Orono chess champs check out nationals

ORONO – Orono Middle School Chess Team members attended the United States Chess Federation’s National Junior High Scholastic Chess Tournament on May 5-10 at the Convention Center in Tucson, Ariz. – the result of winning the State Scholastic Middle School Tournament held in late February at the University of Maine’s Memorial Union. Seven of the team’s 10 members attended the national tournament with coach Joseph St. Pierre and two parents.

Stephanie Cotsirilos, who attended the event in Arizona with her son, Gabriel Borland, appreciated the attitudes of the young Orono players at the meet, and the sense of integrity she believed they showed toward each other.

“It was a privilege to be there,” Cotsirilos said.

“I like the competition and the friendliness of the other players,” said Borland, 13, adding that he made friends at the Arizona event.

Some 1,200 young people participated, Cotsirilos said. There were several divisions, such as unrated for beginners, and divisions for those with U.S. Chess Federation ratings of under 750; 1,000; and 1,250.

The Orono team played in the open division, in which “the sky was the limit,” said Cotsirilos. Borland and fellow team member Max Winter, also of Orono, are rated at roughly 1,100 and were paired routinely with players with ratings of 1,300 to 1,600. They won several games played with players at the 1,300 level, and tied with players at the 1,400 level.

“That’s huge,” Cotsirilos said.

“My brain is still scrambled,” Borland said.

“It was much harder than in Maine. Better than anyone I’ve ever faced before,” said Winter, 14, of the competition.

Orono placed 28th out of 39 possible placements. And all seven Orono team members brought in either a tie or a win for their team.

“We were one-and-a-half points out of trophy range,” Cotsirilos said.

Coach St. Pierre of Smyrna Mills learned chess in the sixth grade. Now a senior majoring in electrical engineering at the University of Maine, St. Pierre is in his second year coaching the Orono Middle School Chess Team. He responded to an ad in the newspaper for a chess coach at the middle school and got the job.

“It was convenient for me to just go over [to the middle school],” said St. Pierre.

St. Pierre enjoys passing on information about the game to the young people on his team and hopes to continue coaching during the upcoming school year, if his own school schedule will allow it.

“I always have to play it by ear,” he said.

Cotsirilos described St. Pierre as “an amazing presence,” and “very gifted at understanding what each kid has to offer.”

“He’s cool,” Borland said. “He’s, like, rated 1,800.”

“He is a very awesome guy,” Winter said, adding “everybody likes him.”

The trip to Arizona was made possible financially through several efforts. Each family contributed what they could afford, frequent flyer miles were pooled, grants were applied for, and two weekends were spent soliciting outside Bangor Wal-Mart. Several businesses and organizations contributed funds, including Kiwanis, Stillwater Lumber, and The Advertising Specialists of Maine. Wal-Mart gave an $880 matching grant to the team, Cotsirilos said.

Borland, who will be in the eighth grade this fall at Orono Middle School, has been playing the game “ever since first grade,” he said.

Cotsirilos plays “oh, very badly” and used to win the games the two played when Borland was very young, she said. But now?

“Those years have long passed,” Cotsirilos said, laughing.

Winter, who is going into the ninth grade, has been playing chess for five years, the last two or three with an intent to compete, he said. What does he like about chess?

“That I’m good at it. I like beating people, besides the fact that it’s fun,” he said. He hopes to continue playing chess “as long as I have time for it.”

Members of the 2003-04 Orono Middle School Chess Team are Gabriel Borland, Darren Casey-Covell, Henry Chai, Lora Clingerman, Parker Hall, Emmett Harrity, Nigel Kass, Nate Peterson, John Robinson and Max Winter.