In the front hall of Monroe Middle School, there is a showcase featuring the numerous state championships that have been won by Monroe. The 2003 team was the most recent addition to the showcase. Would the host school add another in 2004? Completely independent of how the chess games were played, the organizing staff probably deserves a title of sorts. Pete Opfermann and the Monroe chess parents graciously hosted the event. Aaron Mason also organized some volunteers from Monroe Bank & Trust who helped with the results table for most of the day.

With 61 teams, the tournament was just shy one team shy of equaling the record-breaking turnout from last year. Amongst the teams, there were at least five of them were from buildings that weren’t represented last year, but there were also some schools represented last year that were not amongst the participants. All but five of the teams were rated, and only 150 points separated the average ratings of the first and eighth seeded teams, promising some very intense competition throughout the day.

In round one, there were no upsets!; just three draws, the first of these coming on table eighteen as new-comer Byron HS took two games away from their higher rated opponent, Detroit A.L. Holmes A. On table one, top-seeded Okemos Kinawa swept their opponents, new-comers Detroit Butzel. East Lansing MacDonald also had an easy time on table two against Detroit Paul Robeson Academy B, as did Ann Arbor Emerson (K-6 Champions from the previous week) against a young Monroe Custer A team. Monroe MS A defeated Detroit Clippert A 3-1 on table four, in a match that was oddly reminiscent of one occurring simultaneously on table twenty. This was the only loss of the tournament for Clippert A. Detroit Bates A defeated Flint Armstrong A 3-1 on table five as Keaten Eckstein scored his first of five points on board four.

The top five seeds remained intact through round two. Grand Haven White Pines put up a fierce fight, but Kinawa defeated them on table one. For White Pines, John Casemier suffered his only loss of the day en route to his silver medal on board three and Javier Fernandez drew to make the match very close. Javier earned a bronze medal on board four. MacDonald defeated A.L. Holmes B on table two with a 3-1 match score. Monroe MS B succumbed to an Emerson onslaught on table three, but their teammates, Monroe MS A defeated Detroit Joy by a 3-1 score on table four, so hope for a Monroe victory remained alive, even though their one-two finish from last year seemed a bit out of reach. Detroit Bates A won a match against newcomers Detroit Duffield to round out the top five tables.

Kinawa A seemed to like being a table one, so they decided to stay there. They won in a rather convincing fashion, and gave Detroit Fisher A their only loss of the tournament. The result on table two was the first upset on the top five boards, and the end of good things for MacDonald as they were unable to win for the rest of the day. Kurtis Droge-Germain however, won this match and continued to win, as he earned on bronze medal on board two. MacDonald was defeated by Monroe HS A, a team looking slightly similar to the players who won the event last year. Emerson A won once again against Detroit Hutchins A, as did Monroe MS A in a close match over Ann Arbor Clague. Bates A drew on table five with the Spring Lake MS X team. And then, on table six, Detroit Paul Robeson A, who had been quietly but consistently winning all day, lost. In their only loss of the day, Robeson was shut-out by Birmingham Covington A.

Round four brought some dramatic match-ups to the top five tables. On table five, Byron HS A emerged victorious over MacDonald. Bates A returned to form on table four, defeating Detroit Barbour A. And then, on table three, Birmingham Covington School A defeated a very strong Spring Lake X team 3-1. In the midst of the match, I was asked, “So, who is BCS, anyhow?” (Editor’s Note: Birmingham Covington was listed as BCS on the tournament crosstable.) And, if you have been reading Michigan Chess for years, at about this time of year, you might have the very same question. Or then again, perhaps not. Thirty years ago, in 1974, the first Michigan High School team championships were held, along with an individual Junior High tournament that was the pre-cursor to the team event. One of the individual board prizewinners at the High School tournament was Ian Mailing. The coach of Birmingham Covington is Ian Mailing. Ah, ha! Well, not quite, Birmingham Covington was actually at the event last year, getting their feet wet. And that, they did, finishing thirteenth in their first appearance. This year, they became the first of three perfect scores to prepare for the last round. Monroe HS A became the fourth team to succumb to the Emerson A. Monroe HS A looked a lot like the Monroe MS team from last year, but they were missing an ingredient or two that is on the current Monroe MS team. Also, the Monroe HS freshmen are not currently called the Monroe MS team. I think that at the Michigan Junior High Team Championships, name might be everything. For instance, if they were eligible, the Russian National team might choose to play at the Michigan Junior High Team Championship, and they would probably do very well. However, they would not consistently finish ahead of the Monroe MS team, simply because they are the Monroe MS team, and the event was the Michigan Junior High Team Championship. Just a thought..... The Monroe HS team had medal winners on boards one and three as Derek Robinson earned bronze and Jacob Skarabek earned silver. In order to substantiate my theory though, it was necessary that Monroe MS win in round four. So, on table one, the defending champions faced the top-seeded team from Kinawa. A draw on board one was the only blemish on the match score and the only blemish on Ashley Carter’s score for the tournament. So, Kinawa suffered their only loss of the event, and Monroe MS A became the third of third perfect scores entering round five.

