Chicago Public League Sports Blog

Whitney Young and Northside Prep Finish 2-3 at National Blitz Chess Tournament

Chess is a major deal at Whitney Young. The school busted out the band and even cheerleaders at a Pep Rally to celebrate their state chess cahmpions.(ABC photo)

Whitney Young and Northside are proven chess powers in the state level as Whitney Young won state in chess and Northside Prep finished 8th at the IHSA state tournament.

In addittion, they are showing that they are national powers as well.

"Whitney Young and Northside Prep both sent teams to the big Supernationals tournament this weekend, and at the national blitz tournament Thursday evening, their teams finished #2 and #3 in the nation! (National powerhouse Catalina Foothills from Arizona finished #1.) I think that's an amazing accomplishment for CPS chess," said a reader.

 

 

Final day CPS at state chess tournament blogging

#1 board Sam Schmakle and Whitney Young are undefeated and positioned for a top 3 if not better state finish.

#4 Whitney Young plays #2 Stevenson - both are undefeated. This is one of the marquee matchups in the 5th round. It could have been worthy of a state championship game. The winner will almost surely finish in the top 2 in state.

#7 Northside retains a high ranking of #7 despite suffering their first loss yesterday to undefeated Naperville North. The Mustangs will face off vs Wheaton North in a must win if they want to keep their state trophy hopes alive.

#34 Lane is suddenly playing a relavant game as they face state power Niles North. Niles North was upset yesterday by Richards and want to put their frustrations on a resurgent Lane program who ended yesterday by thumping LIncoln-Way East 61-7 and Downers Grove South 62-6.

Lincoln Park ended yesterday 3-1 and could propel itself to even higher heights if they can upset  Waubonsie Valley.

5th round schedule/scoreboard (# indicated current state tournament ranking)
Whitney Young 57  Stevenson 11
#7 Northside 63  #27 Wheaton North 5
#18 Niles North 39  #34 Lane Tech 29
#12 Waubonsie Valley 43.5  #17 Lincoln Park 24.5
#60 Payton 19  #48 Argo 49
#74 Kelly 37   #84 St.Rita 31
#121 Marshall 18  #112 CMSA 50

6th round scoreboard
Whitney Young 52  Urbana 16
Northside 42.5 Evanston 24.5
Lane 40 Hinsdale South 28
Lincoln Park 56 Moline 12
Cary Grove 46.5 Kelly 21.5
Payton 56 Mundelein 12
CMSA 40 Belleville East 28
Plainfield Central 56 Marshall 12

7th and final round scoreboard
Whitney Young 52 Northside Prep 16
Lincoln Park 25.5 vs IMSA 42.5
Lane Tech 57 Elk Grove Village 11
Stagg 18 Payton 50
Lake Park 11.5 Kelly 62.5
Marshall 27 Proviso West 41
Aurora Central Catholic 56.5 CMSA 11.5

First Day State Chess Tournament Blogging

After Round 1
Northside, Whitney Young, Kelly, Lane Tech, and Payton all came up with easy first round wins. Kelly crushed Joliet Central 68-0. Lincoln Park lost to Urbana 62.5 to 5.5. Marshall had a 47-21 setback to St.Rita.

Round 2 Preview
The competition for all the first round winners have gotten significantly greater as Northside faces Bloomington, Whitney Young has a tough foe in Glenbrook South, Kelly faces Maine South, Lane has Waubonsee Valley, and Payton will try its luck versus Urbana. Kelly, Lane, and Payton will be lucky to get more than a couple wins against some of the better teams in the state. I expect Northside to dominate against Bloomington. I'm not sure how Whitney Young got drawn with traditionally tough Glenbrook South so early in the tournament.

