On Saturday, Feb. 4, the duPont Manual Chess Team competed in the 2012 High School Chess State Tournament at Seneca High School. Manual’s Chess Team placed second in the tournament, losing to Dunbar High School by one board.

Vivek Raj (12), David Hess (11), Caroline Folz (10) , and Eric Duon (11) brought the second place trophy home as they played the top boards for Manual in the tournament. Aaron Trachtenberg (12) was the first alternate for the fourth board, replacing Folz in the final round. Trachtenberg played a tough match as Dunbar just slipped by with the victory.

Though Dunbar pulled out the final win, Manual was still all smiles and high fives as Trachtenberg finished up his match. “We played as a team and lost as a team, it was no one person’s fault. Anybody on the team could have made a mistake, anything could have happend.” said Folz.

One of the teams Manual beat to win second place was Trinity High School. Trinity, along with Dunbar, is one of Manual’s more challenging competitors. Manual was glad to get the win over Trinity and satisfied with their result as a team in the tournament.

“Trinity’s first and second board are very strong so we were glad that we could beat them,”  Hess said.