2012 National Chess Championships

The Neenah Chess Team traveled to Minneapolis this weekend to compete in the 7 round 2012 National High School Chess Championships.  9 Neenah players competed in various sections of the tournament, playing in games that lasted up to four hours each.

 In each section, 4 players make up a full team, but in the unrated section our 3 players accumulated enough points to finish in 15th place despite being shorthanded.  Junior Eric Payne finished in 9th place overall in that section with 5.5 out of 7 points.  Nick Breuer, an 8th grader at Shattuck Middle School finished in 16th place in the U800 section with 5 out of 7 points, and Senior Patrick Cunningham finished in 25th place with 5 out of 7 points in the very tough U1600 section.  Congratulations to all of the Neenah chess players for their fantastic results!

2012 Nationals Day Three

Yesterday's results were mixed for Neenah, as all of our undefeated players lost or drew at least once by the end of the day.  Most have won at least half their games, and several have already clinched winning records.  As I write this, our top two players, Nick Breuer (5.0) and Eric Payne (5.5) have returned from round six with victories, while the others are still playing.

2012 Nationals Day Two

The cold, wet weather was easily outshone by the heated competition inside the Hyatt Regency Minneapolis on Friday.  The good news trickled in throughout the first round as one by one, all nine Neenah players came back to the skittles rooms and reported victory.  Things cooled slightly in the second round as we captured 5 1/2 out of the 9 possible points.  5 Neenah players remain undefeated, but much can change on Saturday!

2012 Nationals Day One

The chess team "bus" arrived safe and sound in Minneapolis on Thursday afternoon.  The kids and their travel-weary coach had enough time to check in and grab a quick supper before participating in the K-12 blitz tournament.  There are some very strong players in the blitz, and while our players did win about half their games, the top competition was too strong for a great showing.  But as the main goal of playing in the blitz was to have fun and warm up for the main event, our mission was a success!

The St Paul Pioneer Press has a nice article on the first day of the tournament.  Three of our players made appearances.  Aaron Lambrecht can be seen playing while one of the TDs is being interviewed in the video, and Ryan Breuer is visible shaking hands with his opponent in the last photo in the article.  Sarah Murphy is quoted in the article itself!