Naperville North Claims 2014-15 IHSA Crown Over Stevenson, USCF-Unrated Yuki Nojima of Hersey Lone Perfect Board One

With five boards completed in the seventh round, Stevenson needed just one more win from one of its three top boards to secure the 2015 IHSA title.

Stevenson (of Lincolnshire) and Naperville North were the final two undefeateds heading into the last games of the two-day tournament in Peoria. 

But when North's Bradley Guan managed a draw against Lincolnshire's Alex Bian on Board One, and Mark Reed and Matthew Wu prevailed on Boards Two and Three, it was the Naperville team claiming the 2015 IHSA Chess Championship.

For Naperville North Coach Jeff Di Orio, it was his first state championship since taking over duties in 2008. The Naperville North team had previously won the state title in 2004.

Stevenson claimed second place on tiebreaks amongst a field of six teams with 6.0/7 scores. It was the third time in four years that Stevenson was the runner up and the fourth time in the past six years. Stevenson earned the championship in 2008.

Stevenson's tiebreak was 133.6 to 101.6 for third place New Trier (of Winnetka). Hinsdale Central was fourth at 99.3 with Evanston Township fifth at 88.4. Glenbrook South (83.9) and Neuqua Valley (73.1) were also 6.0/7 scorers.

A record 146 squads competed in the two-day tournament held Feb. 13-14 at the Peoria Civic Center.

All seven of the top finishing teams came from northern Illinois. Of the top 30 teams this year, 80% are northern Illinois schools.

Hersey High School's Yuki Nojima, a junior with no apparent USCF experience, posted the lone 7.0/7 tally on first board. None of his opponents finished in the top 30 (5.0/7). Two freshmen, Alex Bian of Stevenson and Daniel Bronfeyn of Mundelein scored 6.5's. Only one of Daniel's opponents finished in the top 30 while all four of Alex's last matches were against top 30 finishers.

Also posting 6.0's at Board One were George Li (New Trier, Winnetka), Max Zinski (Benet Academy, Lisle), Jonathan Hrach (Highland Park), Spencer Lehmann (Barrington), Mark Mateica (Taft, Chicago), Jason Drews (Cary Grove), Ben Nielsen (Community West, Normal), Hiro Higuchi (Schaumburg), Penny Xu (Urbana), Michael Dula (Northridge Prep, Niles), Dexter Dale, Jr. (Leo of Chicago), Devon Janececk (Reavis of Burbank), and Logan Rodgers (Rockford Jefferson).

Within the 5.5 score group, the champion's Bradley Guan was the top tiebreak, ahead of Gavin McClanahan (Glenbrook South), Andrew Fei (Dunlap), Drew Sansom (Chicago De La Salle) and Glen Lehrer (York of Elmhurst).

At 5.0, Whitney Young Senior Jimi Akintonde had the top tiebreak, ahead of freshman Jack Curcio of Maine South, Eli Goering (Evanston), Nathan Xu (Palatine Fremd), Timothy Zhou (IMSA / Aurora), Andrew Shao (Naperville Central), Nathan McWilliams (Glenbard South), James Saathoff (East Peoria) and Sam Chang (Hindsdale South).

On Board Two, three competitors posted 6.5/7's including the previously mentioned Mark Reed, Nate Kranjc of Benet Academy and Colby Timmons of Olympia High School of Stanford.  Seven second boards were a half-point back at 6.0 with Stevenson's James Wei, a freshman, holding the top tiebreak.

Board Three saw two perfect scores: Jeff Bikus of Mundelein (freshman) and Tyler Tompkins (sophomore) of Hindsdale Central. Five third boarders posted 6.5's including Naperville North's Matthew Wu with the top tiebreak.

Downers Grove South's Predrag Radakovic earned the only perfect score on Board Four. Pranav Raman of Hoffman Estates was a half-point back at 6.5, overcoming a first round draw.

Austin Kerwin of St. Ignatius College Prep (Chicago), a junior, was the lone perfect scorer on Board Five. A half-point back were Aaron Willer of Naperville North and Noah Pearson at Community West of Normal.

Board Six saw four perfect scores from Rahul Sinha (Community of Normal), Emily McClanahan (Glenbrook South), Ethan Lyons (Downers Grove North), and Stephen Leung (Neuqua Valley). Emily is a freshman, the other three are seniors.

Marcus Favila of Community High School in Oak Lawn was the only perfect score on Board Seven, a half-point ahead of Michael Kumicich of Marist in Chicago. Both are juniors.

Marcus' teammate Zak Mackovitch had the only perfect score on eighth board. Tyler Johnson of Palatine and Abhi Prabhu of Waubonsie Valley (Aurora) were a half-point back with 6.5's. All three are sophomores.

The Illinois Chess Coaches Association awards additional team awards based upon school size. Lane Tech of Chicago had the top tiebreak among 6A teams with 5.0 points ahead of Naperville Central, two-time defending state champions Whitney Young, Palatine, Downers Grove South and Barrington.

Benet Academy had the top tiebreak among eight 5.0-scoring teams in Division 5A.

Division 4A saw four teams with 5.0's with Highland Park yielding the top tiebreak. Northside of Chicago, Glenbrook North and Community High School of Normal were in the same score group.

IMSA topped Division 3A with a 5.0, ahead of Bloomington, Danville and Peoria Richwoods on tiebreaks.

Peoria-suburb Dunlap had the only 5.0 among 2A schools. Five teams had 4.0's including Urbana, Sterling, Charleston, Freeport and University High School of Normal.

Four squads had 4.0's among Division 1A schools with Heyworth running away with the ICCA award on tiebreaks with 56.0. Byron (31.7), Stillman Valley (31.6) and Bismarck-Henning (27.1) also posted 4.0 tallies. Brimfield went 3.5.

Sterling Coach Joel Penne was named the ICCA's Coach of the Year (pictured on right receiving award from 2014 Coach of the Year Dylan Canavan).

ICCA results can be found here.

IHSA results are posted here.

The event was not rated from a USCF perspective.

Of the 146 competing high schools, 110 came from the northeast quadrant of the Prarie State with an additional nine teams coming from the northwest sector. 27 high schools traveled to Peoria from downstate locations, 11 of which were from the Peoria area with four Bloomington-Normal area schools from approximately 40 miles away.

Of the remaining 12 downstaters, those coming from the furthest away included Belleville West and East who traveled 170 miles, Mount Vernon who came 216 miles, and Bluford High School in Webber which commuted 224 miles.

From the north, Waukegan put on the most miles, just under 200. 16 Chicago-based schools participated, each traveling over 165 miles to Peoria.