2015 Championship Results

It was the Oregon state championships and teams gathered in the large playing area. The teams noisily jostled into position and the executive director quickly went over rules and finally announced "Let the games begin." Suddenly a silence encompassed the room and spectators stepped away, avoiding facial contact with the players as spectators are not allowed to influence the games.

Players were poised over chess boards, lined up in groups of five. Quiet thunks of chess pieces being moved and chess clocks being pressed predominated. It was the start of the Oregon High School Chess Team State championships being held at Portland Community College Sylvania Campus on February 27th and 28th.

The tournament consisted of five rounds, each round lasting up to two hours, spread over two days.

Lincoln rose to the top after beating Wilson, Crescent Valley and Jesuit. Clackamas also entered the fourth round undefeated after beating South Salem, LaSalle and Junction City. Lincoln and Clackamas were paired against each other in round 4 and an intense battle ensued. As the round came down to minutes left, the score was Lincoln 2.5 , Lincoln 0.5 which seemed to indicate Lincoln was likely to win. Then on board 1, Yogi Saputra from Clackamas managed to beat Clemen Dang from Lincoln and the score was 2.5 to 1.5 with one last game was in play. The clock with ticking with less than five minutes left for each player on board 4. There were only a few pawns and a lone knight left on the board with the two kings. It was a race to see who could promote a pawn into a queen first. An illegal move resulted in a time penalty against Ben Tan (Clackamas) who then had to make moves even more quickly. But Duane Lee (Lincoln) made a bad move that quickly collapsed into a loss. There was celebration from the Clackamas team as they were still in the running for state champion. So the two teams remain in a tie for first place as they entered the final round as both had 3.5 points.

In the final round, Jesuit managed to derail Clackamas, a team that once again had to deal with intense pressure. The score was Jesuit 2.5 to Clackamas 0.5 with two boards still in play. Clackamas was determined not to get a full loss and Yogi Saputra on board 1 and Val Truchak on board 2 managed to both win resulting in a draw. Clackamas ended with 4 points. However, Lincoln defeated Pleasant Hill and ended the tournament with 4.5 points and clear first place overall. Jesuit won third place with 3.5 points.