Are you interested in joining an extracurricular activity that tests your true puzzle solving, strategical, and tactical skills? Then the chess club is the place for you. Chess has tested people’s mental skills for millenniums and is a good alternative to physically demanding sports.

The Central Catholic Chess Club has been around for a long time, you can see all of the trophies they have won in previous years on the first floor of the main building close to Room 111. With the help of Science teacher Mr. Nogay and a few other Central students including myself, we are making an effort to revive the chess club and put Central back in the standings for state level competitions. Anyone can learn to play chess and join the club by attending the Block B Wednesday morning block.

Chess club will also be holding gatherings after school on Friday from 3-4:30 p.m this upcoming December. Our main goal for the chess club is to go to competitions. I have competed in a few competitions including a tournament at Winchester Thurston High School, and a quick quad tournament at the University of Pittsburgh.

I was not competing for Central because every tournament must have four people from one school to have a team for the school. Although the odds were not in my favor for those tournaments, I encourage anyone that is interested to try it out. The Central Catholic Chess Club has big plans of competing in high level tournaments.

We cannot compete as a school if we do not have the participation necessary. This is why we encourage anyone interested in chess to give it a try. I started learning how to play chess in 4th grade, and I have not stopped since. So if you are interested in learning how to play chess or need an extracurricular activity, the chess club is a good place for you to be.