03.11.18 On March 10th, a whopping 375 scholastic chess players converged on the University of Maine Orono from all corners of the state to compete in the 2018 State Scholastic Chess Team Championships. State champions were decided in nine sections. Here's the illustrated tournament report with results and details.

High School Championship Team Results p1
High School Championship Team Results p2

High School Championship Individual Results p1
High School Championship Individual Results p2
High School Championship Individual Results p3

High School Reserve Team Results p1
High School Reserve Team Results p2

High School Reserve Individual Results p1
High School Reserve Individual Results p2

High School Novice Results

K-8 Championship Team Results p1
K-8 Championship Team Results p2
K-8 Championship Team Results p3

K-8 Championship Individual Results p1
K-8 Championship Individual Results p2
K-8 Championship Individual Results p3

K-8 Novice Results

K-6 Championship Team Results p1
K-6 Championship Team Results p2

K-6 Championship Individual Results p1
K-6 Championship Individual Results p2

K-6 Novice Results

K-3 Championship Team Results

K-3 Championship Individual Results

K-1 Novice Team Results

K-1 Novice Individual Results

US Chess crosstables of this event

The author and chief tournament director would like to thank our incredible volunteers for making this tournament possible: Andy Bryan, Eric Dinnerstein, Mike Dudley, Illianna Kahn, Phil Lowell, Isaac Marnik, Elisabeth Mock, Kathy Richards, Tom Sandford, and Steve Wong. In addition, we owe a huge debt of gratitude to all of the parents, coaches, drivers, volunteers, and of course the players themselves for helping to create the traditionally largest chess tournament of the year in Maine. Lastly, we wish to thank the University of Maine Orono for hosting and for their continued support of this tournament.

The tournament was played in nine sections: High School Championship, High School Reserve, High School Novice, K-8 Championship, K-8 Novice, K-6 Championship, K-6 Novice, K-3 Championship, and K-1 Novice.

Fourteen teams competed in the sixty-nine player High School Championship section. This section is unique as it is played using a match or fixed-roster system. High schools field five-player teams that compete head-to-head on boards one through five. The team that scores 3.0 points or better per round is awarded one match point and subsequent round pairings are based on match not game points.

The High School Reserve section, all Novice sections, as well as the K-3 Championship section use the top three scorers to compute the team score. All other Championship sections use the top five scorers to compute the team score.

First seed Orono High School stayed true to form winning each round and finishing with a perfect 4.0 match points. Individual scores were: Ben Amar 4.0, Joseph Astumian (4.0), Liam Farrell (3.0), Aaron Wilson-McFarlane (4.0), and Ryan Shorette (1.5).

A four-way tie ensued for second place between Cheverus High School, Deer-Isle-Stonington High School, Cape Elizabeth High School, and Hermon High School who all finished as co-runners up to the state title. Cheverus received the second place trophy based on tie breaks.

Bangor High School, Scarborough High School, Westbrook High School, and John Bapst Memorial High School put up 2.0 match points for equal sixth place. The remaining schools were: Brewer High School, Caribou High School, Medomak Valley High School, Maine School of Science and Mathematics, and Bonny Eagle High School.

The players scoring 4.0 points in the High School Championship section were: Aaron Wilson-McFarlane (Orono), Joseph Astumian (Orono), Aiden Thomas (Cheverus), Ben Amar (Orono), Wyatt Hendrix (Hermon), Andrew Brenneman (Cape Elizabeth), Bill Hartt (Hermon), Eric Youth (Scarborough), and Kenneth Park (John Bapst).

The High School Reserve section resulted in Thornton Academy (Jan Schilling, Zhikang Xie, and Ky Nguyen) and Cheverus High School (Sam Holbrooke, Michael Manetti, and Nicholas Bither) as co-Champions with 9.0 points each. Just off the lead was Orono High School scoring 8.5 points and Caribou High School and Piscataquis Community High School with 8.0 points.

Only one player went perfect on the day in the High School Reserve section with 4.0 points: Jan Schilling from Thornton Academy.

