The Delphian School Captures Chess Award at State High School Team Championships

The Oregon High School Chess Team Championships were held Friday and Saturday, February 25th and 26th. The Delphian School team entered the two-day event which was held at Lincoln High School in downtown Portland to determine the state’s top high school chess teams. Thirty-two five-player teams from schools all over the state converged to match wits across chessboards with their rivals for top honors.

The Delphian School’s team of mixed high school and middle school students entered the tournament’s competition for mixed-school groups. Playing in a pool of seventeen other such teams, Delphi’s "Chess Dragons" scored 11 1/2 points out of 20 possible, and took home the trophy for sixth place. The five members of the team included sophomore Ben Jacobs, who was the Dragons’ team captain, sophomore Chris Kevorkian, eighth-graders Chase Von Ach and Molly Hollyman, and fifth-grader Remi Keough.

The team competition was arranged with each team’s top player at "first board," facing the opposing team’s top player. Each team’s second best player was placed at "second board," facing the opposing team’s second best player, and so on. Two members of the Delphian School’s team deserve special mention. Playing at second board, Chris Kevorkian proved unstoppable and won all four of his games, contributing four points to the team’s overall score. Also notable was young Remi Keough’s performance at fourth board. To the dismay of his shocked, much older opponents, Remi was not intimidated, simply taking each game a move at a time and quietly going about his business, ending up on top in three of his four contests.

The tournament did not signal the end of the Delphian School’s season of chess competition. Training continues for another state-level chess tournament to be held in Portland in March, which will determine the state’s top middle and elementary school teams and individual players, as well as the high school individual state champions.

The Delphian School is an independent, co-educational day and boarding school offering college preparatory, English-as-a-Second-Language and summer programs for elementary through high school students. The Delphian School is licensed to use Applied Scholastics educational services.