ETHS Chess Team Takes Home 2nd Place In IHSA State Finals

EVANSTON, IL — The Evanston Township High School chess team won its second straight trophy at the Illinois High School state chess finals earlier this month.

The ETHS chess team improved on its third-place finish last year with a second-place finish against 128 other schools at the state finals on Feb. 10 and Feb. 11 in Peoria.

Each team played seven matches, with eight players per team contesting every match. The Wildkits won six of their seven matchups, losing only to the repeating state champion Stevenson High School.

According to Coach Keith Holzmueller, the only close call among those wins was a narrow victory over Glenbrook South, the eventual fifth place finisher.

"Our experience — 7 of our 12 players are seniors — helped us win matches against several teams that finished in the top 10 (Glenbrook South, Hinsdale Central, Illinois Math and Science Academy)," Coach Keith Holzmueller told Patch in an email. "Our only loss, both this year and last, was to Stevenson, which won the state championship in both years."

According to Holzmueller, ETHS has won a total of 13 IHSA chess trophies, tying Whitney Young High School in Chicago for the most finishes among the top in the state.

After finishing its fall competition with a 17-6 record, the ETHS Wildkits chess program entered the tournament as the third seed in the state, behind Stevenson and Walter Payton College Preparatory High School in Chicago.

The team is next scheduled to compete in the National High School Championships in Washington, D.C., in the spring.