Round 2 Scores
Whitney Young 62.5 Glenbrook South 5.5
Northside 61 Bloomington 7
Waubonsee Valley 57 Lane 11
Maine South 57.5 Kelly 10.5
Urbana 37 Payton 31
Lincoln Park 63 Danville 5
Byron 42 Marshall 26
Chicago Math and Science Charter 43 St. Charles North 25

Round 3 Scores
Whitney Young 68 Illinois Math and Science Academy 0
Northside 64 Riverside-Brookfield 0
Lane Tech 61 Lincoln Way-East 7
Kelly 51 Joliet West 17
Lincoln Park 68 Lemont 0
Bloomington 54 Payton 14
CMAS 0 Bradley Bourbanaisse 68
Marshall 40.5 Streamwood 17.5

Round 4 Scores
Whitney Young 59.5 New Trier 8.5
Naperville North 42.5 Northside 25.5
Urbana 51 Kelly 17
Lane Tech 62 Downers Grove South 6
Lincoln Park 45.5 Normal 22.5
St. Patrick 36 Marshall 32
Payton 49.5 Byron 14.5
Lincoln Way-West 37 CMSA 31

Northside Prep suffers its first loss of the tournament with a 42.5-25. loss to powerful Naperville North. Naperville North had 2 wins and 1 draw in the first 3 board to key their win. Northside still has a chance to place high in tomorrow's final 3 rounds. However, there is no more margin for error. Whitney Young continues it's dominance by shutting out IMSA 68-0 in round 3 and then a large margin of 59.5 to 8.5 over north suburban power New Trier. Whitney Young is one of 6 undefeated teams remaining in the tournament. They are the usual suspects: Naperville North, Stevenson, Evanston, Hinsdale Central, and Benet.

Lincoln Park and Lane Tech both had great first days as they both finished 3-1 after day 1.

Overall great first day for the CPS after day 1. The CPS has one undefeated team and 3 teams at 3-1.

Final 3 rounds will be tomorrow.

CPS Gearing Up for State Chess Tournament

Konrad Wegzyrniak(so-r) of Lane Tech. Lane looks to get its chess program back up to groove after a setback last year. Lane has 4 chess coaches on its team.

The IHSA state chess tournament is this Friday and Saturday. A record 138 teams are in the field.

First round CPS pairings;

#1 Whitney Young vs #33 Argo
#2 Northside vs #34 Kaneland
#4 Urbana vs #36 Lincoln Park
#31 Lane vs #63 Bradley Burbonaise
#63 Kelly vs #103 Joliet Central
#72 Payton vs #109 Princeville
#94 Marshall vs #131 St.Rita

The top two seeds Whitney Young and Northside should easily be able to take care of Argo and Kaneland. Key for them is to win 68-0 to help put in seedings and tiebreaker points later on in the tournament. Northside is expected to put up seniors in 3 of its top 4 boards. So they are experienced and ready to go for a state trophy. Whitney Young beat Northside 36-32 to win the CPS championship, but out of the 8 boards, each team took 4 boards. So the two teams are very close.  They are right up there state wise. I would say there are maybe 12 teams including Northside and Whitney Young who have serious state trophy chances.

Lincoln Park has a tough opening draw vs #4 seed Urbana- who is always a trophy contender. Lane- a #31 seed opens with Bradley Bourbainaise. It was only a couple years ago that Lane was a top 10-15 type chess program every year. Lane has 4 chess coaches on its state roster this year and look to have a good showing. For this year's Lane team 5-2 is very optimistic. I'd say 4-3 or better and that would be good.

Watch out for Mark Jungo(fr) of Kelly. Jungo is Kelly's #1 board and he is only a freshman.

Whitney Young, Northside Seeded #1 and #2 at state tournament

Edmond Jay(sr) and Northside look to improve on their 5th place state finish from last year. The Mustangs are seeded 2nd in the state tournament.

Whitney Young and Northside are the #1 and #2 seeds at the State chess championship this week.

Northside Prep is a senior dominated team: Chengliang Luo, Edmond Jay, Aamir Ansari, Alex Bologna, Ahmed Akhtar, Mohammed Harris Khan.

They joined a team that finished 65th at State in 08-09, they finished 30th their freshmen year, then 8th, then won Northside's first CPS city championship in 2012 and finished 5th at State, and now they have earned the #2 seed at State again.

