The North Idaho Chess League continues with another school added to the growing list - Coeur d' Alene High School. Today's tournament had 22 players competing in two sections - High School and Elementary/Middle school. At our next meeting, we are also planning on having an A section and a B/C section for high school so the experienced players can compete with one another and the newer players can play in another section. We had 16 High Schoolers this time and only 6 elementary/middle school players!
This league is scheduled to meet once per month (3rd Thursday nights) in the Coeur d'Alene area and is open to any scholastic player or school in the Eastern Washington or North Idaho region. The next event will be held on January 19 in the Post Falls Public Library.
There are 2 divisions in High School, Middle School, and Elementary sections with team scores coming from the A and B divisions in each section. As of today, Home School High School, Home School Middle School, and Sorensen Magnet School are the leaders. Congratulations! Each team can select one player for the A or B divisions, where players in the C Division can earn their place in the B division by winning the C. In this way, players will play kids of similar skill and have opportunities for advancement. Strong teams will accumulate players in the A and B divisions.
Education and opportunity is the mantra of the NISCL. Both were on display in the last game of the tournament between Jaxson Sanborn and Andersen Dank. Everybody was watching as the time ticked away toward zero on Andersen's clock. Jaxson was seemingly going to win on time. Andersen flagged with four passed pawns and a bishop against Jaxon's King and blocked pawn. There would be no way for Jaxson to stop a promotion . . .if there was enough time on Dank's clock. But the time controls were SD meaning no increment or delay! Insufficient Losing chances was used to declare the game a draw and it proved to be an amicable ending to an exciting tournament. Both Jaxon and Andersen won a Gold medal for their efforts and everyone got a bit more wise to the rules.
For this meeting, all players were lumped into an open section due to only 14 players. Players should encourage more players from their school to come as we can add players throughout the season. The plan is to play for 6 months with a championship event ending the season.
Dec. 15 Results
Season Standings
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