On October 29, the MSMS Chess Club held the first school chess tournament of the year.

This tournament was split into two sections: standard and blitz. Within standard, each player played four games and was allotted a total of 25 minutes per game. Standard was also single elimination, meaning one loss resulted in the overall disqualification of a player from the tournament. Blitz consisted of each player being allotted a total of five minutes. Blitz was also double-elimination, meaning that a player had to have two losses to be disqualified.

Senior Braeden Foldenauer won the standard competition while junior Gary Nguyen won the blitz competition.

The Chess Club hoped to use this tournament to lay the groundwork for future tournaments as well as to invigorate the interests of the MSMS student body in the Chess Club. “This school tournament is the first step to promoting and expanding the Chess Club to the next level, so what we’re hoping to get out of this tournament is to have our club develop an idea of how future and larger tournaments will be organized while still having fun, of course,” stated Nguyen, Vice-President of Chess Club.

Chess Club hopes to be able to compete with other schools and the country as time continues to toll on and the club continues to grow, and the future looks bright for the club. “For a growing club that is starting to pick up the pace and get off of its feet, there is certainly hope for us to be prepared for the series of several upcoming tournaments where competition will come from around the state” Nguyen expressed.

The next  tournament will occur on Feb. 25 and will be held in conjunction with the Mississippi Scholastic Chess Association.