Chess Club was formed on October 6th. Freshman Jonah Bailey was founded to delve deeper into the game. The club takes place every Friday in room C209 Math Teacher Torry Kraftson advises it.

The game chess has pieces assigned to different points, chess involves strategic thinking and can improve cognitive thinking skills. Chess players often study how the opponent plays to have a strategic advantage or plays a certain opening.

Chess translates through many social and political barriers. With online chess becoming more prevalent, players can face each other from opposite sides of the globe.

“It requires you to expand your thinking… it’s a really cool sport because it translates culture and language, and it is pretty simple,” said math teacher, Torry Kraftson.

Avid chess enjoyers often have a tournament or some event under their belt, if not competed in one. There are many forms of competitive chess one example is blitz chess.

“I haven’t won any major titles, I am in a tournament. I forgot what it was called but it is in March. And it will be a round-robin,” said freshmen Jonah Bailey.

There are many openings to chess and moves to strategically take down the opponent, Often requiring some form of insight to see the positioning of the pieces. Openings are the initial stages of the game that require pieces to be moved in a certain fashion. An example would be the Italian opening which begins with 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4.

“The Italian opening is good because I’m the best at it. That’s my best opening,” said junior Jory Curnow.

Chess players often adapt different styles of playing, like playing aggressive, defensive, or playing a gambit. It really helps to understand your opponent to gain an edge.

“I had a book called Bobby Fischer Teaches Chess, and I learned kind of a lot,” said Kraftson.

Grand Masters to self-discovered chess players often get inspiration or, learn by watching other players. Players often have different styles of playing chess, so It can be critical to observe.

“I watch a few YouTubers like a few grandmasters I like watching our Magnus Carlsen and Hikaru Nakamura,” said Curnow.

Chess required one to think ahead and sort of predict what the opponent does, it really is an expansive game with many possibilities to study.

“Some people might only know like the first three moves in an opening, but some of these guys might know the first ten moves in an opening, and then it’s pretty powerful,” said Kraftson.

Chess openings often have a history with the name assigned to them, some are the creator. Others like The Hippopotamus Defense for example, are random.

“Usually, the person that creates it wants to name it, like mark it on chess history,” said Bailey.

By The Book plays require players to play how the book would handle the situation, so it is crucial to study games whether they are decades old or recent.

“ If it was all principles, and it’s what I started with, it’s why I first learned from a Grandmaster,” said Bailey.

Chess is a game of intellect and has been around for a long, it is essentially a blank canvas yet to be painted with potential.

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