or share that tied position, and the awarding of trophies is done based on how well the players score in the early rounds and/or how well their opponents do. Younger players may play higher than their current grade level in the Individuals, as skill and rating levels are more important than age.

In the K-3 section, Cyrus Grindal of the Airline School scored a perfect 4.0 (four wins, no losses) to take top honors. Second place went to Milo Sanokklis of Levey Day School with 3 points. Tied for third were Benjamin Wintersteen of Falmouth and Henry Penfold of Deer Isle-Stonington (DIS), each with 2.5 points. On tie-breaks, the third place trophy went to Benjamin.

In the K-6 section, Nathan Shemwell of Orono Middle School scored a perfect four points and is the 2012-13 Maine Elementary School champion. Five players scored 3 points to tie for second place: Vetri Vel (Veazie), Omar Khan (Brewer Community School), Oliver Brown Patricio, Brendan Parlee (Stillwater Montessori School) and Brent Roberts (Brewer Community School). On tie-breaks, Vetri Vel took home the second place trophy and Omar Khan, the third place trophy.

In the K-8 Junior High section, Wesley Parker of Cape Elizabeth posted four straight wins to become this year's Maine Junior High Champion. Wesley qualified as the Maine representative to the Barber National Tournament for Junior High players. Early round upsets seemed to set the tone for the day, and several lower-rated players surprised their higher-rated opponents. Ben Amar (Orono) scored 3.5 points (three wins and a draw) to take second place honors. Five players tied with three points. These were Ian Youth (Breakwater), Brendan Penfold and Soozin Cha of DIS, Joseph Powell (Medomak), and Stuart McKay (Stillwater). On tie-breaks, the third place trophy went to Joseph Powell.

Sixteen players competed in the K-12 Under 1200 section (referring to the players' US Chess Federation ratings). Emerging with 4 wins and clear first place was Krisford Melanio (DIS). Tied for second with 3 points each were Hui Kennedy (Waldoboro), and Zach Hamilton and Jinran Tian of George Stevens Academy. On tie-breaks, Hui received the second place trophy and Jinran, the third place trophy.

In the K-12 High School Championship section, hard-fought games were the rule and several went down to the last few minutes on the clock. With a limited field of ten players, the third round match paired off Cape Elizabeth team mates and the two top seeds, Matthew Fishbein and Brett Parker. For the third game in a row, Matthew nursed a small advantage into a greater one and a full point. Matthew, the State's top ranked scholastic player, went on to win his fourth round game, finishing with four points and his second High School Championship, becoming eligible for the National Denker Tournament of High School Champions. Three players tied for second place with 2.5 points each. These were Brett Parker, Yihan Cheng (George Stevens Academy), and Josh Audibert (Bangor). On tie-breaks, Brett received the second place trophy and Yihan, the third place trophy.

In the Sidekick quads event held for adults and proceeds benefitting scholastic chess through the Maine Association of Chess Coaches, ten players competed, setting up one Quad section and a second, Swiss section with six players. Roger Morin scored a perfect 3-0 in the six-player section. In the quad section, Jason Kennedy and Lois Morin tied with two wins each. The Sidekick event was led and directed by Maine Chess Association president Andy Bryan.

The Leader for the Individuals Tournament was Ron Lewis. Andy Bryan coordinated trophies for the event. Tournament Directors, organized by the Maine Chess Association, were Dan DeLuca for the K-3 and K-6, Philip Lowell for the K-8, and Steve Wong for the two K-12 sections. Kathy Richards serves as Treasurer for the Maine Association of Chess Coaches. For more detail and pictures of the events, log on-line to www.chessmaine.net. Thanks to the parents and coaches for their support, and thanks to the University of Maine for again hosting this event.

K-3 and K-6 Championship Section USCF Crosstables

Jr. High School Championship USCF Crosstable

High School Championship and U1200 Section USCF Crosstables

High School Champion Matthew Fishbein (left) and Co-Runner-Up Brett Parker both students at Cape Elizabeth High School.

