Last Friday on December 9th, 2022 in the upstairs open lobby, the Chess Club hosted an open tournament. The tournament can sound frightening, with a one-on-one competition of pure skill determining who is the winner and who is the loser. In reality, the “tournament” was very light-hearted and the only people at this event were 3 members of the Chess Club, myself, and my girlfriend Jaidyn who was forced to come along. Everyone met up at around four after school and the president of the club said the event was focused on raising awareness about the great sport that Chess is.

Although Chess is highly looked over and can be seen as an old boring game, it is actually one of the most amazing games ever created. Chess beats all other competitive activities, video games, board games, and card games in terms of potential fun. Especially for competitive people, chess is like a dream come true. It is a game where there is literally zero luck involved and every loss can be traced back to a single point and that can be shown where the mistake was made. As players progress in skill levels of chess, the game evolves strategically as the player thinks of more advanced attacks, strengthens their memory, and learns how to recognize patterns through repetition.

The Chess club is one of the best clubs to join in Verrado. The club will also provide real-world benefits as playing chess helps people develop critical thinking skills, and it has been shown that students who regularly played chess have actually raised their IQ. Also, believe it or not, the game actually can help teach people empathy too, the ability to understand and share feelings with another, because of how players need to constantly see the board from their opponent’s perspective to anticipate their moves. After joining the chess club and falling in love with chess, at any time one can go onto a device with internet access and play random online opponents to sharpen their skills. The Verrado Chess club is a very welcoming community, and although the President’s signature initiation is to wreak havoc on the newcomers, it was all in the name of fun.