Sixth grader Yaileen Paulino 

Even though there’s less than two weeks left of school before summer break, some students at Boulter Middle School are finding ways to stay challenged — with chess.

The school held its first-ever chess challenge Friday, where more than 30 students participated in a healthy cognitive competition with each other.

“The chess challenge started as a jumpstart idea when we were gathering participants for Academic UIL (University Interscholastic League) for chess, I noticed there were a lot of kids who were not a part of the list who still popped up during our practice games after our classes and kept coming every day,” said Maggi Vestal, sixth grade English teacher. “And I thought that we might as well provide an avenue for them to expose themselves to an actual chess competition.”

As one of the oldest and most popular games, chess is a board game played between two players that simulates a war between two kingdoms. Millions around the world play recreationally and competitively.

“I love seeing kids actually strategize … it’s a silent mental sport,” Vestal said. “It’s interesting to see how kids transform themselves into a person of strategy when they play. And it’s fun to see them smile when they win.”

To play chess, players need at least a set of chess pieces and a chessboard. A chess clock is also necessary if players decide to play a timed game, and players often use a score sheet to record their moves.

“We were able to get professional chess sets but … time clocks are really expensive so we use the tablets to have the kids keep track of their playing time,” Vestal said.

A chess piece set has two different armies of pieces, each containing eight pawns, two knights, two bishops, two rooks, a queen, and a king. Players can distinguish their armies based on their colors, with light and dark pieces.

The chessboard has 64 squares organized in an eight-by-eight grid. The board is checkered with dark and light squares. The board is divided into ranks (rows) and files (columns).

There are six types of chess pieces: the pawn, the knight, the bishop, the rook, the queen, and the king. Each of those pieces moves differently and has a distinct value.

“Ideally, we want to challenge other schools but since this is a pilot program, it will be good for them to play with other kids at their school. This is an opportunity of a lifetime for them, a core memory, to bear with them in middle school. We’re not all professionals here but this is where we start,” Vestal said.

Eighth grader Jaedrian Gonzalez has been playing only since last year.

“I don’t want to sound like I’m trying to brag or anything but I do like to show off my intelligence a bit,” he said. “I enjoy the complex situations you can get in, and how you have to think a way around it, the strategies that are involved, the way you have to think but sometimes it can be hard, sometimes it can be easy… it challenges my intellect and that’s what I like about it.”

Gonzalez learned largely from YouTube videos, eventually finding a favorite strategy.

“Sun Ray Checkmate, it where you have three queens, they’re all set up like a sunray, like how the sun is shining — I’ve seen it, it looks really cool and I’ve tried to perform it but I’m not very good at it. But it’s one of my favorites,” he said.

For anyone who might be interested in learning how to play, Gonzalez said having confidence in yourself is key.

“Chess can be played at any level. Kids who are 6 years old can play… anyone can play chess,” he said. “Everybody starts out new, everybody starts out fresh, everybody learns things when they don’t know how to play, when they first start out. You just have to really work at it. Practice makes perfect.”

The event started in the morning and went until the final afternoon round. Winners received medals and prizes donated by the community.