THE UNI CHESS team entered last month's IHSA state tournament seeded second overall. What happened next was quite a rollercoaster ride: second place at the end of the first day, 11th when the tourney ended, and tops among small schools.

Check out this audio slideshow as Andrea Park, Gordon Ruan, and Alex Zhai look back at the two-day event, which took place Feb. 8-9 at the Peoria Civic Center.

IHSA State Chess Tournament at a Glance

Final Standings: Top 20 Teams

1. Lincolnshire Stevenson, 7.0 pts (159.5 tiebreaker)
2. Chicago Whitney Young, 6.0 (138.5)
3. Winnetka New Trier, 6.0 (130.2)
4. Skokie Niles North, 6.0 (126.5)
5. Mundelein Carmel, 6.0 (111.9)
6. Chicago St. Patrick, 6.0 (100.6)
7. Normal University, 5.0 (134.3)
8. Barrington, 5.0 (122.9)
9. Chicago Lane, 5.0 (115.6)
10. Cary-Grove, 5.0 (115.2)
11. UNI HIGH, 5.0 (111.3)
12. Illinois Mathematics and Science Academy, 5.0 (111.0)
13. Glenview Glenbrook South, 5.0 (107.0)
14. Evanston Township, 5.0 (106.9)
15. Naperville Neuqua Valley, 5.0 (102.9)
16. Hinsdale Central, 5.0 (102.5)
17. Glen Ellyn Glenbard West, 5.0 (99.9)
18. Plainfield South, 5.0 (95.6)
19. Bloomington, 5.0 (91.3)
20. Carol Stream Glenbard North, 5.0 (90.2)

Note: A total of 121 schools entered the tournament; 118 actually competed.

Uni Individual Results

Board 1: Gordon Ruan (jr), 7th place, w-w-w-w-w-d-w (6.5 pts)
Board 2: Alex Zhai (sr), 10th, w-w-w-x-d-w-w (5.5)
Board 3: Geoffrey Beck (sr), 4th, w-w-w-w-x-w-w (6)
Board 4: Alan Liang (jr), 65th, w-w-x-x-w-x-x (3)
Board 5: Greg Atherton (jr), 21st, w-w-w-w-x-x-w (5)
Board 6: Brian Wang (jr), 27th, w-d-w-w-x-x-w (4.5)
Board 7: Daniel Cheng (so), 29th, w-w-w-w-d-x-x (4.5)
Board 8: Youyang Gu (fr), 64th, w-x-d-d-w (3)
Board 8: Jason He (jr), 83rd-104th (final placement pending IHSA correction), w-w (2)