Check-mates Club provides outlet for chess players

Garry Kasparov vs. Vladimir Karmnik. Kasparov vs. Deep Blue. ASMSA vs. North Little Rock.

Perhaps that third pairing doesn’t quite match the first two in some regards, but for the ASMSA chess team, it ranks pretty highly. North Little Rock High School, who has won the state title in the previous two years, has become a natural rival for ASMSA’s chess team.

This year ASMSA and North Little Rock tied for first place in the regional qualifying tournament through the Chess Association for Arkansas Schools. Thanks to tiebreakers, North Little Rock was awarded the regional title, pushing ASMSA to second place. While the team still qualified for the state tournament with the finish, it left a bitter taste.

It was especially bitter because the team did not have an opportunity to avenge its loss officially. The state championships scheduled to be held in April were canceled because of the COVID-19 pandemic.

“There was a bit of frustration about that,” said Ethan Talley (’20), who served as co-vice president of the club this past year. “We were really excited about going to state and having another shot at them. You expect something to happen, but when it doesn’t, it feels weird.”

Micah Vess (’20) served as president of the chess club that forms ASMSA’s team. For him, it was a loss at the state championships in spring 2019 that is his most memorable game. At the state tournament, a team plays its top four players. Vess was playing on the first board because he had the highest qualifying rating on the team. They were paired against North Little Rock in their third match of the tournament.

“I think you learn the most from losses,” Vess said. “Chess exemplifies the saying that ‘he who makes the last mistake loses.’ You can both be playing an awful, awful game, but it’s a fatal mistake that gets you.”

The game was equal for a good while at the beginning, but it quickly went downhill for Vess.

“We played probably 30 moves before I made the first mistake of the game which ended up being the last mistake of the game. It just went downhill from there. The stronger a player is the

quicker he can convert an advantage to a win. Any slip up or deviation, the best players will pounce on that. I’ve looked at it the most and analyzed it. That’s what you do with a lot of games in chess — analyze it and learn from it,” he said.

Michael Jaeger (’20), who also served as co-vice president of this past year’s club, said he saw Vess grow quickly as a player during their two years on the team together.

“I first met Micah during orientation during our junior year,” Jaeger said. “I beat him three times in a row. But by the beginning of school, you could tell he just put in the time and got really better. In a couple of years, Micah is probably going to be in the top 10 in Arkansas if he puts in the time he’s doing now.”

Vess first played chess during the summer before he came to ASMSA. He learned from watching videos online and then turned to online sites such as Chess.com and Lichess.org to play games.

“There was actually a YouTube chess explosion in the online chess world and chess personalities playing shorter games,” Vess said. “I think I caught the first big wave of that. I saw a lot of videos of chess show up in my YouTube recommendations. A week later, I was playing almost every day online.”

He said that playing a large number of short, quick games helped him learn more quickly. He still prefers shorter games, often playing 100 to 200 fast games online over a weekend. Vess said he also thinks that it’s important for him to share his love of the game with others, helping them develop as players.

“I think it’s a tremendous game. I think that to not try to support it and show people the beauty of it is kind of a crime,” Vess said.

Vess’ love of the game combined with his online playing experience and the lack of a chance to play a state tournament led him to develop an idea for an online tournament among various high school teams. Vess was able to set up a virtual tournament that was held May 9.

A total of about 50 players and between 10-12 teams participated in the daylong online tournament. Vess Gladwin Tony (‘21) focuses on a move during a game. ASMSA’s chess team hosted a Chess Association for Arkansas Schools regional tournament for the first time this year. The team tied for first in the tourney but placed second on tie-breakers.

said the response was slow at first, but picked up enough to have a good tournament on Chess.com.

“It’s definitely not the same as playing in person, when you are physically over the chess board. Online chess is easy to lose your full focus and concentration sometimes just because of it being online. At the end of the day, students said they were very happy with it. There were a couple of coaches who said we should definitely do this again,” Vess said.

Dr. Neil Oatsvall, a history instructor at ASMSA who serves as the chess club’s adviser/coach, said that many people don’t think about how much chess is actually a social game.

“Many think about two people over a board who don’t speak,” said Oatsvall, who has served as the club’s adviser since his arrival at the school five years ago. “But there is a lot of camaraderie among the players. It’s just like any sport. You make connections with the other players.

“That’s a lot of why Micah wanted to plan this tournament. He was missing the interaction he got with people. As I was watching the games, it was interesting to see the kids talking to each other a little bit. Everyone seemed to be a good sport; win or lose, it was good game. It was cool to get to see them play again.”

