High school students square off in state chess tournament

Trying to get 1,400 high school students to gather in silence is usually an impossible feat, but few words are needed in the presence of a king.

The 38th annual Illinois High School Association Chess Team State Tournament commenced Friday morning at the Peoria Civic Center. The two-day event featured 125 teams from across the state consisting of more than 1,400 players and 225 coaches, IHSA assistant executive director Scott Johnson said, making it the largest team chess tournament in the country.

Teams from local high schools, including Peoria, Morton, Galva, Olympia and Princeville, participated in the tournament. Players slid and stamped pieces of royalty across a checkerboard through seven rounds of action, which amounted to about 20 hours of chess in two days, concluded by an awards ceremony at 5 p.m. Saturday.

“I love team tournaments, because all the students enjoy it, and it encourages more people to get involved,” said Johnson, who likened the event to the Super Bowl for all the young participants. “There are no individual champions, so teams need their lower boards to win as well.”

Johnson explained that each team has eight chess boards per match-up, with the best player competing on the top board, worth 12 points. The point value decreases one point per board, so the accumulation of points is more important than personal victories.

Like Bonomo, coach of the Princeville High School chess team, said chess is a thinking person’s game that provides problem-solving skills to the students.

“It keeps your brain working, because sometimes you have to think eight or nine moves ahead,” Bonomo said, stating that not everything is a “shoot ’em up” video game. “Chess is a nice challenge that you don’t have to win to enjoy.”

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