High Tech High School Wins EGF Nation-Wide Chess Tournament

High Tech High School, team name “High Tech Laser Cats,” won the Esports Gaming Federation (EGF) High School and Middle School National Chess Tournament. The online tournament began on September 29th, 2025 and lasted all the way to January 11th, 2026. The team got into the final playoffs on December 19th, 2025, playing against the 8 best teams from across the nation. There were 32 teams in total from different schools, some of which were Palm Beach Lake Community High School, Florida; WP Davidson High School, Alabama; and even Jose Marti STEM Academy from Union City, NJ.

The team captain, Ali Issa, 16, a junior at High Tech led the team to the victory. The High Tech Chess team has been participating in the EGF tournament since the erection of the team, according to Issa. “When I was younger I would play chess with my father, and he would always win against me,” Ali explained. “So during the freshman year of high school I decided to pick it up, improving my skill tremendously.” He became a part of the 99.9% out of all players on the famed online chess website chess.com, reaching a peak ELO of 2383. The general score of a chess grandmaster, the highest echelon of chess players, is 2800 on chess.com. “Since I dedicated the most amount of time to helping the rest of the team improve, they elected me as team captain,” Issa said. 

Issa played the final game that determined the victory for the team. The team played against Denison High School, Texas, team name “DHS YJ-C.” Issa explains the gameplay: “The game started out in a close position with both sides playing very defensively. Then overtime, each side traded off their pieces in an attempt to simplify the positions. Halfway through the game, I sacrificed my knight in order to open up his kingside position with a queenside position on the diagonal. After further simplification, I sacrificed my bishop to deflect his bishop off a diagonal. Pawns kept flying off the board.”

The closing game was determined by time, which made Issa claim that it was “a messy game.” The games were extremely accurate from both teams, with both sides hitting a 96% accuracy, with the average gameplay rating of 2500, equivalent to the level of a grandmaster. 

This was a huge milestone for the team, especially considering that many of their best players graduated last year. The team wants to highlight their coach Mr. Jared Krinsky for his ongoing support of the team and their endeavors. The team hopes to win more tournaments and improve their personal records.