The Neenah High School chess team is the 2013 Division I state
co-champion! The 2013 Wisconsin State Scholastic Chess Championship was
held on March 16th-17th at the University of Wisconsin - Oshkosh.
Varsity teams play 5 on 5 matches where players are ranked in order of
playing strength with the strongest on board 1. In a section where some
teams feature an expert or even a master on their first board or two,
Neenah played the underdog throughout most of the tournament. After an
upset victory over Brookfield Academy in the second round, Neenah
narrowly suffered their first defeat at the hands of Madison West.
Sunday saw Neenah upset James Madison Memorial High School in the fourth
round, while Madison West lost to undefeated Whitefish Bay High
School. The fifth and final round saw Neenah paired against Whitefish
Bay. Neenah was an underdog for the fourth straight round, but handed
Whitefish Bay their first defeat of the tournament, causing a three-team
tie between Whitefish Bay, Madison West and Neenah.
Neenah's varsity team is comprised of Ryan Thomas, board 1; Thomas
Hameister, board 2; William Cunningham, board 3; Ryan Breuer, board 4;
and Sarah Murphy, board 5. William Cunningham and Ryan Breuer also won
their individual boards outright with scores of 4.0 and 4.5
respectively. Neenah's Junior Varsity team also won the state JV
championship for the third year in a row. The top scorers for Neenah
were Dharma Blurton (5.0), Sam Stern (4.0), Nick Breuer (4.0), Zach
Schmall (4.0), Ty Ueda (4.0), and Eric Payne (4.0).
Neenah also brought several middle school and elementary students to participate in the K8 and K5 sections.
