Monroe-Woodbury HS Team One Wins MHSCL Championship

Monroe-Woodbury Team One won the Mid-Hudson Scholastic Chess League (MHSCL) championship, beating the defending champions, The Mount Academy Team One, 7-2. Both teams went in the championship series with perfect 6-0 record.

During the round-robin portion of the season in which the team finished in first-place in the Kasparov Conference, Monroe-Woodbury HS Team One dominated the matches, scoring at least seven game points in each of the five matches. Monrow-Woodbury scored 37.5 game points. Kostya Shetakauri led the team with 13 game points. Scott Abott (8 game points) and Chris Felice (7 game points) were the other two players on Monroe-Woodbury HS Team One.

The Mount Academy Team One had a perfect 5-0 record in the Fischer Conference. Other than the first-round win over Monroe-Woodbury HS Team Two, 5-4, the Mount-Academy averaged six points in the last four matches. Stephen Decker (11.5 game points), Rudi Meier (11 game points), and Andrew Maendel (6 game points) were the top three players on the team. The team finished in second place in the playoffs.

Monroe-Woodbury HS Team Two made the playoffs, finishing in second-place in the Fischer Conference by defeating Cornwall Central HS Team One, 5-4, in the last match round. Both Monroe-Woodbury teams met in the semi finals, The Monroe-Woodbury Team Two lost to Monroe-Woodbury Team One, 5.5-3.5. A. J. Fini (10 game points), Steven Li (9 game points), and Andrew Qu (7 game points) led the second Monroe-Woodbury team. Monroe-Woodbury Team Two finished in third place in the playoffs, defeating Kingston HS Team One in the consolation round.

Kingston HS Team One, with a three-win, one-draw, and one-loss record in the match portion of the tournament, finished in fourth-place in the playoffs, losing to The Mount Academy Team One in the semi-finals, 5.5-3.5, and Monroe-Woodbury HS Team Two in the consolation round, 6-3. Aman Patel (8.5), Skye-Daniel McClure (7.0), and Joshua Grossbohlin (7.0) led the Kingston Team.

Check here to view playoff crosstables.

Check here to view standings.

Players’ Individual Game Points During the Match Portion of the Season

Kostya Shetakuri of Monroe-Woodbury Team One led all players with 13 game points. Other players with double-figured game points were Stephen Decker of The Mount Academy Team One (11.5), Rudi Meier of the Mount Academy Team One (11), Ella Collins of Cornwall Central HS (11), Keenan Cleary of Rondout Valley HS (10.5), and A. J. Fini of Monroe-Woodbury HS Team Two (10).

Check here to view players’ points stats.

End-Of-Season Swiss Tournament

The End-Of-Season Swiss tournament was held as the same time as the playoffs. Ella Collins of Cornwall Central HS won the 24-player event with a perfect 5-0 score. Second-through-fourth-place finishers, scoring four points apiece, were Kennan Cleary of Rondout Valley HS, Lucas Donellan of Cornwall Central HS, and Dylan Blough of The Mount Academy.

The above event was a combination of an individual and team tournament. The top four scores of individuals from the same school counted as that school’s points The top three teams were Cornwall Central HS (15 points), Kingston HS (11.5 points), and The Mount Academy (8 points).

Please check here to view End-Of-Season tournament crosstable.

Please view the league’s website www.mhschess.com for more information on the 2015-16 season and the league.

Attention Mid-Hudson Valley, NY schools. If your school is interested in participating in the MHSCL league next season, please email LDKing1313@yahoo.com