Just introduced this year at Odessa Christian School, the chess club is set to participate in an April 27 tournament at the St. Mary’s Central Catholic School gym.
The tournament begins with check-in at 8 a.m. and the tournament could run until 4 p.m. St. Mary’s is located at 1703 Adams Ave. and people should come in through the 17th Street side.
Middle school science teacher Deborah Johnson said there are 17 students in the club from fifth through eighth grade, because that is Odessa Christian’s middle school.
Johnson and a St. Mary’s teacher, Penny Arnold, had a club there when Johnson was at St. Mary’s. Arnold has continued it. They also did chess at Ector County ISD.
The Odessa Christian club is called OCS Checkmates and St. Mary’s is called SMCCS We Love Chess.
She is inviting other students as well from ECISD and Oaks Academy, located in Golf Course Road Church of Christ in Midland.
Johnson said chess benefits students in many ways. It is considered a sport by the International Olympic Committee.
“They’re having to work different parts of their brain; think ahead; plan ahead. The second thing is it’s so good for learning that failure is not final; that if you are playing up to your highest level, then you should be having some people who beat you sometimes. That’s what the tournament is about, too, that they can learn to win graciously and lose graciously,” Johnson said.
She added that chess also teaches kids that there are multiple ways to go about something.
“I found that with chess … it’s very humbling. They think of themselves as being really smart in math class. But with chess … it depends on the day and who you’re playing and how it goes and they make mistakes. We talk about learning from those mistakes, what you’re going to do differently?” she added.
Timers have also been introduced for playoffs so there won’t be a lot of stalemates.
This is also a chance for students to meet peers in other grade levels.
“We mix together for electives. We mix together for Bible studies. And this is another chance that they get to play chess and interact with people that are not just in their age group. That’s been a real strength, too,” Johnson said.
Odessa Christian had an intramural tournament in January where Odessa Christian students played against each other. Auden Valenzuela took first place in that contest; his sister, Aurora Valenzuela, took second; and Blake Flores took third.
Auden, a 13-year-old seventh-grader, Soe Urias, also a 13-year-old seventh-grader and Aurora, a 14-year-old eighth-grader, will be participating in the tourney at St. Mary’s.
They had different reasons for joining OCS Checkmates, but they share a common love of the sport.
“I always go over to my brother and he’s always good. Mrs. Johnson was his teacher and I wanted to get as good as him,” Urias said.
Aurora said she started last summer and wanted to get better at the sport.
To prepare, Urias said she is focusing on what they do at Odessa Christian and finding out what other people’s strategies are because other people they’ll be playing against might have the same strategies.
Aurora, who designed the team T-shirts, said she’s “just playing a bunch of chess to get faster.”
Auden said he is feeling anxious and excited about the tournament.
The students said chess has helped them in a lot of ways and plus it’s fun.
“It makes me smarter and it makes me kind of think faster and process things easier,” Urias said.
Aurora agreed that she feels like she is smarter because she plays chess.
Auden said the sport has taught him that it’s OK to lose “and just don’t give up.”
“Losing can be a good thing,” Aurora said. “You can learn a lot.”
Johnson noted that chess is something you can play your whole life.
“It’s something you can play when you can’t do other sports later on … I think it keeps your mind sharp, too,” Johnson said.
In the club, they usually only play two or three games, but tournaments are like a marathon or an ultra-marathon, she added.
“They don’t really get to play five games anywhere else but they’re going to all play five games — win or lose. Then in the afternoon (they’ll have) a clean slate and they start over for the playoffs and then it becomes single elimination. I just think the shear opportunity to play that many different players one after the other and stay sharp after that many games is a good skill in itself,” Johnson said.
A good sportsmanship award will be given.
“We’re watching during the tournaments to see who is winning graciously and losing graciously because both are needed skills,” Johnson said.
