Central Chess Team Takes the Silver
Thursday, July 08, 2010 By Robert McKinstry ’12
On Saturday, June 12th, Central Catholic took 2nd place at the Western PA Chess Championship at Carnegie Mellon University. The tournament included students from grades K-12 from all over the city. Many schools regularly send a team, but Central’s biggest rivals have always been Allderdice, Canon-Mac, and most importantly the powerful Pittsburgh Home School. This time, however, Central trumped its rivals but took second place to Providence Heights Alpha.
Central has been the underdog in recent tournaments, sending no more than six students this year, while some schools been anywhere from 10-16 students, increasing their chances of winning. Students Antonio Watkins, Kristof Oltvai, Peter Chekan, and Robbie McKinstry attended the tournament at CMU. Chekan went 4-0 and won 1st place in the Premier Division. Watkins won three games and lost one, taking 3rd place in the K-12 Advanced Division.
Unfortunately there was little interest in chess club this year from freshmen. Watkins, Oltvai, and Chekan were all juniors and McKinstry was a sophomore during the 2009-2010 school year. After next year, most of the team’s competitive members will have graduated, leaving the chess team with lackluster promise. “Tradition at CCHS extends to all activities especially chess,” Chekan said. “It is important to us and the school community to continue this tradition and keep Central as the best chess team in the Western Pennsylvania. For a school brimming with such chess talent and experience, it would be a shame for Central to lose its competitive edge because lack of interest.”
Here is the full article.
Congrats to all!