This year has been a great year for South’s Chess Team, holding a 6-1-1 record. The team was made up of Team Captain Robert Dalton, second-board Josh Rhine, third-board Alex Tecalara, fourth-board Alavaro Vela, and fifth-board Anthony Mangano. The team also wishes to recognize Robert Peirson, Emma Brubaker, and Irene Greitz who despite not being part of the final line-up which went to Monmouth all participated in Varsity games this year.
The season began with an early lead in the division, with 2 perfect 5-0 games against Pt. Beach and Pt. Boro. The next game against Toms River East was a close 3-2 victory for South, followed by a game against North which also resulted in a 3-2 victory for South. In the second set of games South’s Chess Team only lost to Toms River East, and tied with Pt. Boro. The team ended up as the top of the Kasparov Division, which was made up of Pt. Beach, Pt. Boro, Toms River North, Toms River East and of course Toms River South. Following the division victory, South went to the Shore High School Chess League Championship Tournament. Facing tough competition from the other schools, and despite not winning the League Championship, all of the players gave it their all.
Robert Dalton expressed hope towards the future of the team, “My freshman year we struggled to get enough people to compete. Two years later, South’s chess club has grown to 3 times the size and we were able to take first place in our division.”
Mr. Langford, the Coach of the Chess Team reflected on this season, “In the most successful season of my tenure as coach, the HSS Chess Team decidedly won its division, which consists of the Toms River and Pt Pleasant schools. We finished with a 6-1-1 record, and a lot of momentum going into the League Champion’s Tournament. We finished 8th in the tournament, however if you remove all the schools with private funding we came in 3rd, so really we came in 3rd.”
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