Team State Champions Crowned

Some excellent battles ensued during the state team chess championships last Saturday. Cheverus High School proved its mettle by running the table in the High School Championship Section defeating perennial powers John Bapst, Deer Isle-Stonington, and Orono en route. Board 1 Ethan Bergeron was particularly impressed as he also was a perfect 4.0 in leading his team to an improbable victory.

In the Junior High Championship Section, Deer Isle-Stonington scored 4 points in the final round to overtake Airline Community School 14.0-13.0. Airline had held the lead from the start, but could not hold off the depth of the Mariners in the last round. Orono also made a strong surge in the final round to finish just out of the runner-up position with 12.5 points. Top seeds Matthew Fishbein and Wesley Parker led the way individually, but Cape Elizabeth was unable to garner enough points to crack the top three positions.

In the K-6 Championship Section, Deer Isle-Stonington again ended up victorious. Their depth led them to 15.5 points out of a possible twenty and a comfortable victory over runner-up Breakwater. Breakwater was led by the Two Brothers Youth who scored 8 of their teams 14.0 points. The Airline K-6 team fell just short of catching Breakwater in the final round finishing with 13.5 and a third place finish. All Saints was next in fourth.

In the last Championship Section, K-3, Deer Isle-Stonington rolled to an easy victory with 11.0 points far outdistancing the second place Airline School's 5.0 points. Ben Penfold and Cameron Stewart each finished 4.0 to lead the junior Mariners.

All results can be found on chessmaine.net.

This weekend the All Girls State Championships will be held. It should be an interesting event. Check back later this weekend for results. Next weekend the State Scholastic Individual Champions will be crowned. Then on the weekend of April 9-10 the State Closed Championships will be held in Augusta. Posted on the State of Maine Chess blog are the current standings for MECA's Chess Player of the Year. This a busy and exciting part of the chess calendar.