Oatsvall praised the officers and other seniors on the team for their efforts as well as the juniors. In addition to the online tournament organized by Vess, ASMSA also served as the host site for the regional tournament in February in the Creativity and Innovation Complex. It was the first time the team had been able to host a tournament on campus.

“This year’s team was nice because we had a dedicated group of seniors,” Oatsvall said. “We had a group of juniors come in who were just as dedicated and serious. I think this was the strongest team we’ve had since I’ve been there. It was just a real strong team top to bottom.”

As for the lost opportunity for a rematch with North Little Rock in the state tournament, Oatsvall said, “I thought we had a really strong chance to beat them at the state tournament this year. I was disappointed didn’t get a chance to try.”

Regardless of the disappointing outcome, he said the club members’ dedication to the team was important to the club’s existence.

“It means everything,” he said. “The club is not going to exist just because an adviser is there. In fact, in many ways it is a student-directed club. They organize the meetings. They decide what we’re going to discuss while we’re there. I consider

myself an adviser. I’m there to help nurture them and help them with the things they can’t do. I think it’s one of its strengths.”

Serving as adviser of the club team has been fun for Oatsvall as well. He said that he served as president of his chess club during his senior year of high school. He took some time away from the game for a couple of years and then has played sporadically over the years. Becoming the team’s coach gave him the opportunity to play more often while serving in an important role outside of the classroom.

“I’m an educator, and history is what I do on the books,” Oatsvall said. “But the reason why anyone teaches at ASMSA is because we value those connections we make with the students. They are so bright. They are hard workers, and frankly, they remind me of me when I was in high school. About my mentors in chess. And if it had not been for them, I would have had a very different experience.

“Again, I would stress that chess is a social connection, a social game, which is one of the reasons it’s been so great to still have that during all this during all this even though you may be playing chess online. You’re still able to make a connection with somebody.”

Just as he praised their leadership of the team, all three senior officers of the club offered their appreciation for Oatsvall’s work with the team.

“It’s night and day,” Jaeger said with a boost in his voice describing Oatsvall’s mentorship. “When I was at my home school, a lot of the smaller schools don’t have chess teachers. They learn off YouTube or fast checkmates. It’s really nice to have someone like Dr. Oatsvall there to give us some direction to make sure we’re focusing our time on the best way to improve on our playing style. When a team doesn’t have a coach, they will tend to spiral and just play games and not improve that much.”

Vess said Oatsvall helped provide the team structure, particularly during practices at club meetings.

“I think the days Oatsvall was not at a club meeting were some of the least structured days,” Vess said. “We’d play fast games where we didn’t have as much time for thinking about moves. When he was there, there were no quick games. He brings that kind of structure. Just having someone on paper (as an adviser) would not do the club justice at all.”

Talley said Oatsvall would often sit down to play games with club members. Oatsvall’s enjoyment of the game was obvious to them.

“It is definitely obvious that he’s fond of the game,” Talley said. “Whenever he had time, he would sit down and play games with the rest of us. It’s kind of a morale boost, especially during tournament season, because it’s nice to know that he cares about the students and the game.”

One of the interesting aspects of the club is that it brings together players of varying skill levels and playing styles. Vess and Talley prefer quicker games while Jaeger likes longer games that focus on the endgame.

Part of that may be attributed to how they each initially learned to play. Vess was essentially self-taught by watching videos online and playing online games that Max Green (‘21) watches Ethan Talley (‘20) as he studies the board for his next move during a chess match. Both are members of the ASMSA chess team.

tend to have shorter time limits. He says he things more games help you learns patterns more quickly.

Talley enjoyed playing in person but had trouble finding people to play so he found games online as well. He recently started picking back up on playing fiveminute blitz games.

Jaeger started playing early with a teacher who pushed for standard checkmate games as a coach. His father and three older brothers also play. Two of them — Nick (’18) and Chris (’18) — were both members of the ASMSA club. Oatsvall said Nick is one of the best players he has coached at ASMSA.

Regardless of how they first learned, they agree that the special thing about the club is that it gives everyone someone to play with and from which to learn.

“At a regular chess meeting there’s this sense of all these people who have the same interest as you,” Talley said. “You can play with these people and be friends with these people. I had gone through my chess phase, but the ASMSA club has completely reinvigorated my interest in the game.”

And it comes back to the core reason they all gather — to play the game.

“It’s just fun. You can sit down for shorter games and finish in 10 to 15 minutes. It doesn’t affect anything you’re dealing with in the rest of your life. It’s a nice distraction from life,” Jaeger said.