Main Story: For the second year in a row, 146 eight-board teams are competing at the Illinois High School Association (IHSA) team championships. The two-day, seven-round event kicked off today, February 12, in Peoria.  Crosstables are being posted here on the IHSA site.

After Round 5: Heading into Round 6 (of 7) three teams remain undefeated. IMSA (Aurora) plays the dark colors at table one against Stevenson (of Linconshire). Whitney Young (of Chicago) plays the dark colors on table two against Glenbrook North (Northbrook) who is one of 19 teams with 4.0/5. 

Seven First Boards have perfect scores including regular US Chess tournament players Hanson Hao, Matthew Stevens, Alex Bian, Jack Curcio, and Anshul Adve.  Belleville West Senior Nino Dakhundaridze has only played one rated event while Senior Yuki Nojima of Hersey (Arlington Heights) has never played in a USCF tournament.  However, Nojima is no stranger to tournament success: he was the top Board One at last year's IHSA event.

After Round 4: Heading into Round 5 (of 7) five teams remain undefeated. Lincoln Park (of Chicago) plays the light colors at table one against Stevenson (of Linconshire). Whitney Young (of Chicago) plays the white on table two against Hindsdale Central. All four teams are 4-0 as is IMSA (of Aurora) which faces Barrington with three wins and a draw. Barrington gets the white colors on table three. Eight board ones have perfect scores.

After Round 3: With three out of seven rounds completed, 10 teams have perfect 3.0 scores including three Chicago schools (Whitney Young, Northside Prep and Lincoln Park), and seven suburban schools Stevenson (Lincolnshire), Evanston Township, IMSA (Aurora), Highland Park, Hindsdale Central, Glenbrook North (Northbrook)  and Maine South (Park Ridge).

Background: The IHSA event has a rich history and is a unique format as team chess goes. Before relocating to Alaska, filmmaker Rick Rysso created the documentary which profiles the amazing event and features many of the coaches who have guided teams over the years.

Betsy Dynako, who today serves as the Chief TD for the event, wrote this piece which was posted on the US Chess site last year before the film's release. Betsy's father, Mike Zacate, is considered the father of the event.

Another write up on the documentary is available on the IHSA site. 

Activity for the 2016 event will be documented here as results merit.