It was an exciting day of chess for the nearly seventy scholastic players who took part in the 2015 Maine Scholastic Individual Championships and for those who came to watch. The format of the event was a four-round Swiss with time control of Game in 60 minutes with a 5-second delay.
In the high school section, highest-rated Matthew Fishbein won his fourth high school championship with a perfect 4.0 points. He was trailed by Bach Nguyen with 3.5 points, and Cameron Wendell, Gregg Wadsworth, and Ezra Briggs who scores 2.0 points apiece.
Ben Amar went unbeaten and untied with 4.0 points to take first in the High School U1200 section. Kyle Blum finished clear second and four players shared the third place spot with 3.0 points: Stan Small, Aaron Wilson-McFarlane, Brendam Penfold, and Omar Khan.
Winners in the High School U1200 section (left to right): Kyle Blum (second) and Ben Amar (first).
In the Junior High School section Nathan Shemwell took the title with a fine 4.0 performance. He was trailed by a pack of players who scored 3.0 points including: Ian Youth, Oliver Brown-Patricio, Kaleb Pendelton, Colby Tuffey, Benjamin Penfold, and Osage Crie.
The previous game opened the door for second-seeded Nathan Shemwell (left) to take the Junior High School title. After Shemwell (from left to right) are pictured: Ian Youth (equal second), Oliver Brown-Patricio (equal second), Osage Crie (equal second), Benjamin Penfold (equal second), Colby Tuffey (equal second) and Kaleb Pendelton (equal second).
Congratulations Ben, Aaron, Nathan and Colby!
