Iron Mountain Chess Club High School Team wins U.P. High School Chess Championship
Gwinn Junior High Team wins Junior High

The Iron Mountain Chess Club High School Team took first in the U.P. High School Championship held on March 8, 1997. They won the tournament with an undefeated score of 16 wins and no losses in the tournament. The tournament was held in the library of Gwinn High School. There were a total of seven teams that participated in the tournament from Gwinn, Iron Mountain, Crystal Falls, West Iron, and Negaunee.

Trophies were given to the top three High School teams and the top Junior High team. Gwinn High School won second place and Negaunee High School placed third. Individual trophies were also awarded to the best player in each grade. Justin Ceterski won the top 11th grade trophy, Alex Baysore won the top 10th grade, Tom Goman won the top 9th grade trophy, Ken Ceterski won the top 8th grade trophy, Chi Chen won the 7th grade trophy, Carl Rerce won the top 6th grade trophy, and the youngest player, Jake Truitt, won the top 1st grade trophy.

Everyone had an excellent time at the tournament and most of the players were able to win a prize for their school. Thanks is extended to Greg Rose for directing the tournament, and to Gwinn High School for providing the excellent playing site for the tournament. Plans are already underway to have next year's tournament, so get a team ready for the U.P. High School Chess Championship in 1998!

MTU wins team match against Iron Mountain Chess Team

After an excellent performance at the Pan-American College Tournament, the Michigan Tech. Chess team finished in second place in the Class A section and in 17th place overall. The Michigan Tech. Chess Team held a match against the Iron Mountain Chess Team on April 5, 1997. The final score was 9 ½ MTU vs. 2 ½ IMCC. Thanks to the Michigan Tech. Chess Club for providing the refreshments and the wonderful playing site.

The Michigan Tech. Team had an amazing showing of extremely strong and willful players that participated in the team match. Dmitry Olevskiy led the MTU team on first board. With a rating of 2330, he is the 5th highest rated player in the state of Michigan and is a recent immigrant from Belarus. Don Bloomquist, a strong class A player and a Ph.D. candidate for physics, held the second board. The president of the MTU Chess Club, Steve Lubinski, shared third board with Raj Kombiyid, a strong player from India. John Bardo played on fourth board, Matt Skoda was fifth board, and Tom Rex was on the sixth board. Fred Bardo, father of John, played as a substitute for the Iron Mountain Team on their sixth board.

Justin Ceterski, the current Wisconsin Junior Champion, defended first board for Iron Mountain. Ken Ceterski was second board, and Jeremy Truitt was third board. These players represented the Iron Mountain H.S. Team. On fourth board, Tom Ceterski pulled out two tough wins. Martha Ceterski played on the fifth board.

Quad #1
Name	        1	2	3	4	Total
1) Bob John	X	1	½	1	2 ½
2) Gary Gill	0	X	1	1	2
3) Greg Rose	½	0	X	1	1 ½ 
4) Wil Rankinen	0	0	0	X	0

Quad #2
Name	                1	2	3	4	5	Total
1) R. Christensen	X	1	½	1	FW	3 ½ 
2) John Sleeman 	0	X	1	1	1	3
3) Jake Rankinen	½ 	0	X	1	FW	2 ½
4) Jerry Trewella	0	0	0	X	FW	1
5) Mike Rankinen	FL	0	FL	FL	X	0

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