By Akira Sumpter

Members of Patterson’s chess team traveled to Chicago in March to compete in a national chess tournament. The four day tournament began on March 26th and ended on March 29th. Eight players and three coaches represented Baltimore at the tournament.

During these four days the students played in three very long chess matches on the 27th and 28th, and on the 29th they only played in two matches. The total number of matches played came up to seven. Our players met chess people from across the nation, competed with about 1,500 people in the tournament, and then explored the city of Chicago after finishing up each day of chess matches, which normally started in the morning.

The team placed 19th overall out of 1,500 players nationwide and received a trophy. Senior Brandon

 Lopez tied for 35th in the large and prestigious “Under 1200” rating division and won a medal.

This was not only a competitive tournament but also an important opportunity to showcase our school pride by supporting surrounding teams. In Chicago they weren’t just representing Patterson; they were representing Baltimore along with students from Poly. The team had the opportunity to fly to Chicago for this tournament, so of course they got dinner at Michigan Avenue, which is supposedly the best deep dish pizza joint the city has to offer, according to city locals and Patterson chess coach Mr. Baron.

In between the tournament matches, players had free time to roam and visit other rooms in the hotel like the ¨skittles room¨ where players could review matches and buy chess memorabilia from the shop. One day, the only two female players on our team went to visit a women’s chess workshop where grandmasters showed effective tactics, hosted fun games like human chess, and supplied plenty of snacks. During these exercises, team captain Kaniya Gardener won a personal gift from the grandmasters due to her supreme knowledge in chess and her domination on the chess board.

The team didn’t just go to nationals to compete at a higher level; they flew out to bring home a trophy. So when the players came home, that’s exactly what they had in hand. Winning trophies was nothing new to this team though. They accepted the trophy with honor and a humble attitude, with a goal in mind to place even higher next year. The team consisted of Dominic Robinson, Roman Clark, Jaisdel Ferino, Donavan Riddick, Akira Sumpter, Amori Mathews, Brandon Lopez, Kaniya Gardner and Thomas Cooper.