2022 Iowa Individual Play Team Championships

IASCA hosted the team tournament Saturday, January 22, crowning team champions in K-3, K-6, K-9, and K-12 at Cedar Rapids Prairie Point Middle School.

Iowa City Wickham Elementary won the K-3 awards
Iowa City Weber Elementary takes first place in the K-6 Section
Linn-Mar Excelsior surprises by winning the first place K-9 trophy on tie-breaks over Iowa City Northwest Junior High
Iowa City West wins the High School Team Section.

Complete standings of the tournament may be found online on the US Chess website at http://www.uschess.org/msa/XtblMain.php?202201220392.

A total of 60 players participated. Thirteen schools were represented in the popular K-6 Elementary Team Section, six schools in the Junior High section, and three schools in the High School section.

Representing Weber Elementary and scoring 16 out of possible 20 points were Kevin Wan, Shreethan Sankepally, Kelly Li, and Aryan Vikram. Also representing Weber was Khota (Tom) Matsumoto. Wickham and Prairie Creek tied for second with Wickham taking the second place trophies on tie-break. Iowa City Borlag claimed fourth place and Prairie Heights (K-4 school) grabbed the 5th place trophy. Other elementary schools represented included Horn (IC), Regina (IC), Van Allen (North Liberty), Garner (Iowa City), Penn (North Liberty), Bergman (DSM), Prairie Ridge (CR), and Prairie Creek (CR). As participants in the K-6 section, Wickham also picked up the K-3 Team Trophy.

The Junior High School was surprised by the last-minute entry of Excelsior Middle School (Linn Mar). The four Excelsior players, Seth Dickson, Hunter Zoll, Adam Ledge, and Liam Hindahl were all competing in their first US Chess rated tournament. Iowa City High’s Northwest Junior High claimed the second place trophy. Finishing in Third was tournament host Prairie Point Middle School. Also represented were Vernon (Marion), Regina (IC), and Prairie Ridge (Ankeny).

The High School section, won by Iowa City West, was represented by Niko Nixon and Kai Merrill. Ibram Shenouda, West Des Moines Valley, and Mason Kimm, Cedar Rapids Prairie, also participated.

In this tournament format, all players competed in a standard Swiss tournament with the caveat that players from the same school could never play against each other. On February 26, West Des Moines Valley will host the Match Play Team Championship, where teams of four players will compete head-to-head with the team scoring the most points winning the match.