CHESS TEAM

For those looking for a bit of competition while playing chess, Garfield’s Chess Team offers competitive chess matches while still retaining a fun and supportive atmosphere. The team competes in chess matches and tournaments against other school teams, much like Garfield’s basketball, football, and soccer teams. Under the guidance of Mr Nomura since 1998, the Chess Team has won two state titles, and multiple metro league titles, often beating prestigious private schools. The Chess Team seeks to learn chess strategy and improve their game in preparation for these tournaments. It isn’t all training though, much of the time is spent having fun. Senior Captain Henry Adams describes Chess Team meetings as “a lesson, and then after the learning is done we go play bullet and blitz”. After all, the best part of Chess Team is “goofing around and being silly with friends over a game”. When asked whether or not chess is

Club and Chess Boxing society, in addition to our teachers’ worst enemy; online chess. Chess origins date back a very long time, with early variants emerging in modern-day India and Pakistan almost two thousand years ago. Over time, the strategy board game spread all over the world, constantly evolving and spawning new variants, many of which have gone on to become recognized games themselves. What we think of as chess is a European variant a sport, Adams settled on a middle ground between a sport and a game. Adams said “it’s not a physical activity, so it’s not a sport in that sense”, but also added that “we train and try to improve as a team like it’s a sport”. which first appeared in Spain around the 13th century. Chess itself can be played in many different ways, with most variants differing on their time controls. In chess, each player is given an equal amount of time for the game, and when it is a player’s turn to move, their time ticks down until they make their move. Classical chess is played with several hours of time for each player. Rapid chess is when the time con trol is between 10 and 30 minutes. Blitz has a sports mentality.”McDermott be lieves that chess can qualify as a sport, stat ing “The team environment and practices align with normal sports”. Chess is known to be a male-dominated field, with only 15% of licensed players in the world being women, and this statistic holds true within Garfield’s chess team and club. When re flecting on the gender imbalance, McDer mott said “it can be a little strange some times, because it is all guys, but I wouldn’t say it changes anything that much. I think more girls should join chess, it would be nice to have a more diversified environment.” The club meets every day during both lunches in room 238 and Tuesdays

Chess Club

For those wanting a more leisurely commitment to chess, look no further than chess club. Rather than participating in chess tournaments, students get together during lunch to play against one another. The club is known to have a loose atmosphere, with students of all skill levels coming together to both watch and participate in chess. Avid chess club member Athena McDermott said, “I like vibing somewhere during lunch, I wouldn’t say that I’m competitive at all, but I enjoy getting to know people over chess.” The chess club has managed to build a strong community, with many students returning to play chess every day. When asked about how the chess club compares to the chess team, McDermott said “There is a lot of overlap between the two, chess club definitely has a more casual vibe, whereas the chess team

Chess Boxing Club

Chess boxing is a hybrid sport, combining (you guessed it) chess and boxing. Players alternate between rounds of boxing and chess until one either knocks their opponent out or deals a checkmate. The sport was invented by Lepe Rubinghin 1992, and has become widely popularized in Finland, Russia, India, and the United Kingdom. This odd sport is no stranger to Garfield High School with its Chess Boxing Club, chess is anywhere from 10 minutes down to 3 minutes for each player. Bullet chess is played with less than 3 minutes for each player, usually with only 1 minute.

Chess Puzzle

club, Wilcynski said “I saw a [chessboxing] event on YouTube, and it was really funny. It was just these guys getting punched in the face, and then they sit down and they play chess, and then they punch each other more”. This moved Wilcynski to start his own league. While Wilcynski may be a stranger to boxing, chess is an old hobby. Playing since elementary school, Wilcynski holds a love for chess. “I like the way the knights move cause they move kinda funny, but really I think watching chess is just so cool cause there are so many ways the game can carry out”, Wilcynski said. When asked to comment on whether or not chess boxing is a sport, Wilcynski said “I feel like the definition of a sport is a physical activity, and moving your hand doesn’t qualify as a physical activity.” He later added that the boxing element of chess boxing makes it a sport. For those looking to try out something new, chessboxing may be the place