Scobol Solo
The Scobol Solo is an individual tournament held each November since 2001 at New Trier High School in Winnetka, Illinois. It is open to any high school student. It typically attracts many of the top players in Illinois and occasionally attracts players from out of state.
History
The Solo, as it is often simply called, was the second major individual tournament to be held in Illinois, following the demise of the Ultimate Scholar Tournament which originated at downstate Sullivan before being moved to the campus of Illinois Wesleyan University in Bloomington, Illinois. That tournament, run by Ken Johnson, ended when IWU could no longer provide the space for free.
This tournament has been directed by and written by David Reinstein since its inception. With the exception of the 2006 tournament, it has been held at New Trier's Winnetka campus. In 2006, New Trier was forced to close the weekend of the tournament due to a pertussis outbreak, causing the tournament to be moved to nearby Stevenson at the last moment.
In addition to the Scobol Solo, Donald Taylor has run annual individual competitions since 2006, first at the University of Illinois, then as a side event after the NAQT State Qualifier, and starting in Spring 2011 as a side event to ATROPHY at Northern Illinois University.
In 2010, Scobol Solo was mirrored at PORTA.
In 2010, Scobol Solo used a program Jonah Greenthal developed called Scobol Solo Statistics System, or SSSS. Moderators entered in results at the end of each match, and the results were immediately compiled into the tournament stats and posted on the internet. The program kept track of category stats, so ribbons for category winners could be handed out as soon as the rounds were completed.
Match Format
Each match consists of 20 toss-up questions. There are no bonus questions. Each question is worth one point, with no power or neg points, and ties are decided by sudden death. There are three computational questions in each match.
There is exactly one question in each of the following categories in each match. 2010 was the first year in which the question order changed from round to round, which did not announce the category before each question, and which had no computational math.
- Curricular mathematics
- Other mathematics
- Biology
- Chemistry
- Physics
- Other science
- United States history
- European history
- World history
- Military history
- United States literature
- British literature
- World literature
- Poetry
- Painting
- Instrumental classical music
- Other fine art
- Religion/Mythology
- Social science/Philosophy
- Current Events/Geography
In various previous years, there have been categories such as technology, interdisciplinary, pyramidal math, calculus/combinatorics, algebra, geometry/trigonometry, pop culture, and vocabulary. The first year also featured two American literature questions, with only one question in literature that was not American.
Tournament Format
The structure calls for 128 students each playing seven matches over the course of fourteen rounds (playing approximately every other round). If the field is full, each student always plays an opponent with the same record. If the field is not full, there are "safety matches" in which both students are given credit for a victory and/or "phantom matches" in which a real player goes against somebody getting an extra match that doesn't count toward his statistics. The field has been full since 2008.
The format assures that there will be a single undefeated player (7-0) at the end of 14 rounds. There will also be 7 players with records of 6-1. All of these players advance to the finals.
There are also 21 players with 5-2 records who are given a very difficult, sometimes themed written test called the "Desperation Shot". The one player with the highest score on the Desperation Shot also advances to the finals. 2010 may have been the last year of the Desperation Shot.
The Final round is 60 questions in length (three 20 question rotations using the same order as in the morning). Each question is worth one point. There are five critical changes to procedure in the finals:
- The undefeated player does not start play with the rest of the field. The undefeated player will enter play after 20 questions have been read, and will be given a score equal to that of the current leader(s).
- Each player starting the finals begins with three points.
- Incorrect answers, even after the question is over, carry a one point deduction. Players reaching a score of zero are eliminated.
- After 20 questions, the undefeated player from the morning enters, and is given a score equal to that of the leader at the time.
- After 40 questions, the five lowest scores are eliminated from play. After 50 questions, the two lowest remaining scores are eliminated. If there is a tie at any point to determine elimination, tie breaker questions are used among the tied parties to determine the players who stay. For the first few years of the tournament, the championship was only forty questions in length, and prior to 2009, some of its questions were worksheets.
Results
The top finishers at the PORTA Scobol Solo, held on November 20, 2010, were: 1. Aaron Siebrass, Glenwood; 2. Peter Huston, Greenville; 3. Marlana Jackson, Springfield; 4. Paul Liu, Springfield
Players who qualified for the finals in 2 or more tournaments
- Matt Keenan (2) - New Trier (01-02)
- Paul Gauthier (2) - Wheaton North (02-03)
- Donald Taylor (2) - MacArthur (02, 04)
- Alex Beata (2) - William Fremd (04-05)
- Carlo Angiuli (2) - New Trier (05-06)
- Greg Gauthier (3) - Wheaton North (05-07)
- John Brown (2) - Auburn (06-07)
- Siva Sundaram (3) - Auburn (06-08)
- Tony Cao (2) - Carbondale (07-08)
- Isa Domin (2) - Niles North (08-09)
- Ben Carbery (2) - OPRF (09-10)
- Andrew Deveau (2) - St. Ignatius (09-10)
- Kevin Malis (2) - Stevenson (09-10)
- Lloyd Sy (2) - Auburn (09-10)
Players from Small Schools (Class A) who qualified for the finals
- Jim Davis, Latin School (2001) - Champion
- Kelly Tourdot, Stillman Valley (2002) - 5th place
- Eric Grebing, Bunker Hill (2003) - 4th place
- Jonathan Mayer, Latin School (2004) - 5th place (tie)
- Brad Fischer, Winnebago (2005) - 3rd place (tie)
- Ben Weiss, Latin School (2005) - 9th place
- Greg Dzurickso, Lisle (2009) - 8th place