2014-15 MHSCL Season In Review

The Mount Academy Team Two won the 2014-15 Mid-Hudson Scholastic Chess League (MHSCL) championship by compiling a record of 5-0 during the match portion of the season, and defeating Rondout Valley HS and Monroe-Woodbury in post-season play. The other team from The Mount Academy, The Mount Academy Team One, also went 5-0 in matches before losing to Monroe-Woodbury in the semi-finals. It was the first time in which two teams from the same school finished in first place with perfect scores. Here is a summary of the 13^th MHSCL season.

Kickoff Swiss Tournament

The Mount Academy started the season on the good note by scoring 16.5 points to win the Team Championship in the 34-player Kickoff tournament that was held last October 25. Cornwall Central High School finished in second-place on tiebreaks Kingston High School (each had 12 points). Rondout Valley High School finished in fourth-place, one-half point below Cornwall Central and Kingston. The top four scores from the individuals attending the same school counted for that school’s team score.

Titus Decker of The Mount Academy finished in first with a 5-0 record. Lucas Donnellan (Cornwall Central), Rudi Meier (The Mount Academy), and Stephen Decker (The Mount Academy) finished in second-through-fourth place, each scoring 4.0 points. Seven of the top ten players were from The Mount Academy.

Match Play

The Mount Academy players continued to perform well, as both teams won their five matches. In the first round, The Mount Academy Team One rallied from a 3-0 set-one deficit to defeat Rondout Valley, 5-4. Rondout Valley High School clinched a playoff spot after defeating Kingston 7-2 in the fourth round.

Cornwall Central HS Team One and Monroe-Woodbury battled for the fourth playoff spot. Led by Kostya Shetekauri’s three wins, Monoroe-Woodbury clinched the playoff spot, defeating the five-time defending champs, 6.5-2.5. It was the first time since 2003-04 season that Monroe-Woodbury participated in post-season play.


Please click here to view standings.

Individual Points: Kostya Shetekuri lea all individuals with 15 points in 15 games. Kyle Pacia of Middletown HS finished in second with 14 points, Aman Patel of Kingston High School and Meteo Wareham of The Mount Academy Team One each had 11 points, Ella Collins of Cornwall Cenrtral HS Team One had 9.5 points.

Playoffs

Semi-Finals

Monroe-Woodbury High School vs The Mount Academy Team One: Kostya Shetekuri’s Three wins and Jordan Glass’s two wins led Monroe-Woodbury to a 7-2 win over The Mount Academy Team One.

The Mount Academy Team Two vs Rondout Valley Hish School: Rondout Valley only had only two players. One would think the match would be an easy win for The Mount Academy since it would get three forfeit wins and needed only two wins out of six games to advance to the finals. . Also, in the fifth round, Rondout Valley lost, 9-0 to The Mount Academy Team Two. This was not the case. The match was tied 3-3 after two sets. Aiden Cullo had two wins and Brian Wiebke won one game. In the third set, Titus Decker and Judah Ben-Eliezer won their games (plus the forfeit win), clinching the match for The Mount Academy Team Two, 6-3.


Consolation Match: Rondout Valley vs The Mount Academy Team One. The match was tied, 3-3, after the second set. Jeff Baird won the third-set game and the forfeit win resulted in The Mount Academy Team One winning the match, 5-4. Brian Wiebke won three games for Rondout Valley.

Rondout Valley’s Brian Wiebke and Aiden Cullo battled their opponents in the playoffs despite odds stacked against them.


Championship Match: The Mount Academy Team Two vs Monroe-Woodbury: Rudi Meier’s two wins and Titus Decker, Stephen Decker, and Judah Ben-Eliezer winning one game each helped The Mount Academy win its first championship, 5-4. Kostya Shetekuri won three games and Jordan Glass one game for Monroe-Woodbury.