CPS Chess Tournament 2013 - Full Results

January 26, 2013
CPS Chess Tournament - Full Results

• Whitney Young recaptures city title with 36-32 win over Northside.
• Lane 3rd, Lincoln Park 4th.

What to Expect for the CPS this Winter...Part 2

Northside Prep, 5th in the state last year, has gotten an additional boost with the appointment of International Chess Master Florin Felecan as head chess coach.

Chess
For years it was Lane and Whitney Young battling for city chess supremacy. Whitney Young is still there, but Northside Prep has asserted itself another major player. Northside Prep busted out last year with its first city championship in chess after a close 36-32 win over Whitney Young. Whitney Young and Northside Prep entered the state meet #1 and #2 seeds. Whitney Young ended up with a 3rd place state trophy and Northside Prep had its highest state finish ever with a 5th place finish. The two will be at it again this year. Northside Prep had only one senior out of thirteen players on its state roster. Whitney Young returns 7 out its top 9 players including its top 3. Kelly, 21st in the state last year, looks to rebuild after heavy graduation losses. Lane Tech should be improved and Lincoln Park could be a factor at the city tournament.

Boys Swimming

Mossimo Chavez(so) of Whitney Young broke a CPS medalist slump at the boys state swim meet by finishing 11th in the 50 yard free style. A lot of eyes will be on Chavez to see if he can improve on his finish. Mossimo is the younger brother of former Nortside Prep star Alexa Chavez.  Alexa won 13 CPS swimming titles for Northside and now swims at the University of Illinois.

The CPS title will come down to either Whitney Young, Lane Tech, or Northside Prep. Whitney Young has won 3 CPS championships in a row. Northside Prep was second last year, only 12 points behind Whitney (boy does NCP wish they had Mossimo Chavez), and perennial power Lane looks to bounce back after not participating as a team at the CPS meet last year due to disciplinary reasons. Lane will be boosted this year by members of its sophomore team from last year that won the sophomore title by 135 points.

IM Florin Felecan Appointed Chess Coach at Northside College Prep

Northside Prep, 5th in the state this year, has gotten an additional boost with the appointment of International Chess Master Florin Felecan.

CHICAGO -- Northside College Prep High School is pleased to announce the appointment of International Master Florin Felecan as coach of the Mustang Chess Team.

With the appointment of IM Felecan, Northside Prep will be one of the few chess programs in Illinois to be headed by a coach carrying a performance-based title awarded by the World Chess Federation. 

IM Felecan is one of the highest rated tournament players in the country and a professional chess instructor. He is a key player for the “Chicago Blaze,” Chicago’s own professional chess team. In addition, IM Felecan is a former junior national champion of Romania.  IM Felecan went undefeated in winning the 1998 National Denker Tournament of High School Champions in Hawaii. He continues to compile an extraordinary record in tournament chess.

IM Felecan steps into his new role following the departure of Jeff Caveney. Coach Caveney built the chess program at Northside Prep over three seasons. Caveney, who relocated to New York at the end of the season, coached the Mustangs to their first-ever Chicago Public Schools All-City Championship in 2012. He then guided the team to a fifth place finish at the Illinois High School Association’s state championship tournament in February.

 ``I am very pleased with the team's friendly, learning atmosphere -- a very good sign that the program built by Coach Jeff Caveney was on the right track,’’ Felecan said. ``The team has plenty of developing talent. Together with my extensive teaching and team experience, we are hoping to successfully attack the IHSA State Championship in the next few years. Meanwhile, we are going to have fun perfecting our skills on a daily basis and building higher levels of competitiveness with our newest members.’’

Faculty Coach Dan Caldwell said IM Felecan would bring a strong strategic focus to the Northside program for many years.  During the recruiting process, Coach Caldwell said he was struck by IM Felecan’s impressive tournament history. But Caldwell said he was also impressed by IM Felecan’s dedication to chess instruction and his use of new technologies in that process.

 “I am tremendously excited to have Florin coaching our team,’’ Coach Caldwell said. “The Northside chess team has had wonderful competitive success over the past three years, but the full story still hasn’t been written.  This wonderful team and its dedicated players deserve an excellent coach who can guide them further.”

