Del Norte High’s chess team have increasingly declared checkmate against their opponents, with the team capturing a third-place regional tournament award just four years after it was formed.
The six-member tournament team consisting of senior Kevin Du; junior Zoe He; sophomore Aarav Sonara; and freshmen Harrish Ahilan, Jacob Gelle and Manasvi Macha came in third out of 17 teams at the second annual San Diego Regional High School Team Chess Championship last month.
The tournament drew high school teams from throughout Southern California and Arizona, with players of all skill levels. They ranged from chess masters to unrated players in their first tournaments, according to organizers.
“We had really competitive sets, the scariest because there were really good players … and I did not expect to make it (to third place),” said Du, who founded the school’s chess club as a freshman and is its president. “We prepared the whole winter break.”
Du selected the six club who formed the regional tournament team.
Awards were based on overall team score and tiebreaker scores after five rounds of play. University High School in Irvine came in first, with an undefeated 5 out of 5 team score. Canyon Crest Academy was second, winning four of its five team matches; followed by Del Norte High, which received a 3.5 out of 5. San Marino High School came in fourth with a 3 out of 5 and Westview High School captured fifth place based on tiebreaks and 3 out of 5 points.
The regional tournament had “intense competition,” said Irina Nizmutdinova, a San Diego Chess Club board member who organized the tournament with fellow board member Jonathan Frye.
Du, 17, who has been playing chess since fourth grade, said he was drawn to the game because of its challenges.
“My dad played with me for a long time, but now I beat him,” he said.
When Du started high school, he noticed there was no chess club, so he decided to start one with four friends. But like the game, that was a challenge.
“The hardest part was getting participation,” Du said, adding that the club came close to folding by the school year’s second trimester.
But he kept at it and by his sophomore year had garnered more interest.
“I developed a new plan to make it more fun and engaging,” he said of the club meetings and short games now played twice a week during lunch periods. The number of active club varies between 10 and 20.
The team hosted a tournament with a few schools and also worked with the 4S Ranch Library to host monthly tournaments for students in kindergarten through 12th grade, along with a summer camp.
“When kids go to homes to play chess with each other … that makes me smile,” Du said.
He said he thinks playing chess is more beneficial cognitively to the next generation than spending time watching YouTube videos, which he referred to as “brain rot.”
To be successful at chess, one must think several steps ahead, a skill that can be beneficial in other aspects of life, Du said.
With the game traditionally being dominated by male players, it took until last year for the chess club to recruit its first female , Du said. It has two – He and Macha.
“I like that you have to calculate your moves, which is kind of exciting,” said Macha, 14, who has been playing chess since age 5.
Macha said her mother introduced her to the game and played with her when she was younger.
“I played against my mom, but after I beat her she stopped,” Macha said. “I was around age 7.”
As for the regional tournament she said, “I did pretty good” — winning four of five games.
While Macha has been competing in U.S. Chess Federation tournaments as an individual player since seventh grade — she even traveled to Chicago for an all-girls chess tournament last year — this was her first school and team tournament, so it was a new experience for her.
“It was really fun and different because we participated as a team, so I felt more connected and had someone to talk to who understood how hard we worked,” she said.
Macha said she would like to see more girls the club.
“I rarely play against girls,” she said, which is one reason she entered the Chicago tournament last year. “It felt different and I could see that I was not alone.”
Ahilan, 14, said he started playing chess two years ago after moving to San Diego. To learn the game he watched tutorial videos online.
“At the time, my motivation was that all of my (new) friends were playing, so I wanted to hop on the trend,” he said. “I found it to be fun for other reasons. I like the idea that by thinking … you can control the game. … You can’t lose unless you make bad moves.”
Learning the basic rules for chess is easy, Ahilan said. The challenge comes in learning various strategies. To hone his skills, Ahilan said he often plays chess computer games.
This was his first highly competitive in-person tournament. Ahilan said that considering he had “very talented opponents … I did exceptionally well.”
Macha said regardless of the outcome, she always enjoys her games.
“It is OK to lose a lot of games, you just have to learn from those games and practice,” she said. “It is just a game at the end of the day. So have fun, do your best and do not put too much pressure on yourself.”
