The high school chess league, officially known as the Western Pennsylvania Interscholastic Chess League (WPICL), has just finished its 21st season. Nine teams competed, with Thomas Jefferson and Seneca Valley tying for first, both with six match points. Here’s a crosstable:
TJ SV TKS BP USC B G MA AA Totals Thomas Jefferson x 1 1/2 0 1 1/2 1 1 1 5-2-1 6 Seneca Valley 0 x 1/2 1 1 1 1/2 1 1 5-2-1 6 The Kiski School 1/2 1/2 x 1 0 0 1 0 1 3-2-3 4 Bethel Park 1 0 0 x 1 0 1 1 0 4-0-4 4 Upper St. Clair 0 0 1 0 x 1 0 1 1 4-0-4 4 Baldwin 1/2 0 1 1 0 x 1/2 0 1 3-2-3 4 Gateway 0 1/2 0 0 1 1/2 x 1 1 3-2-3 4 Mars Area 0 0 1 0 0 1 0 x 1 3-0-5 3 Aquinas Academy 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 x 1-0-7 1
As you can see, it was an unusually evenly matched league, with five teams tied at four points each. Ed Senor, the faculty sponsor of the Seneca Valley team, told me,
I remember when I first considered joining the league you said “if you have at least 1 1000+ USCF player you would probably be a good team in the league”. Certainly these days I would bet most teams have 2 or 3 players that level (even if they don’t have a USCF account). And despite our team being even a little stronger than last year, all but a few of the matches have had a majority of close contests on the individual boards.
You can see full results, including results of all the games and the names of the players, at the league’s website, Western PA Interscholastic Chess League (pittsburghchess.net).
The league carried on through the pandemic using remote matches, and now, even though the pandemic is fading, most matches are remote, although “in person” matches are still encouraged; I understand Upper St. Clair traveled to Seneca Valley — that’s quite a hike!