Eight of the eleven high school teams part of the Chicago Chess Conference (CCC) competed on Saturday, January 25th in the postseason CCC Tournament hosted by St. Ignatius College Prep, a private, coeducational Jesuit Catholic school located in the Near West Side neighborhood of Chicago. With the beautiful 4th floor library as the setting, students from St. Rita, Mt. Carmel, DePaul, Brother Rice, De La Salle, St. Rita, St. Patrick, Francis W. Parker, and St. Ignatius sat down at their chess boards at 10:15am to battle for conference glory. Tensions were already high after the final CCC regular season match (Game 30 minutes, 5-second delay) that wrapped up just minutes earlier, with St. Ignatius going undefeated and earning 10 season wins and Parker finishing second for their second year in the CCC with 9 wins and 1 loss to Ignatius. It was clear that Ignatius and Parker would be fighting for supremacy once again.

  The tournament rules included a time control of game 45 minutes, 5-second delay, three to four rounds depending on when a clear winner was determined, teams composed of 8 players with a total of 68 points to be earned by a team in a match, and teams in each pairing being white (playing with the white pieces on boards 1, 3, 6, and 8 & black on 2, 4, 5, and 7) or black (playing with the black pieces on boards 1, 3, 6, and 8 & white on 2, 4, 5, and 7). Round 1 of the tournament saw a win for Parker (black) over De La Salle (white) 56-12, a win for St. Ignatius (W) over Mt. Carmel (B) 44-24, a win for DePaul (W) over St. Patrick (B) 52-5, and a draw for Brother Rice (W) and St. Rita (B) 34-34. Round 2 featured a win for Parker (W) over St. Rita (B) 56-12, Mt. Carmel (W) sweeping Brother Rice (B) 68-0, a win for St. Ignatius (B) over DePaul (W) 50-18, and a win for De La Salle (B) over St. Patrick (W) 43.5-13.5. By round 3, only St. Ignatius and Francis W. Parker remained undefeated, setting up a rematch between the season champions and the team that had put up the best fight against them.

   A hard-fought match for the 2025 CCC Tournament Title resulted in a strong win for Francis W. Parker (B) over St. Ignatius (W) 47-21. Other results included a win for Brother Rice over St. Patrick, a win for Mt. Carmel over St. Rita, and a win for DePaul over De La Salle. Titans of chess in the Chicago area had clashed, and Parker overthrew the multiyear CCC Tournament winning streak of Ignatius. When the dust settled, I asked the coaches of both schools what happened.

 

What do you think has made your Chess Team so successful this season?

 

St. Ignatius Chess Coach and CCC President Hector Hernandez -

“Having students who show commitment, dedication and hard work. Some people say I have a passion for chess, and I communicate that to my students. Not long ago, a friend commented, ‘Your students always finish at or near the top!’”

 

Francis W. Parker Chess Coaches Matt McCaw & Lisa Williams -

“Chess really took off at Parker in the last few years. Many of our students benefited from an after-school program that we've had in the lower school for a few years, while many others took up serious play online which led them to consider pursuing serious over the board play. We also benefited from having some students join us who had been active in the CPS chess program for many years. After a promising first season we benefited from having more structured practice, more game review and from the increased interest based on our results and participation at State last year.”

 

What do you think led to the win against St. Ignatius after losing to them in the regular season?

 

“We spent a lot of time reviewing our mistakes from our first meeting and tried to go into the match with a better plan.”

 

What do you think led to the loss against Francis W. Parker?

 

“Problems in the openings and playing three tough matches prior to the Parker match. The match just before the tournament started, vs. Mt. Carmel, was played at G30 time control. One of my players needed to win his game to take the first-place Individual trophy in the Conference, but he lost, with time likely contributing, and this may have affected his performance for the later rounds. The Conference tournament was played at G45, instead of the usual G55. Again, faster than what our players are used to. We were also missing our Board 4 player, forcing everyone below him to play a board higher. Parker wanted the win more than us.”

Caption 1:

Teams battle it out in the St. Ignatius library during round 2 of the tournament.

 

Caption 5:

Francis W. Parker (left) and Saint Ignatius (right) face off in the final round.