Maine Central Institute (Vojta Filibi, Seamus Walden, David Wilcox, and LeHuy Nyguygen) won the High School Novice section with 10.0 points out of a possible 12. In second place was Machias High School with 9.5 points.

Jordan Donovan from Machias High School and Vojta Filibi of Maine Central Institute went unbeaten and untied with 4.0 points in the High School Novice section.

Orono High School (Evan Smith, Atticus Foster, Tommy Owen, Athena Saucier, Tristan Cousineau, Brandan Smith, and Magali De Lannee) won the K-8 Championship section with the very impressive 18.0 points out of a possible 20. They were trailed by three teams who put up 13.0 points including Blue Hill Consolidated School, Troy Howard Middle School, and Holbrook Middle School.

Four-point getters in the K-8 Championship section were: Evan Smith (Orono), Atticus Foster (Orono), William Xu (Cohen), Tommy Owen (Orono), and Ben Mock (Holbrook).

Ellsworth Elementary/Middle School (Andy Young, Michael York, Eli Pouwels, Liam Stephenson, Manny Gardner, Elizabeth Ford, Rose Kazmierczak, Abbie Young, and Maddie Henry) took the top spot in the K-8 Novice section with 11.0 points. Orono Middle school finished second with 8.0 points.

Andy Young from Ellsworth was the sole perfect score in the K-8 Novice section.

As the legendary scholastic chess coach Steve Wong has said, "Every draw counts!" This tenet dramatically manifested itself in the K-6 Championship section where one half point separated the first three teams. Lincolnville Central School (Awnin Oxley, Liana Talty, Thomas Pickford, Bryson Hise, Maggie O'Brien, Sophia Skrivanich, Ward Morrison, and Rose Fishbein) won the K-6 state title with 14.0 points. Close on their heels were Cape Elizabeth and Brewer Community School who each scored 13.5 points.

Awnin Oxley from Lincolnville Central School and Jacob Klein of Mary Snow School went unbeaten and untied with 4.0 points.

Ellsworth Elementary/Middle School (Hunter Verburgt, Christopher Taylor, Noah Bubier, Noah Torrance, Griffy Young, Ricky Winder, K.J. Grant, Griffin Merrill, Pablo Little-Siebold, Maverick Ashborn, Catherine Ford, and Advaith Nair) won the K-6 Novice section with the near perfect 11.5 points out of a possible 12. Bucksport Middle School put up 7.0 points for the K-6 Novice Runner-Up spot.

Hunter Verburgt and Christopher Taylor both of Ellsworth Elementary/Middle School scored 4.0 points in this section.

Stillwater Montessori School (Surya Vel, Ebba Hidestrand, and Mikhail Prostatin) rose to the top of the K-3 Championship crosstable with 11.0 points. Congratulations to coach Joe Alex and his players for the continued success and robust longevity of the SMS Chess program.

Surya Vel and Ebba Hidestrand both of Stillwater Montessori School scored 4.0 points in the K-3 Championship section.

Lincolnville Central School (Ray Beach, Claretta Harbaugh, Anneka Egeland, and Maggie Harbaugh) won both the K-1 Novice section with 9.0 points and the K-1 Novice Runner-Up (Jack O'Brien, Oren Hurley, Lily Fishman, Pearl Yetman, and Devon Skrivanich) spot with 8.0 points.

The Orono High School Team strikes a relaxed pose after winning the 2018 High School Team Championships.

Co-Runners up with 3.0 match points were Cheverus High School,

Deer Isle-Stonington High School represented here by their top board Brendan Penfold,

Hermon High School and Cape Elizabeth High School (not pictured).

Thornton Academy finished equal first in the High School Reserve section with

Cheverus High School.

Maine Central Institute won the High School Novice section led by Vojta Filibi,

Seamus Walden, and

David Wilcox.

Orono Middle School took first in the K-8 Championship section.

Equal second in the K-8 section were Blue Hill Consolidated School, Troy Howard Middle School (not pictured), and Holbrook School (not pictured).

