High school students focus hard amid the pressure of IHSA Chess Team State Tournament
By LAURA NIGHTENGALE
Journal Star
Posted Feb 09, 2013 @ 09:11 PM
PEORIA — Some barely look up from the checkered board, focused on planning their next move. Others slam pieces with authority and challenge opponents with an intimidating stare. A few even wear colorful wigs to distract their opponent.
But Richwoods High School senior Austin Bare uses a different strategy. He’s turned his chair around to be more comfortable, because in a room where more than 500 chess games are played at once, the tension level skyrockets as the noise level drops.
“Chess is a lot more than the pieces,” said Bare, an alternate who played on Board 7 of Richwoods’s eight-player team. “You see that clock blinking. You feel that pressure and you never know what the person you’re playing is thinking”
Richwoods was one of 135 teams from across Illinois at the IHSA Chess Team State Tournament on Friday and Saturday. Competitors played up to seven games in two days, each an intense battle of wits that can last up to two hours.
When Bre Davis was down to one piece, she began to wonder where she went wrong.
“I had him. I got his queen early in the game,” the Peoria High School senior said after losing a match in the sixth round.
Davis, whose sister Kaylin also played for Peoria High, has played chess since her father taught her at age 5.
“It’s a lot of mind strategy. You’ve got to be focused,” Kaylin, also a senior, said. “I see the board and everything else is a blur.”
In between rounds, competitors relax with food from the concession stand, listening to music or playing more chess in a friendly and less competitive atmosphere.
Whitney Young Magnet High School of Chicago finished first in the tournament.
Peoria High (131st) and Richwoods (78th) were the only two Peoria schools represented in the competition, with Morton (30th) and Princeville (119th) teams also in the mix.
Richwoods coach Kathy Phillips hopes the four area teams can form a league next year so students can prepare for the competition and encourage other schools to make teams of their own.
“We’re looking for more teams to play,” Phillips said. “We drove all the way out to Galva for a competition (this year).”
And encouraging competition, IHSA assistant executive director Scott Johnson said, is emphasized at the statewide event. All eight players on a team contribute to the total score: from 12 points for the winning first chair to 5 points for the eighth chair winner.
“There are lots of individual chess competitions,” Johnson said. “This makes players want to make other players get better and encourages kids to enjoy chess even if they’re not going to be a grand master.”
Source: http://www.pjstar.com
Who will win?