2005 Oklahoma State Scholastic Chess Championship

John Cope of Booker T Washington High in Tulsa won the Oklahoma Scholastic High School Championship on March 12 with a perfect 5-0 score after his 4^th round victory over last year’s champion and this year’s 2^nd place finisher Cris Spencer. For this achievement John was awarded a $500 scholarship to represent Oklahoma at the Arnold Denker Tournament of High School Champions in August at the US Open in Phoenix.

Destiny Sawyer of King’s Pawns Homeschoolers was victorious in a blitz playoff with Rebecca Twilley of Carl Albert High in Midwest City. They were in a 3-way tie for 3^rd place and tied for the top finishing high school girl with 3.5 points apiece. Destiny earned a $500 scholarship to represent Oklahoma at the Susan Polgar National Invitational for Girls to be held at the US Open.

Carl Albert High School pulled ahead of Booker T Washington in the last round for the High School Team Championship.

Dax Chapman of Monte Cassino in Tulsa came away from a perfect 5-0 day with the Grades 6-9 Championship. He received a $200 scholarship that will be used for participation in SuperNationals at Nashville in April. Devin Hughes of Heritage Hall in Edmond was close behind in 2^nd place, going undefeated with 4 wins and a draw.

The Grade 6-9 Team Championship was earned by Will Rogers Jr High of Claremore, led by Dakota White and Mikie Record who were part of a 4-way tie for 3rd with 4 wins apiece.

The K-6 Open Championship was won by Drew Cottrill of Tulsa Union for the 3^rd year in a row with a perfect 5-0 score!! For this accomplishment he received a $200 scholarship to participate in SuperNationals or a summer chess camp. 2^nd place Matt Karber with a 4-0 score led Edmond’s Central Middle School to the Grade K-6 Open team Championship.

K-6 Under 700 Co-Champions were Zach Gilroy of Jenks Southeast Elementary and Carey McCachern of Deer Creek Elementary in Edmond. Both were unrated coming into the tournament. 3^rd place finisher Nicholas Twilley of Swartz Elementary was also undefeated with 4 wins after a 1^st round half point bye.

The K-6 Under 700 Team Championship was taken home by the 25 players from Madison Elementary School in Norman. They were led by Austin Echols, Drew Mullinix and Xin Shu who were in a 9-way tie for 4^th place with 4 points on the day.

K-4 Open Co-Champions were Becky Huang of Northern Hill Elementary in Edmond and Susanna Shaffer of King’s Pawns Homeschoolers. They played each other to a draw in the 4^th round and won all of their other games. Afterward they met each other again in a blitz tiebreak for a $200 scholarship to participate in SuperNationals or a summer chess camp. Becky Huang won the playoff and the scholarship.

For the second year in a row, Monte Cassino of Tulsa took home the K-4 Open Championship. They were led by Ryan Nigh who was tied for 3^rd with a 4-1 score.

The OSCO Policy Board Election was conducted during the lunch break before the 3^rd round. The new OSCO Policy Board includes: President - Robert Epperly of Midwest City, Vice President - Julie Luscomb of Claremore, Treasurer – Rod Whitlatch of Jenks, Secretary – Mike Swatek of Claremore, Immediate Past President – Steve Sawyer of Chouteau, and Members At Large – Donna Jenson of Norman, Kevin Harris of Ada and Kay Dalton of Claremore.

This outstanding event with 203 players and 37 school teams was hosted by Jenks Public Schools Chess Club and Jenks Community Education. Rod Whitlatch did an outstanding job of leading Jenks’ organization of the tournament and recruiting all the wonderful volunteers that helped make the event a success.

Tournament direction was organized by USCF Senior TD Mike Swatek who was tournament Chief TD. Nine other US Chess Federation certified TDs also volunteered their time to help all these kids have a great tournament. They were: Pete Ferris of Coweta, AJ Bailey of Midwest City, Tom Pepper of Oklahoma City, David Patocka of Broken Arrow, Charles M Unruh of Owasso, Ben Shaffer of Chouteau, Steve Sawyer of Locust Grove, Mike Covington of Sand Springs and Michele Swartz of Tulsa. TD floor assistants included Bill Snyder of Tulsa, Robert McDonough of Jenks and Leon Powers of Enid.

Photo galleries from the tournament are on the OSCO website at www.okschess.org/photos/12Mar2005Championship with pictures provided by Pete Ferris of Coweta, Jim Dalton and Howard Thompson of Claremore and Tami Carpenter Photography of Norman.

The new USCF on-line membership and rating report systems by Mike Nolan allowed all members to have USCF ID numbers assigned immediately after the tournament and official post-tournament ratings available soon after at www.uschess.org/msa/XtblMain.php?200503127671.0-12887936 .