On January 21, the RB chess team attended the Metro Suburban Conference Tournament.

“It was great. We were in 2nd place the whole day,” said Dave Monti, the chess team coach and sponsor.

Andres Resto won four out of five matches and took 3rd place out of 46 competitors. Megan Sroka had three wins, made 10th place, and was the top female player. Jackson Hajer had 3 wins and finished in 6th place. Ray Greco racked up three wins and took 11th place. Joey Vitek took 14th place and had three victories. Jacob Lams notched two important wins and Nathan Sanchez took 5th place out of 15 in the beginner category.

Sadly, the chess team was missing one of their best players, Luke Graham, while at the tournament.

Throughout the entire year, the chess team attended 11 competitions, three tournaments and six matches.

In order to prepare for the tournament, the players play a game of chess. Whenever a player makes a mistake, the coach will pause the game and discuss various strategies to help the player.

They also go over strategies after the game. The coaches help  boost the player’s self esteem during the game.

The chess team plays all year and then practices harder when the competitive season, October to February, comes around.

On February 10 and February 11, eight students from chess team competed at the IHSA State Chess Championships in Peoria. It is one of the biggest high school competitions in the state. Luke Graham, Ray Greco, Jackson Hajer, Jacob Lams, Andres Resto, Nathan Sanchez, Megan Sroka, and Joe Vitek attended the competition.