Abington Chess Team Wins First Place National Title.
Team Has Won Three State & Three National Titles This Year.
Last night the Abington Senior High School Chess Team was honored by the Abington School Board. According to team coach Shawn Simmons, 2014-2015 has been, without a doubt, the most successful season for the Abington Chess Team. The team has brought home Three State Titles from the Pennsylvania State Chess Federation and Three National Titles from the United States Chess Federation. At the State Tournament in March the team took home two of the three State Team titles. The u1300 team of Robbie Durham, Nat Cheng, Aajay Gauthier, and Sasha Serebriiskiii won this title for the first time in Abington’s history. The team of Brian Ouzomgi, Andrew Nolan, Dennis Phan, and Timmy Ferry took the U1000 State Team Title for Abington for the third time in a row.
The team then competed at the National Tournament in Columbus, Ohio in early April. This tournament featured over 1500 of the top players in the country and the Abington team competed with over 40 teams in their division, winning three of the five division National titles!
Robbie Durham, a junior, scored 7-0 to capture the u1200 division’s title; this individual title is the highest achievement any Abington student has earned at a national competition. Robbie earned a combined 12-0 at States and Nationals, a record unprecedented. Powered by Robbie’s score, the u1200 team won the first place National team title. Robbie’s score, combined with the scores of Andew Nolan, Sasha Serebriiskii, Nat Cheng, and Aajay Gauthier’s pushed the Ghosts ahead of the three leading other high school teams. In addition, sophomore Dennis Phan went 7-0 in the u800 section to clinch the team’s third title at the national competition. Mr. Simmons thanked the School Board, School and District Administration, and the community for their continued support of the chess team program.