Evanston wrapped up the North Suburban Chess League South Division regular season championship Friday, defeating Highland Park by a 62.5-5.5 margin. This was Highland Park’s first loss in conference play.
In the match, Evanston quickly developed favorable positions in several games, but the Highland Park players hung tough for most of the match until wins by Meris Goldfarb, Elie Platnick and Nathan Melnikov broke the match open. The Wildkits ended up with seven wins and a draw in the 8-board match.
With this match, Evanston has finished its fall competition with a 17-6 record. Most of the team’s losses occurred early in the fall, when several top players were not consistently available due to fall sports and other conflicts. This gave several of Evanston’s JV players opportunities to play on the varsity team at matches and tournaments, gaining valuable experience that will help them at future competitions.
Evanston will be the top seed at the conference tournament on Jan. 21, and a top seed when the Illinois High School Association Chess State Series begins with sectional tournaments on Jan. 28.
Keith Holzmueller is the coach of the ETHS chess team.