Lincolnville Central School is all smiles after winning the K-6 Championship section.

Second place in the K-6 Championship section was Pond Cove School from Cape Elizabeth.

Ellsworth Elementary/Middle School won the K-6 Novice section.

Bucksport Middle school garnered the Runner-Up spot in the K-6 Novice section.

Stillwater Montessori School took top honors in the K-3 Championship section.

Stillwater Montessori School was trailed by the K-3 Championship section Runners-Up Lincolnville Central School.

Lincolnville Central School took first and second in the K-1 Novice section.

The last round match between Orono High School and Cheverus High School attracted quite a few spectators.

The High School Reserve tournament room

Top board for Hermon High School (and ChessMaine.net contributor) Wyatt Hendrix.

Brewer High School Ace Zachary Grindal

Top rated player in the High School Championship section Orono High School's Ben Amar

Playing top board for Bangor High School Catherine Rudnicki.

A force to be reckoned with: Hermon High School's Bill Hartt.

This is the kind of focus and determination that wins games!

Deer Isle-Stonington's Orly Vaughn

Ryan Shorette playing board 5 for Orono High School.

Emmanuel Deschaine plays in the High School Reserve section for Van Buren High School.

Players in the high school sections are required to record their games. Austin LaPlante of Caribou High School does just that.

Caribou's Samantha Tourk reminds us that the challenge of chess is fun.

Brenton Soucy from Van Buren High School

The top-rated player in the K-8 Championship section: Holbrook School's Ben Mock

Leo Mlylinski representing Brewer Community School

Ronin Deschamps of Troy Howard Middle School

Airline Community School's Cyrus Grindal

Jahfari Maddo playing for Brewer Community School in the K-8 Championship section.

Representing Deer Isle-Stonington Elementary School Jonah Brages

Having some fun between rounds in the K-8 Championship section.

The K-8 Championship section tournament room

Henry Abrahamsen playing on board 1 in the K-6 Championship section for Cape Elizabeth.

Kaiden Wood of Fort O'Brien School in Machiasport put up 3.0 points in the K-6 Championship section.

Jacob Klein of Mary Snow School in Bangor is ready for action in the K-6 Championship section.

Ben Gordon focuses on the task at hand.

Looking good in neckwear: Noah Abbott

Maggie O'Brien representing Lincolnville Central school in the K-6 Championship section.

Annie Mitchell playing for All Saints School

Piper Sanders is a team member of the K-6 Captain Albert Stevens School Chess team.

Stella Damon plays on board 1 in the K-3 Championship section for Brewer Community School

Zachary Egeland of Lincolnville Central School

Grant Morrison also of LCS

Stillwater Montessori School's Surya Vel

Connor Harris representing Hope Elementary in the K-3 Championship section.

Py Nakjaroen contemplates a close position in the K-3 Championship section.

Aiden Espling of Fort O'Brien School

Anneka Egeland tries her luck on board 1 in the K-1 Novice section with 1.e3.

And Oren Hurley wonders how he is going to deal with Anneka's 2.Bb5.

Ray Beach follows Bobby Fischer's advice and plays 1.e4--best by test!

Jack O'Brien tries a different perspective.

Eli Schaaf

Maggie Harbarugh

Paul Pellitier

Pearl Yetman

Claretta Harbaugh

Devon Skrivanich

K-8 Championship floor TD Mike Dudley presides over the prize-giving ceremony.

ChessMaine.net photographer and now certified US Chess Tournament Director Ilianna Kahn

High School Championship and High School Reserve section floor TD Phil Lowell

K-6, K-8, and High School Novice section floor TD Tom Sandford (pictured) was ably assisted by Maine Chess Association's Eric Dinnerstein.

K-6 Championship section floor TD Steve Wong

Chess mom, text-alert guru, and tournament ombudsman Elisabeth Mock

Maine Association of Chess Coaches Secretary and Piscataquis chess teams coach Kathy Richards

Thanks again to all who contributed their efforts to make this a great tournament and to the University of Maine for hosting!