For the first time in many years, Illinois High School players will have a chance to compete in a US Chess-rated state championship. The five-round, two-day event will be hosted at Maine South High School in Park Ridge February 27 and 28.
The initiative to ressurrect the championship was provided by Maine South Coach Kevin Bachler whose Caveman Chess organization is co-sponsoring the event, along with the school chess team and the ICA.
Details can be found and registration accomplished through the Caveman web site. Entry fees are extremely low for a rated event with state titles attached. It is now posted on the ICA Calendar as well.
The time control will be Game/100 with a five-second delay. A team medley feature will also distribute team awards based on the top four scores from a particular school. This is a vastly different format from the long-running, board-based championships sponsored by the IHSA and to be held this year in Peoria on February 12 and 13.
Bachler recalls the emergence of high school chess in Illinois: "In the early 1970’s IHSA hadn’t yet developed a state championship. Bill Goichberg had just started the National High Championship, a US Chess-rated tournament in 1969, and locally the Chicago Chess Club, Richard Verber, and the Illinois Chess Association started a state high school championship.
Evanston Township High School was the three-time national medley champion in 1972, 1973 and 1974. In 1971 they had finished second by a half-point after a last-round collapse where their top four scorers all lost. (Medley refers to a format where players play individually and add their scores for a team score.)
Bachler, a US Chess Life Master and a Certified Level 5 chess coach (the highest possible certification at this time) recalls his personal history at around that time: "I first played in the Illinois State High School Championship in 1971. Fischer-mania was just kicking in – although I hadn’t come to chess because of Bobby Fischer."
He continues, "The years before 1971 had been tumultuous – Woodstock, Altamont, man landing on the moon, the deaths of Jimi Hendrix, Jim Morrison and Janis Joplin, Kent State, anti-war protests, – the world was changing rapidly. Personally I had some challenges in the years prior with the loss of friends and family members. Chess and football were a personal refuge for me."
"Thanks to Fischer – Spassky, the Illinois High School Championship grew rapidly. It had 110 players in December 1971, 450 in December 1972, 359 in December 1973 as the Fischer-buzz subsided. Nonetheless, Bachler suggests that it was clear that the IHSA event had taken root and was here to stay.
Why does Bachler feel a personal connection to the event? "Because of my personal experience as a player, and also due to my experience as a chess coach, this event always had a special place for me. Illinois has lacked a consistent measure of an open Illinois High School Champion. In some years, the Illinois Chess Coaches Association ran a one-day tournament (one of my students, Robby Rasmussen, won this three times, he was sick the fourth year and didn’t play!)
What will this mean for the Illinois chess landscape? "I’ve always felt that for Illinois to be more competitive nationally, it would help if as a state we had more events at slower time controls for high school students, and also if we had some events that had a format similar to that used by the US Chess National High School Championship."
Bachler suggests he was not alone in reviving this event: "For many years I and other Illinois chess organizers have considered reinstating the event, but in some past years IHSA rules may have made that difficult. Today, chess is clearly classified as an activity by IHSA, without a specified season, and IHSA officials have confirmed that this event does not conflict with any IHSA rules and have given us their best wishes in holding the tournament. I would like to thank them for their assistance in bringing the event back."
What does the future hold? "We have a commitment to running this event and improving it over the next few years in order to provide an additional competitive challenge to Illinois High School Chess players."