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Ace Moen

Gabe Gibert talks and laughs as he plays chess and makes his next move.

One of the most successful, but often overlooked student organizations is the chess team. Their trophies dominate the case in the main lobby and line the windows and shelves in the main office, with some going back to the school’s founding year in 2010.

“We went to like four or five [team tournaments] last year and we got a trophy in, I think, every one of them…I got a trophy in two of them,” junior Gabe Gibert said.

In total, there are sixteen trophies located in the main office, most of which are for winning anywhere from first to fourth place. These include awards for first place at the 2016 ninth grade and under Gateway Chess League Action Tournament, second place at the 2018 high school Gateway Chess League Action Tournament, and first place at the 2013 eighth grade and under Red Rook Tournament.

The chess team will be going to four tournaments, the first of which took place on November 3 at Parkway West middle school. The team is comprised of senior Christopher Corriveau, senior Lillian Selligman, junior Gabe Gibert, and freshman Joseph Miller.

“We used to go all the time, but we don’t have enough people, so now if we went to a bunch of tournaments, it’d just be one or two people at each one,” senior Christopher Corriveau said.

The chess team meets regularly as part of the chess club, where team members work with new recruits to train them for inclusion on the team in future tournaments.* In the past, the club had put up flyers and emailed announcements to teachers to recruit new members. However, that resulted in only one new member. As of now, they have no plan for recruiting new members this year, though they have gained two new members: sophomore Molly Moen and eighth grader D’Ashia Miller.

“We’re definitely going to state and nationals this year. We go to state and nationals every year,” Corriveau said. “We’re mostly going to be training our newer members. We are always working with them, because we can teach ourselves and each other pretty well.“

*Editors note: Edited for clarity to identify the difference between the chess club and the chess team.