Co-Runners-Up in the high school championship section Yihang Cheng (left) and Josh Audibert with tournament director Steve Wong.

Matthew Fishbein at the board on his way to a perfect 4.0 performance.

Brett Parker

Yihang Chen

Josh Audibert

George Spahn

Paul Rudnicki

Ezra Briggs

Jiajun Chen

Haley DeLuca Lowell

Tianjian Yuan

Matthew Fishbein gets interviewed just after his fourth-round win.

First in the high school U1200 section: Krisford Melanio

A three-way tie for second place resulted in the U1200 section between Zach Hamilton...

Jinran Tian and

Hui Kennedy

Matthew Spear

Gunnar Heckler

Caleb Hunter

Andy Chen

David Hunter

Isaiah Fallon

Rick Perry

Ethan Lowe

Nick Charalambous

Ian Henderson

Justin Willis

Lee Walsh

Winners in the high school U1200 section (left to right): Krisford Melanio (first), Hui Kennedy (equal second), tournament Director Steve Wong, Jinran Tian (equal second) and Zach Hamilton (equal second).

2013 K-8 Champion Wesley Parker scored a perfect 4.0 to take first place.

K-8 Runner-Up Ben Amar put up 3.5 points.

Tied for third place were: Joseph Powell

Ian Youth

Brendan Penfold

Stuart MacKay and...

SooZin Cha

Gregory Dimoulas

Catherine Rudnicki

Orly Vaughn

Jacob Cote

Grant Bodine

Nicholas Kawamura

Caleb Marston

Nicholas Thompson

Zachary Grindal

Saadh Ahmed

Greg Wadsworth

Nathan Thompson

Carter Brock

Ennis Marshall

Codie Cole

Logan Severance

Drew Thibodeau

Parents and spectators mill about outside the K-8 section tournament room.

Winners in the K-8 section (left to right): Wesley Parker (first), Ben Amar (second) with tournament director Phil Lowell

Joseph Powell tied for 3rd in K-8 section with Ian Youth, Brendan Penfold, Stuart MacKay and SooZin Cha.

Dad's of the K-8 and K-12 champions Mark Parker (left) and Dan Fishbein

Relieving a little tension between rounds

Winners in the K-6 section (left to right): Omar Khan (equal second), Nathan Shemwell (first), Vetri Vel (equal second), Oliver Brown Patricio (equal second), Brendan Parlee (equal second) and Brent Roberts (equal second)

Brent Roberts (left) and Michael Hayden shake after thier last round game in the K-6 section.

Outside of the tournament rooms skittles games abounded, here...

here...

...and here.

Airline Community School's Cyrus Grindal is the 2013 K-3 state champion after a fine unbeaten and untied performance.

Clear second place in the K-3 section: Milo Sanokklis

Benjamin Wintersteen tied for third place in the K-3 section with...

Henry Penfold

William Xu

Zoe Dinnerstein

Saima Ahmed

Cameron Parlee

Julia Trowbridge

Matthew Leighton

Clara Parker

Winners in the K-3 section (left to right): Henry Penfold (equal third), Benjamin Wintersteen (equal third), Milo Sanokklis (second) and Cyrus Grindal (first)

Winners all! The K-3 players

In addition to the scholastic individual championships, a Sidekick tournament was held concurrently. Section 1 was won by Roger Morin (left) here playing Tom Sandford.

Max Berube (right) plays Maine Association of Chess Coaches Secretary Kathy Richards.

Bangor High School coach Jon Dearing (left) tussles with Orono Middle School coach Ryan Tripp.

Lois Morin (left) and Jason Kennedy shared first in section 2 of the Sidekick tournament.

Alba Briggs (left) takes on Dan Fishbein.

MACC Secretary Kathy Richards and MACC President Ron Lewis do some behind-the-scenes accounting.

Thanks to all for making this tournament a real success!