Just last year, an after-school chess club was a new idea at Forsyth School District. Now, the group has won first-place team honors at two recent tournaments, where several students have also made a great individual showing.
The chess club is coached by Philip Thomas, Eric Boston and Dr. Michael Lewis. The club was started by Mr. Thomas, band director at Forsyth and a long-time chess enthusiast. He coached the chess team at Springfield Central High School and later started and coached a chess team at Galena High School, where students also had strong appearances at the state tournament.
The Forsyth team participates in the Southwest Missouri Scholastic Chess League, which holds three tournaments in the fall and three in the spring. Students with a top 10 finish last fall qualified for the Tournament of Champions, which was held on January 18 in Springfield. Seven Forsyth students qualified, up from just one qualifying last year, and three students finished in the top 10 of the tournament: Slaten Gass, Wesley Meister and Wyatt Miller. Slaten Gass, an eighth grade student at Forsyth Middle School, also had a personal milestone at the Monett fall tournament, finishing in firstt place with a perfect 5.0 score in a field of 76 participants.
The team also competed in the independent Chaz Coats Memorial Chess Tournament at Willow Springs High School on January 18, where they won first place in team competition (combined scores of a school’s top four individual finishers) out of nine teams.
The team is off to a great start for spring, earning the top team score to beat rival Monett at the Fair Grove tournament on January 30, with Riley Holmberg, Wesley Meister and Wyatt Miller placing in the top 10 out of 81 participants. Still upcoming are tournaments at Sparta on February 27 and Springfield’s Reed Academy on March 27, with the club off to a good start on representation in the Tournament of Champions for spring.
Considerable research has shown a link between chess and overall academic success. The skills required to assess and counter possible moves by an opponent, while considering possible consequences, can also transition into a foundation for good workplace and life decisions down the road. Chess club offers an additional niche at school for students to enjoy socializing and competing, while building a skill they can enjoy for a lifetime.