Eastview Crowned K-12 State Chess Champions; Tonka West & Nicollet Share K-8 Title

The Eastview Chess Team has been working hard for years to close the gap with the Wayzata Chess Program...and they finally achieved their goal with a 1/2-point victory over Wayzata at the 2023 State Scholastic Championships. The last round was high drama as Nirav Singhal pulled off a huge upset win over Michael Perry to clinch the championship for Eastview. Not only was Singhal outrated by 400+ points....but Perry was coming off dominant undefeated performances at the Minnesota Open U2000 Section and TCCL Board #2. Eastview finished with 18.5 points, Wayzata had 18.0, and Jefferson took the bronze with 17.5. Overall these 3 teams represented more than 40% of the players competing in the K-12 section. Congratulations to Coach Bob Dettmer and his Eastview Team, and also to James Titus on an excellent run with the Wayzata Team, and to Dane Zagar and the emerging Jefferson Team.

In the K-8 section Tonka West pulled off a shocking result by tying for 1st place at 16 points with Brian Ribnick's legendary Nicollet team. Nicollet had the numbers (21 players), but Tonka West received great tournaments from all 5 of its players and claimed their status as K-8 State Co-Champions. Dakota Hills was also in the running and finished in 3rd place with 14.5 points.