Last weekend, the Maize chess club went to a tournament and took first place. 

“I was very proud of them,” chess club sponsor Jessica Fisher said. “Between rounds they were very helpful and supportive of each other. Each student would go through their match with the others to evaluate the game before the next one. They played like a team that day.”

Tournaments are set up as a bracket system.There are a series of games between players that lead up to final rounds between the players left. 

“It’s bracketed,” president and starter of the club Michael Nguyen said. “But it’s also dependent on your own rating but if you don’t have a rating you just keep bouncing up and down. And if you lose you either go all the way down to the bottom or move down one board.”

The club was originally started by Nguyen and former math teacher Chris Fisher, simply because they played in En-Cor one day, and it grew into a larger group. 

“My En-Cor teacher Mr. Fisher said, ‘Oh, you like chess right? I have a few chess boards, let’s play and start a chess club.’ And I was just like ‘okay sure why not?” Nguyen said. 

Chess club is a great team that anyone can join if they want to try chess for the first time, or grow their skills. Nguyen says that everyone is welcome.

“You can sign up by going to Mrs. Fisher’s room after school on Thursdays,” Nguyen said. “Just showing up and having fun, just play some chess, and hopefully go to some tournaments.”