The Chess Club competed in the Northern Lake County Conference Tournament in November, and the team won. So far this season, they have a nine and one record.

The team will continue to compete in more tournaments throughout the upcoming semester as the school year comes to a close.

“We play in the North Suburban Chess League. This is our first year, but we had five individual matches where schools came here or we went there. We have the North Suburban Chess League Tournament. Next Saturday is sectionals and then February tenth and eleventh is the State high school tournament,” said Vincent Hart, the Chess Team coach.

The Chess Club practices every Tuesday after school to improve for upcoming tournaments.
“Well, we try and go over recent games, see if we can identify mistakes that players made, but mostly they just play each other and practice and see each other,” Hart said.
Improvement is always a good thing to strive for, and there are many different ways to accomplish it in chess.

“Doing chess problems in order to improve your technical vision. And also when you play a game, going over it and looking at it, trying to identify your mistakes and your own weak points,” Hart said.

Chess can have many interesting aspects to it. Players find different parts of the game to be the most fun.

“During a game, when I find a winning tactic and realize I’ve won the game, I get an adrenaline rush and that is my favorite part of chess,” said junior Kevin Meyer.

Some players find the final part of the game to be the most exciting.

“Probably the end games, when you are getting close to the mate and you can see it actually happening in your head, and then your opponent can see it happening,” said senior Tess Buckley. Some teams and activities are more individual than team-oriented; chess teams have a bit of both qualities.

“There are some team aspects; however, during the match, it is up to you to decide what moves to use against your opponent and your team can’t help you,” Meyer said.

“I do think it’s kind of an individual aspect because you are playing your own game, but there is a team part of chess team where all the players and the points have to come together and you can’t win without your teammate’s scores,” Buckley said.

As the second semester rolls around, the end of this season of chess does too, and the team has been pretty successful all around so far.

“A lot of kids come to Chess Club, they just want to hang out with their friends and play the game, which is great,” Hart said.