By Larry King
The Mid-Hudson Scholastic Chess League (MHSCL) consisted of
ten teams from seven schools. Below is a recap of the league’s 18
th
season.
Twenty-one players participated in the Opening Swiss. Travis
Meier of the Mount Academy won the event, scoring five points. Dominick
Copplino and Nate Woinicki, both Cornwall Central HS players, each had four
points. Wilson Robohm of Haldane (fourth place) and Grant Ross of Cornwall
Central HS (fifth place) each scored three points. The Opening Swiss was also a
team event, where the top four scores of members of the same school counted as
that school’s team points. Cornwall Central HS finished first ahead of The
Mount Academy on tiebreaks, each school scoring 14 points. Haldane finished in
third with 10.0 points.
Match portion of the season: Woodbury HS Team Two finished
first and The Mount Academy Team One finished second in the Fischer Conference.
In the Kasparov Conference, Cornwall Central HS finished in first, winning all
five matches. Second-place finisher, Monroe-Woodbury HS Team One, was one match
points behind Cornwall Central. The top individual performers were Albert Pizzo
(13 points out of 15 games) and Charles Lui (9.0 points of 12 games), both of Monroe-Woodbury
HS Team One.
Justin Bell of
Monroe-Woodbury HS Team Two had the third-most points (8.5 points out of 11
games).
Playoffs: Ryan Donnellan and Dominick Coppolino, winning three
games apiece, helped Cornwall Central HS defeat The Mount Academy Team One,
7-2. Albert Pizzo had three victories and Sam Koyfman won two games as
Monroe-Woodbury HS Team One defeated Monroe-Woodbury HS Team Two, 6-3. In the
consolation match, The Mount Academy Team One, led by Ike Blough and Adam
Blough, won the match, 5-4, versus Monroe-Woodbury HS Team Two. Justin Bell won
three games for Monroe-Woodbury HS Team Two. Cornwall Central HS won the
championship, defeating Monroe-Woodbury HS Team One, 5.5-3.5. Nate Woinicki
scored 2.5 out of three points and Dominick Coppolino won two games for the
champs.
Above: Cornwall Central HS, League Champs
The Closing Swiss tournament, an individual-team event, was held
at the same time as the playoff matches.
Vlad Perry of Rondout Valley won the
tournament, 5-0. Second-place finisher was Johann Kaiser (3.5 points) of The
Mount Academy. Ray Hofer (3.0 points) of The Mount Academy clinched third-place
on tiebreaks.
The Mount Academy won the
team trophy with 11.5 points, followed by Rondout Valley HS (8.0 points) and Cornwall
Central HS (7.5 points).
The Mount Academy, Closing Swiss Tournament Champs!
To Mid-Hudson High and Middle Schools: We are looking for
teams to join the league in 2020-21.
If
your school is interested, please email me at
LDKing1313@yahoo.com.
Please go to
www.mhschess.com for detailed information on
the league.