While the playoff matches were held in Cornwall High School’s library, the End-Of-Season Swiss tournament took place in the school’s cafeteria. Ella Collins of Cornwall High School finished first the event, wining four games and drawing one. Second-through-four-place finishers, with 3.5 points each and in tie-breaking order, were Carl Tyce of James O’Neill HS, Jensine Orcullo of Cornwall Central HS, and Rourke Bywater of Cornwall Central HS.



End-Of-Season Swiss Tournament: The End-Of-Season Swiss event was also a combination of individual and team tournament. Cornwall Central HS won the team trophy with 14.5 points. Kingston High School, with 11 points, held on to win second place, After a slow start, James O’Neill High School finished in third with 10 points.

Please view the league’s website, mhscl.lktechnodude.com,   for additional information on the 2014-15 season and the league.



Attention Mid-Hudson Valley, New York, High, Junior, and Elementary Schools - If your school is interested in participating in the MHSCL league next year, please email LDKing@yahoo.com

　

One Playoff Spot Claimed; Seven Teams Battle for Three Spots

After nine matches (including three make-up matches), were played January 11 at The Mount Academy. Rondout Valley HS Team One clinched first-place in the Kasparov Division with a 4-0 record and better tiebreaks than Cornwall Central HS Team One (which lost to Rondout Valley HS Team One in round two).


The first tiebreak is head-to-head competition. The second-tiebreak is number of game points.
Cornwall Central Team One clinches second-place if it defeats The Mount Academy in the last round.
 
The Mount Academy Team Two can clinch second-place if it defeats Cornwall Team One and Monroe-Woodbury draws or loses vs Highland Falls Middle School.



There is a possibility of a three-way tie for second-place if Cornwall Central HS Team One loses and both Monroe-Woodbury and The Mount Academy win. If this is a case, Cornwall Central HS Team One has an advantage since it has an eight-game point advantage over Monroe-Woodbury and nine-and-a-half game point advantage over The Mount Academy Team Two.


In the Fischer Conference, Cornwall Central HS Team Two clinches first if it defeats The Mount Academy Team One. The other playoff scenarios are unclear because two postponed matches have to be played in addition to round five matches.


Kostya Shetekuri of Monroe-Woodbury leads individual players with 12 wins in 12 games. Kyle Pacia of Middletown has 11.5 points out of 12 games. Two other players with double-digit points are Thomas Roddy of Rondout Valley Team One with 11 wins in 12 games and Ian Fade of Rondout Valley Team One with 10.5; points in 12 games.



The date of the fifth-round match is February 22, 2014.
 
Please visit mhscl.lkechnodude.com for more information on the league..

MHSCL Kickoffs 2013-14 Season With Swiss Tournament

The Mid-Hudson Scholastic Chess League started it's 12th season by holding a five-round Kick-Off tournament, which was held October 26 at Cornwall Central HS, in Cornwall, NY. Thirty-One high school, middle, and elementary school students participated in the event.

When the fifth round ended, six players had four points, and tiebreaks had to be used to determine the order of finish. Chase Huestis of Cornwall won the tournament. Second through six places, in tie-breaking order, were Titus Decker of The Mount Academy, Ian Fade of Rondout Valley, Michael Liu of Kingston, Ella Collins of Cornwall, and Ryan Lamastro of Rondout Valley HS.


The event was a combination of individual and team tournament. The top four scores of individuals from the same school counted as a team’s points. Rondout Valley HS, returning to the league after a three-year absence, won the team championship on tiebreaks over Cornwall Central (four-time Kick-off and defending champs). Both Rondout Valley and Cornwall HS finished with 14 points. The Mount Academy finished third and Kingston HS finished in fourth. Kingston and The Mount Academy each had 13 points.

Mid-Hudson Scholastic Chess League Is Looking For Teams

The Mid-Hudson Scholastic Chess League (MHSCL), consisting of Mid-Hudson Valley New York School teams, will start its 12^th season next month.

We are looking for additional teams to play in the league. Please view the league website mhscl.lktechnodude.com for detailed information on the league.

