When you're a high school kid who's not really popular, doesn't have too many friends and doesn't know what he wants to be when he grows up or what kind of person he wants to be, and no big brothers or sisters to look up, it's important to have something to identify as, and that was chess for me. I started playing in the chess team in elementary school, but it was only until high school that I recognized the mixture of fun, discipline, competitiveness, and strategy that chess could be. It didn't hurt that Illinois is the No. 1 state for organized chess in the country, holding a state team chess competition every year. (Apparently, it's just not that cool to be on the chess team, and doesn't generate funds like football and basketball). But every year in February, the Hinsdale South Hornets would travel down to Peoria, IL to participate in the 2-day high school chess tournament to determine the statewide high school champion. There were other tournaments in the year, but state chess was the first time I played in a 2-day tournament, bond with your teammates (chess is an individual game, but in a 8 v. 8 team tournament, there's some elements of a team game of whether to try to win your match or draw your match to help the team, etc.) and feel part of a competition, to know other teams wanted the championship as much as we did. At Hinsdale South we were lucky enough to have a group of guys attending the school at the same time that were as nerdy, didn't participate in a sport during the winter months, could meet after school 2 days a week for practice, and actually enjoyed playing chess (not an easy combo to make) to have a team that stuck together, and improved every year. I didn't recognize it then, but it was the first time I felt a part of something, a dedicated cause, something to work for that I really enjoyed other than just doing a lot of homework or trying to achieve the best score I could on the SAT. I really wanted to be good at chess and win for my team, and the results showed it.
By our junior year we finally put it all together at state, and to this day it's one of the most exciting tournaments I ever attended. Make fun of chess all you want as the nerdy game that's not a sport, but to this day playing in a crucial match as one of the last matches in a packed room still playing, everyone watching YOUR moves, trying to win for your team is one of the biggest natural highs I've had in my life, very comparable to dodgeball. I imagine it's a lot like a boxing head, going toe to toe with one's opponent, him firing a shot while you fire one back, trying to figure out the opponent and get into their head to see what they're thinking and why they're making moves. And when I won, it was one of the most fulfilling things to walk out of the room knowing 2 or 3 hours of exhausting gameplay was worth it. That year, at state, our only 2 losses were to 2 of the top 3 teams there, we beat a lot of good teams and felt CLOSE to being the best team in the state at chess, like we achieved something.
More than 10 years later, I still think back to the fun times of chess I had and probably now more than back then appreciate what was going on then, a competition of skill where people didn't get advantages based on how they looked or who their parents were, it was just a game with relevantly rules, but the way one played defined who one was. I loved it.
A documentary called "Chess State" was made in 2014 and basically sums up the whole experience of high school chess in Illinois, it's great and highly recommend it, it personally brought back a whole lot of memories for me. Enjoy like I did!
Fantasize on,
Robert Yan
No comments:
Post a Comment