Sunday, March 15, 2020

MHSCL 2019-20 Season Summary



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 18th 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.