 

League’s major events during the 2013-14 season are below (Details to be announced in the future).

1. Late September: Coaches' meeting at Cornwall Central High School.

2. Mid-October: Five-round Kickoff Swiss tournament. The event is open to scholastic players.

3. Late-October to Late February: Starting-to-ending of Match season.

4. Early March: Playoff Matches and Five-round End-Of-Season Swiss tournament.

The tournaments and most of the matches are played at Cornwall Central High School.

If your school is considering or interested in joining the league, please email Larry King at LDKing1313@yahoo.com

We hope you school considers or decides to join the league!

Cornwall Wins Its Fourth Straight Championship!

Cornwall Central HS won its fourth straight championship. There were several firsts in the championship match - It was the first time that a team "two" won; two siblings played each other; and two teams from the same school played each other.

It was the second time two teams from the same school faced each other in the post-season. During the 2009-10 post-season, Cornwall Team One defeated Cornwall Team Two, 5-4 in the semi-finals.

Also, Cornwall was the second school to win four consecutive championships. Newburgh Free Academy accomplished the above from 2004-2007.

　

Semi-finals

James O’Neill HS Team One vs Cornwall Central HS Team One: Alister Collins and Chase Huestis won two games apiece, helping Cornwall defeat James O’Neill HS Team One, 5-4. David Sanz won two games for James O’Neill.

Cornwall HS Team Two vs The Mount Academy Team Two: The Mount Academy almost wiped out a 4.5-1.5 deficit after two sets when Ian Payne and Shawn Burnett won their games in the third set. However, Kyle Emanuele clinched the match for Cornwall, defeating Henry Bowman. The final match score was 5.5-3.5. Ella Collins chipped in two wins, and Nelson Singh scored 1.5 points for Cornwall.

　

Consolation Match
 

The Mount Academy vs James O’Neill HS Team One:
The Mount Academy finished in third place, defeating James O’Neill, 5.4. Shawn Burnett and Mateo Wareham each had two points, and Ian Payne drew two games for The Mount Academy. Nick Fischer won two games, and Timothy Mills scored 1.5 points for O’Neill.

 

Championship Match

Cornwall Central HS Team Two vs Cornwall Central HS Team One: The series was tied 4-4, and Chase Huestis of team One was winning the last game against Kyle Emanuele (Team Two). However, Chase’s king could not move because three pawns and rook surrounded it, and Kyle’s bishop controlled the a8-h1 diagonal. Kyle moved his knight to checkmate Chase’s king, clinching the title for Cornwall Team Two, 5-4. Alister Collins (Team One) won three games, including a victory against his younger sister, Ella.

　

 Cornwall Central HS Team Two. From left to right: Cornwall Coach and Physics Teacher Douglas Stack, Kyle Emanuele, Ella Collins, and Nelson Singh.
 

End-Of-Season Swiss

While the playoffs were held in the library, the five-round End-Of-Season tournament was being played in the cafeteria. The event was opened to players not participating in the post-season. Lucas Donnellan of Cornwall won the seventeen-player event by a 4.5 score. Josh Grossbohlin of Kingston finished in second with 4.0 points. Third-through-fifth place finishers with 3.5 points (in tie-breaking order) were Samuel Ben-Eliezer of The Mount Academy, Vince Orcullo of Cornwall, and John Gougoutris of Kingston. Amar Patel of Kingston finished in sixth on tiebreaks with 3.0 points.

The End-Of-Season Swiss was a combination of individual and team event. The top four individual scores of players from the same school would count as that school’s "team" points. Kingston HS rallied in the last round, scoring three points, to win the team event with 13 points. The Mount Academy finished second with 12 points, Cornwall HS finished third with 10 points, and James O’Neill HS finished in fourth place with 5.0 points.

 Photo: Kingston HS, winners of the End-of-Season Swiss event

 

Please view mhscl.lktechnodude.com for additional information on the season (photos, crosstables, etc)  and the league.