Reminder: NEWCA 2

The second NEWCA tournament of the 2013-2014 season will be held Saturday, January 4th at Waupaca High School. Neenah students should meet at Neenah High School, doorway 6 at least 10 minutes prior to the 7:30 departure. We will be playing four varsity rounds, so the return time is expected to be slightly later than normal.

Tournament Results (NEWCA 1)

On Saturday December 7, the Neenah chess team competed in the first tournament of the Northeastern Wisconsin Chess Association 2013-14 season.  Neenah's varsity Red team went undefeated in three matches, scoring a result of 13-1-1 in 15 individual games.  The defending state champions have won four straight regular season titles.  Saturday's results gave the Red team a slight edge in tiebreaker points over undefeated Marion.  The two rivals will meet head-to-head in Waupaca on January 4.

Neenah's varsity White team, playing the toughest part of their schedule, finished 1-2 for the day but remains in a tie for third place.  Neenah's junior varsity team captured 13 out of 16 possible points, putting them in a second place tie with Marion and Big Falls, who are all 1.5 points behind league leader Waupaca.

Results

2013 Wisconsin State Scholastic Chess Championships (March 16-17)

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.