In round five, on table twelve, Detroit Winterhalter defeated East Lansing MacDonald to finish with 3.5-match points and thirteen game points in tenth place. Silver medal winners Robert Taliaferro II and Nataiya Taliaferro played boards one and two for Winterhalter. Draws on tables ten and eleven removed Otsego St. Margaret’s, Detroit Robeson B, Detroit Duffield 1, and Detroit Joy from trophy contention. Clio HS defeated Detroit Barbour A to finish in evelenth place with 3.5-match points and 12.5-game points. Matthew Hemingway and Arin Puckett won silver medals for Clio on boards one and three, respectively. Reginald Hammond won silver and Deontae Rose won bronze medals for Barbour on boards two and four, respectively. A draw between Spring Lake HS A and Spring Lake MS X removed them both from the ranks of trophy winners. Top-rated player, Jon Budzenski, suffered his only loss of the tournament and helped substantiate the theory that it is most difficult to defeat those who know you best. Detroit Clippert A returned to the winner’s circle by defeating Ann Arbor Clague to finish in fourth place. Nathaniel Bromberg won a gold medal playing board two for Clague. Clippert medal winners included Luis Guttierez, silver on board one, and Hector Martinez, gold on board four. Detroit Fisher A defeated Detroit A.L. Holmes A on table six. Detroit Fisher finished in sixth place with four match points and eleven game points. Silver medal winner, Kareem Coleman, played board one for Fisher. Anthony Watkins and Brandon Gaskins won bronze medals on boards three and four. Bronze medal winners, Robert LaGrant and Dominic Johnson played boards three and four, respectively, for A.L. Holmes. Okemos Chippewa ended all trophy hopes for Monroe HS A as they won a very close match 2.5-1.5 on table five. Chippewa finished in eighth with four match points and 13.5 game points. The Chippewa team was led by silver medal winner Eric Wang on board one. Detroit Robeson A defeated Detroit Hutchins A on board four, becoming the second team in the top ten for coach Robert Taliaferro I. Robeson A finished fifth with four match points and fourteen game points. They were led by silver medal winners Jonathan Evans and Lamar Wint; and bronze medal winner Robert Hughes. Detroit Hutchins was led by bronze medal winner Gerald Dixon on board two and silver medal winner, Dante Dixon on board three. Okemos Kinawa got back on track after losing to Monroe MS A by defeating Byron HS A. Byron finished in twelveth place with 3.5-match points and twelve game points. They were led by silver medal winner, Nick Applebee on board two and bronze medal winner, Joe Sansone on board one. Kinawa’s four match points and 13.5-game points were enough for them to finish in seventh place. Justin Brereton and Vu Hoang earned silver medals on boards one and three, respectively, for Kinawa.

On tables one and two, three perfect scores and one team with 3.5-points were to determine the 2004 Michigan Junior High Team Champion. Birmingham Covington A secured their share of the top spot by making short work of the 3.5-point team, Detroit Bates A on table two. Bates finished in ninth place with 3.5-match points and thirteen game points. Dalton Barksdale was the only player from Bates to score in the last round. He earned a silver medal on board three. Birmingham Covington A finished with a perfect 5-0 score and an amazing 18-2 individual performance. They were led by gold medal winners, Adam Kunkel and Ravi Pinnamaneni on boards two and four, respectively. Roger Jia and Randy Jia won silver medals on boards one and three, respectively. Only a shutout victory by Emerson could equal the 18 points scored by Birmingham Covington. However, that was not to be the case as Jacob Joyce’s victory for Emerson was quickly countered by Colin Smelcer’s win for Monroe on board two. Zachary Wilkins found an interesting desperado tactic against Colin, but Colin was more careful as the game neared completion and didn’t succumb to the trick. Eric Haengal drew with Thomas Hoffman on board three to tie the match. A draw on board one, and Birmingham Covington wouldn’t even have to share their title! However, Ashley Carter was just being slow and careful in her defeat of Cameron Beatty, and finally did so to claim a share of the 2004 Michigan Junior High Team Championhip title for yet another Monroe MS team. Ann Arbor Emerson finished third with Cameron Beatty winning silver, Eric Haengel winning bronze, and Jacob Joyce earning a gold. Medal winners for Monroe MS were not as prolific as only Ashley Carter and Thomas Hoffman won silver medals.

Thank-you to our wonderful hosts at Monroe MS and to all the players who competed.