SCI Individual Championships

1/30/2010 Scholastic Chess of Indiana Individual State Finals
     The 21st annual Scholastic Chess of Indiana Individual State Finals were held in Anderson on Jan. 30, 2010. After being held at East Side Middle School for the past eight years, we were bumped from the calendar just before Christmas and had to scramble to find an alternate site on short notice. We thank those parents who were patient with the cramped facilities.

     Scholastic state champions were crowned in six divisions, and $4000 in scholarships were awarded in the U.S. Chess Federation (USCF) rated tournament.

     In the high school division (12th Grade & Under), freshman Steven Cooklev of Fort Wayne came from behind in the last round to place clear first with 4.5 out of 5 games. Cooklev won the Teddy Jacobi $2000 scholarship (Jacobi), and will be Indiana's representative to the Arnold Denker Tournament of High School Champions, an annual competition which brings together the high school champions from each of the 50 states. This was Cooklev’s first state championship.

     Top-seeded Sean Vibbert won all five of his games to claim the 9th Grade & Under Championship. The seventh grader from Evansville won the $1,000 Billy Colias Scholarship (Colias). Vibbert has now won $3000 in SCI scholarships. He was also 6th & Under Champion in 2008 and 2007, and 3rd & Under Champion in 2006 and 2005.

     The 6th Grade & Under Championship division ended in a tie for the second year in a row, remarkably by the same players. However, the results were reversed. Fort Wayne fifth graders Ricky Lou and Jonathan Zhou each finished with 4.5 points out of 5. On tie breaks, Ricky Lou won the $1,000 Brian Yamin Scholarship (Yamin), which Zhou had claimed on tie breaks in 2009.

     Another top-seeded player, third grader Sam Witwer of Bluffton, was the clear winner in the 3rd Grade & Under division, winning all 6 of his games. Witwer had tied for first in 2008.

     The 9th Grade & Under Junior Varsity division (open to players with a USCF rating under 1000) also had a clear winner. Ninth grader Kenneth Koontz of Winona Lake finished with 5 points out of 5 to win his first state championship.

     There was a two-way tie in the 6th Grade & Under Junior Varsity division (open to players with a USCF rating under 750.) Each scoring a perfect 5 out of 5 games were sixth grader Brandon Schrameyer and fifth grader Ryan Schlichter, both from Goshen. Since they won all their games with no ties or draws, they were declared co-champions, the first state championship for each of them.

     The local site coordinators were Scott Reisinger and Steve Steppe.  Chief Tournament Directors were Steve Steppe and Tracey Vibbert.  E-mail for further details.

 

STANDINGS IN TIE BREAK ORDER

 

USCF Rating Report (NOT in tie break order - in rating order within score groups) (If you click the pairing number in front of your name, you can see full details on every game you played - opponents, opponents’ final scores, etc. The “R” refers to your regular rating; the “Q” refers to your “Quick Chess” rating. Games with time controls between 30-60 minutes are dual-rated and affect both your Regular and Quick ratings.)

 

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