The members of the Darlington Chess Club meet on Wednesdays in the Tiger Tutor Lab. Right now, the club is preparing for the upcoming spring Dar-Chess Tournament which will take place from Feb. 20 to Feb. 23.
“I established the club in my junior year with my roommate Eddie,” senior Hank Xue said. “The purpose of the club is that me and other Darlington students have some enthusiasm about chess and the club gives us the opportunity to gather so we can play chess, learn from each other and improve our skills.”
Clubs are an opportunity for students to explore their interests together with their peers and, in contrast to iPeriods, are not required in the student’s schedules.
“I think it is a relaxing atmosphere in the club,” Xue said. “We are there to play chess but we are not playing very furiously against each other. We just have a relaxing, slow game during our meetings. We have an iPeriod for chess too.”
The club also gives people the opportunity to expand their knowledge of chess or to learn the game from the very beginning.
“No experience is needed. You can also come to first learn how the pieces move,” club advisor Justin Bruce said. “The more you play and understand, the more competitive you will be but you do not need any experience to come and play in the chess club.”
Chess is considered a sport in many countries because the game requires mental acuity, strategic thinking, and even lasting physical endurance is required to remain focused for the matches that can last for hours.
“I’m excited about the competition. Last year we had the first tournament, which was quite a success as it was the first one. We had over 20 Darlington students participating. It was a little bit of a mess when we tried to organize the time because everybody had a different available time based on their level. We needed to match them in order to compete,” Xue said. “This year we have more experience, so I believe we’ve gotten better.”
Chess tournaments take place all over the world. Besides the United States, chess is extremely popular in India, Ukraine, Russia and China.
“The upcoming competition is a chess tournament that is offered to anybody in the school,” Bruce said. “The price for the Dar-Chess King/Queen is a $50 coupon and also comes with a special prize we will see when the trophy comes up. This is a Darlington students-only tournament.”
The club leaders sent an email with all the information, including a Google form to register for the event.
“Be excited about the tournament,” Xue said.