Scobol Solo

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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, the University of Illinois also has run an individual competition since 2006, annually written and directed by Donald Taylor. Since 2008, it is run concurrently with the NAQT State Qualifier.

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. The order changes from year to year, but is the same every round to ease category statistics tracking.

  1. Algebra
  2. Geometry/Trigonometry
  3. Pyramidal Math
  4. United States literature
  5. British literature
  6. World literature
  7. United States history
  8. Western European history
  9. World history
  10. Biology
  11. Chemistry
  12. Physics
  13. Art/Architecture
  14. Music
  15. Nonfiction
  16. Vocabulary
  17. Interdisciplinary
  18. Current Events
  19. Geography/Astronomy/Earth Science
  20. Religion/Mythology

In various previous years, there has been a technology category instead of interdisciplinary, a calculus/combinatorics category instead of pyramidal math, a pop culture question with western European history being part of the world history distribution. The first year also featured two American literature questions and one non-American instead of the current distribution of the three questions.

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. The 2007 tournament also added "Phantom Matches" in which a real player goes against somebody getting an extra match that doesn't count toward his statistics.

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.

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 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.
  • Once a question has been answered incorrectly, it goes dead; that is, each question can be attempted by only one player.

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

Champion Runner-Up 3rd Place 4th Place
I (11/10/2001) Jim Davis Parag Bhayani Matt Keenan Tony Wu
The Latin School Homewood-Flossmoor New Trier William Fremd
II (11/23/2002) Matt Keenan Ben Taylor Paul Gauthier Mark Hedden
New Trier Rockford Guilford Wheaton North Downers Grove North
III (11/8/2003) Paul Gauthier Michael Evans Andrew Uzzell Eric Grebing
Wheaton North New Trier Evanston Township Bunker Hill
IV (11/13/2004) Sara Garnett Cliff Chang Alex Beata Billy Osuka
Okemos [MI] New Trier Fremd Buffalo Grove
V (11/12/2005) Robert Sale Greg Gauthier Brad Fischer Katie Kragh1
Brookwood [GA] Wheaton North Winnebago Loyola Academy
VI (11/11/2006) Carlo Angiuli Greg Gauthier Greg Peterson Kristina Warren1
New Trier Wheaton North Maine South Bloomington
VII (11/10/2007) Greg Gauthier Siva Sundaram John Brown Tony Cao1
Wheaton North Auburn Auburn Carbondale
VIII (11/22/2008) Siva Sundaram Joe Ahmad Tony Cao Ben Cohen1
Auburn Loyola Carbondale New Trier

Notes

  1. There was a tie for 3rd place in these tournaments. The players are listed alphabetically.

Players who qualified for the finals in 2 or more tournaments

Players from Small Schools (Class A) who qualified for the finals

External Links

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