Chess brings students together

Nerves intensified Saturday morning as a crowd formed around the table where Jared Culpepper and Shawn Adams were trying to beat the clock — and each other — to win the first round of the West Texas Regional Chess Tournament.

In the end, Culpepper figured out how to take over Adams’ queen, and he won the match, with just two minutes left on his clock.

“It was definitely one of the most intense matches I’ve played recently,” said Culpepper, a sophomore at New Tech High School in Odessa, during the lunch break.

Adams, 19 and a senior at Big Spring High School, was considered a strong player in Saturday’s tournament but didn’t have a ranking because he’d never played in a U.S. Chess Federation tournament, organizer Charlie Vetter said.

“It makes me nervous when people watch because I don’t want to make a bad move,” Adams said of Saturday morning’s match.

Though he learned to play chess as a little kid, Adams said he’s been playing seriously for only about six months.

Culpepper, who said he plays in lots of tournaments, said he isn’t worried so much about making the wrong move as he is about playing to the best of his ability and using his time wisely.

“I like tournaments because they engage you,” said Culpepper, who plays weekly with the Odessa Chess Club at UTPB. “In casual games, there’s nothing on the line, but tournaments are the real deal.”

Playing with a time clock is normal for Culpepper, who said he’s used to running out of time toward the end of the game.

“I prefer longer time frames like 30 minutes,” Culpepper said. “I like to take lots of time on moves I know are important to the end of the game. … When I have 30 minutes, I have more time to think.”

While some students, such as Adams, spend time each week replaying games and trying to get better, Alex Cruz said he pretty much only plays at tournaments.