Central Middle School chess club players excel

~ Chess clubs help improve students' grades and social skills.

Some serious chess players in Central Middle School's afterschool Chess Club received trophies for school champion, intermediate winner, highest-scoring sixth-grade advanced winner, fifth-grade winner scoring tournament points, fifth-grade advanced player with four wins and sixth-grade beginner scoring tournament points recently.

The club got its start four years ago under the tutelage of Vickie Howard, the school librarian, who, after seeing remarkable results in the development of students' social skills in addition to improved grades at a third-grade chess program in Monterrey, Mexico, implemented a similar club.

"Since Central Middle School is a melting pot/blending school, I noticed that it was difficult for new friendships to form, so this was a good avenue for the children to make friends. Each week they play new people," Howard said.

The club meets on Wednesdays from November to March in the cafeteria, with some supervised chess time in the library before school.

Donating time

Howard said that in the start-up year, 100 students signed up, and four parents with an expertise in the game volunteered. She later met with members of the Cape Girardeau Chess Club, who didn't hesitate to help out.

"It isn't very common for adults to donate their time to a school when they have no children going there," Howard said.

Adult leadership in the club include fifth-grade teacher Mary Ellen Malone, school librarian and club organizer Howard and chess coaches Jonathan Budil, Dave Koehler and Chuck King. Koehler did not participate this year due to health problems; he later died at the Missouri Veterans Home.

Budil has seen players' skill at the game increase. "They were far enough ahead of their peers in skill that an advanced sixth-grader always won the school champion trophy. This year the players were much closer in strength," he said.

Jake Wright was the highest scoring sixth-grade advanced player, with five wins and no losses. In the fifth-grade advanced category was Kaylen Martin with four wins. The fifth- and sixth-grade intermediate winners, Joseph Wolsey and Steven Meyer, followed closely with three wins and a tie each. Fifth-grader Timothy Heinsman and sixth-grader J.R. Davis were the only beginners who scored points in the tournament.

An unexpected turn

Following the tournament were the playoffs between the intermediate and advanced winners for the title of school champion. Martin and Wolsey squared off to win the fifth-grade overall trophy, while Wright and Meyer challenged each other for the sixth-grade overall trophy.

Events took an unexpected turn in the first round of playoffs when both advanced players were defeated by their intermediate opponents. Intermediates Wolsey and Meyer then played each other, and Wolsey became the new chess champion of the school.

On playoff day, Wolsey was determined. Before the games, Budil overheard him say, "Today, I'm gonna do something!" He may have accomplished more than he expected. After receiving three trophies for best fifth-grade intermediate, best fifth-grade overall and school champion, his coach asked him whether he had ever expected to become the first fifth-grade school champion.

A beaming Wolsey replied, "I never expected to get the first trophy, even!"

Although Kaylen Martin was disappointed that she didn't win, she took some solace in keeping up a family tradition as the only girl to make it to the playoffs, just as her sister Kelsey had accomplished the year before.

Kelsey also competed this year in the sixth-grade advanced division, but finished a point behind Jake Wright.

Challengers interested in competing with the Central Middle School chess club should contact the CMS School Library.