For the second year in a row, Chicago's Whitney Young has claimed the IHSA state chess championship. Young won all seven rounds, closing out the tournament with a 48.5-19.5 drubbing of previously-undefeated Hinsdale Central.

The Hinsdale squad was one of seven teams to finish at 6.0/7, essentially tying for second place. On tiebreaks, Benet Academy of Lisle won official second place honors, Hinsdale took third, with University Lab School of Urbana claiming fourth. Whitney Young managed to defeat all three schools in the fourth, seventh and sixth rounds respectively.

Young also gave Niles North its only black mark of the two-day tournament, defeating the Skokie high school 58-10 in the second round. Niles North placed eighth on tiebreaks in the 6.0/7 group.

Benet handed Evanston Township its only defeat in the fifth round, 41.5-26.5. The Evanston team finished in sixth on tiebreaks.

Hinsdale served as spoiler against fellow 6.0/7 teams, Northside Prep of Chicago (5th round) and Stevenson of Lincolnshire (4th round). Northside took fifth on tiebreaks, Stevenson placed seventh.

Clearly the key to victory among the top-finishing teams was depth with none of the top eight teams fielding more than a pair of top-scoring players.

Despite its solid team success, Whitney Young had only one individual medalist. Jimi Akintonde finished second on 2nd Board with 6.5/7.

Of the teams tying for second place, Benet's Matthew DeMario posted a 6.5/7 on Board Six to claim top honors. Benet's 2nd board, Max Zinski, had the top tiebreak among 6.0/7 finishers to place third.

Stevenson sophomore Allen Guo was one of three perfect 7.0/7 scores on first board, with Guo claiming top honors on tiebreaks.

Hinsdale's Zhen Mo and University Lab's Troy Xu both posted 7.0/7's on Board Five, along with two others, with Mo claiming the top tiebreak.

Northside Prep was lead by sophomore Ryan Toepfer's third board championship. Toepfer was perfect as was freshman Alec Feygin of Glenbrook South and Naperville North junior Matthew Wu. Toepfer compiled the top tiebreaks.

Evanston Township's Nathan Holzmueller and Xander Nicloson contributed 6.5/7 scores to their team success. Holzmueller placed fifth on fifth board, Nicloson wound up in fourth place on Board Seven.

Despite its team success, Niles North did not have an individual medalist on any of the eight boards, a testament to the value of consistency.

Upon completion of the overall IHSA tournament, the Illinois Chess Coaches Association awards team honors based on school enrollment size. This year's winners were Naperville North, Division 6A; Glenbrook South, Division 5A; Wheaton Warrenville South, Division, 4A; Richards High School (Oak Lawn), Division 3A; IMSA (Aurora), Division 2A; and Indian Creek High School (Shabonna), Division 1A. The complete results based upon divisions can be found below.

Source: Illinois Chess Coaches Association.

Overall IHSA Finals Team Winners
	Tournament Rank	Pts	Tie-Break	City (School Name)	School Enrollment
	1	7.0	127.4	Chicago (Whitney Young)	3262
	2	6.0	105.5	Lisle (Benet Academy)	2204
	3	6.0	104.9	Hinsdale (Central)	2830
	4	6.0	103.0	Urbana (University)	415
	5	6.0	100.7	Chicago (Northside)	1765
	6	6.0	98.7	Evanston (Twp.)	2987
	7	6.0	83.1	Lincolnshire (Stevenson)	3857
	8	6.0	77.7	Skokie (Niles North)	2198
Division 6A (27 schools)
Division Rank	Overall Rank	Pts	Tie-Break	City (School Name)	School Enrollment
1	9	5.0	105.3	Naperville (North)	3112
2	10	5.0	81.5	Naperville (Neuqua Valley)	3960
3	14	5.0	73.8	Chicago (Lane)	6667
4	19	5.0	64.7	Naperville (Central)	2899
5	27	5.0	49.7	Palatine (Fremd)	2738
Division 5A (23 schools)
Division Rank	Tournament Rank	Pts	Tie-Break	City (School Name)	School Enrollment
1	12	5.0	77.4	Glenview (Glenbrook South)	2656
2	15	5.0	72.4	Aurora (Waubonsie Valley)	2590
3	25	5.0	57.3	Chicago (Kelly)	2646
Division 4A (22 schools)
Division Rank	Tournament Rank	Pts	Tie-Break	City (School Name)	School Enrollment
1	16	5.0	71.1	Wheaton (W. Warrenville South)	2222
2	18	5.0	67.6	Glen Ellyn (Glenbard West)	2224
3	20	5.0	62.0	Chicago (Lincoln Park)	2223
4	21	5.0	61.2	Highland Park	2028
5	24	5.0	57.9	Mt. Prospect (Prospect)	2087
6	26	5.0	56.5	Downers Grove (North)	2107
Division 3A (19 schools)
Division Rank	Tournament Rank	Pts	Tie-Break	City (School Name)	School Enrollment
1	22	5.0	60.8	Oak Lawn (Richards)	1646
2	30	4.5	50.3	Oak Park (Fenwick)	1976
Division 2A (24 schools)
Rank  within Division	Tournament Rank	Pts	Tie-Break	City (School Name)	School Enrollment
1	11	5.0	79.4	Aurora (IMSA)	1387
2	13	5.0	74.5	Bloomington (H.S.)	1438
3	23	5.0	58.2	Urbana (H.S.)	1071
4	28	5.0	45.3	Peoria (Richwoods)	1369
Division 1A (22 schools)
Rank within Division	Tournament Rank	Pts	Tie-Break	City (School Name)	School Enrollment
1	54	4.0	38.7	Shabbona (Indian Creek)	247
2	64	4.0	31.8	Niles (Northridge Prep)	544