Breakdown of Northside-Stevenson match at State

Northside Prep will return almost everyone next year from a team that finished 5th in state. Pictured above is Christian Kavouras(so-left) of Northside Prep.

I agree with you that it is no shame to lose to Stevenson. This year the top 8 seeds were very deep, and any match between them was bound to be tight. Notice that the champion and the seven 6-1 teams were all the top 8 seeds -- no underdog was able to break into this group, unlike last year.I want to congratulate Stevenson for playing an outstanding match against Northside. Stevenson's combination of strength on the top boards and depth on the bottom boards was very impressive. Their players were the only ones to beat Northside's Boards 1, 3, 7 and 8 the whole tournament.

On Boards 1 and 3, Kent Cen and Matt Yang took advantage of the White pieces very well, chose good and challenging opening variations, and obtained early advantages that could not be recovered from. On Board 2, Josh Dubin played a great King's Indian. Northside had to hope for a Board 4-8 sweep, but Stevenson's bottom boards were too tough. I was very proud of Jayce Feiger, Aamir Ansari, and Alex Bologna for their wins against very tough competition from Stevenson. Feiger and Ansari scored perfect 7-0 records and won 1st place in the State on Boards 4 and 5.

Here in CPS, we focus on competing against Whitney Young with a dominant Board 1 -- we know we most likely have to dominate Boards 2-8 to beat them. Stevenson presented a new challenge with Dubin, a dominant Board 2, which made them a tougher match-up against the Northside team.

I also want to point out that Northside's victory over Neuqua Valley in Round 7 was not easy! The match was not decided until the final 5-6 minutes, when the top 3 Boards and Board 6 were still going. Northside had a 25.5 to 2.5 lead, but Neuqua Valley had the advantage on Boards 1, 2 and 6, and Board 3 was a close to equal position. If those evaluations held up, Neuqua Valley could have won 37.5 to 30.5. But on Board 3 Edmond Jay took excellent advantage of his opponent's time trouble, put pressure on him, and the opponent lost a rook. Jay converted smoothly to clinch the match and the 6-1 record for Northside. Bologna followed with an inspired comeback win from a lost position, and Chengliang Luo fought amazingly hard to hold a draw on Board 1 even though he was behind on the clock with 1 minute vs. his opponent's 25 minutes at one point in the game. 

I'm very proud of all the Northside players for their excellent performance in this tournament. They scored at least 5 points on every single board, and finished with 46 wins, 3 draws, and only 7 losses. It's an honor and a pleasure to coach them.

Jeff Caveney

Northside Prep coach

CPS Impressive at State Chess Tournament

IHSA State Chess Tournament Top 20 Teams
1. Niles North
2. Stevenson
3. Whitney Young
4. Urbana
5. Northside Prep
6. Glenbrook South
7. Hinsdale Central
8. Evanston
9. Nequa Valley
10. Naperville North
11. Illinois Math and Science Academy
12. Benet
13. New Trier
14. Barrington
15. Bloomington
16. Mount Prospect
17. Kelly
18. Buffalo Grove
19. Bradley Bourbanais
20. Metea Valley

Other CPS team finishes:
21. Lincoln Park
63 Marshall
65. Lane Tech
108. ACE Tech

Top CPS individual finishers by board

Board 1: 6. Sam Schmakel(so)- Whitney Young
Board 2: 5. Charles Swan(jr)- Whitney Young, 7. Felipe Quiroz(sr)- Kelly 10. Gar Crowell(sr)- Lincoln Park
Board 3: 1. Jimi Akintande(fr)- Whitney Young 3. Jay Edmond(jr)- Northside Prep
Board 4: 1. Jayce Feiger(sr)- Northside
Board 5: 1. Amir Ansari(jr)- Northside
Board 6: 4. Alex Bologna(jr)- Northside
Board 7: 5. Slvisla Djukic(fr)- Northside,  8. Marshawn Richards(sr)- Marshall
Borad 8: 16. Ga Luang Liu(jr)- Whitney Young