Last week and at the start of this week, M-A’s Chess Club hosted its first ever Chess Championship.
Freshman Shawnak Shivakumar, who organized the event with help from Chess Club advisor Mark Drury, said, “I played in many chess tournaments and was fortunate enough to have parents that introduced me to chess when I was young. I know a lot of students at M-A who play chess casually but they really haven’t had an experience playing a chess tournament. I think it would just be awesome to allow all different kinds of kids to play a chess tournament. And that’s why I’m hosting this event.” The Menlo Park Chess Club provided equipment for the tournament.
The tournament was structured with single-elimination rounds, and before the semi-finals last Friday, senior Jason Hu said, “It feels pretty good to be in the semi-finals—I didn’t think I would make it this far, but I’m here. I started playing chess in elementary school but then stopped in middle school and I haven’t played until today.”
Junior John Diepenbrock won the tournament, and said, “It feels good to win the championship. I was pretty nervous because I’m not very good at chess. I like these faster time controls but my opponent was good, but luckily, I was able to win. I started playing chess after I watched The Queen’s Gambit two years ago. Then I played with my dad a little bit, and after finally beating him, I decided that I wanted to play more. The competition here was good, especially with the time control.”
The inaugural tournament brought some newcomers to the chess scene.
Freshman Jack Bullard said, “I actually just learned [how to play chess] today. At first, I didn’t want to sign up because I didn’t know how to play, but then I was like I might as well because it’s a no-lose situation. And maybe I’ll turn out to be a prodigy and win it all. So far I’m probably the most improved out of any of the competitors today because I went from knowing no chess to knowing the rules. So I’d say it’s been pretty good.”
Sophomore Steven Gomez was in a similar boat, and said, “I don’t know how to play chess. I never played it before at all. This was my first time playing it, but I thought it was a good time to learn.”
Shivakumar said, “I hope we can host this every single year during my four years of high school, and hopefully, the tradition carries on. This is only our first time hosting the event. I think it’s awesome that a lot of players are coming here to just play chess: we’ve had around 50 players show up. It’s an awesome turnout.”
