On Feb. 9-10, the Chess team traveled to Peoria to compete at the IHSA chess state finals, placing 22nd out of 128 teams. The team had 5 wins and 2 losses. The chess team will travel to Baltimore for Nationals in April. While the Chess team can show off their accomplishments, there’s more behind the scenes, a passion and dedication for playing the game.
Niles North is known for its talented chess team, as they have continuously qualified for state. This talent does not come without work. When walking into the chess room, team members get straight to work, playing matches against one another, discussing strategy, and even meticulously recalling previous games play-by-play. Chess is not only a game of strategy but also creativity, which players must understand to improve.
At Nationals, members will play up to nine hours per day, Friday through Sunday. To prepare, it just means than just practicing the game itself.
Retired North teacher Harry Kyriazes has been coaching the team for 25 years.
“It’s a really structured game, but there’s a lot of creativity at the upper levels,” Kyriazes said. “You’re trying new ideas, and you don’t know how it’s gonna work. You think this idea will work, but then your opponent’s gonna think of something that you didn’t think of.“
Senior Eric Saxe is preparing for Nationals. Saxe not only plays in school tournaments but also in outside tournaments as well.
“Sometimes I practice openings to play for different situations to be in, so I can always [be ready] in the opening,” Saxe said. “[I prepare for Nationals] by just mainly continuing to play a lot.”
The Chess team placed first at State in 2006, 2010, and 2012. Alumni from these years come back and coach the current generation. Alum Adil Dzelilov travels with the team for tournaments, helping with the mental and strategic aspects of the game. In between rounds, he coaches players.
“I’ll review their games, give them pointers, help them get into a mindset and get ready for the next game,” Dzelilov said. “There can be sometimes really tough losses. And sometimes they can be very difficult to deal with because they’re really on edge… But, you know, if you’re down to a few seconds in a game, it’s a tight match and it’s going to decide what happens for your whole team, not just for yourself, you know, motions can run high and you’ve got a tough loss. You’ve got to go play the next game. So you got to get back into that mindset.”
The team has grown strong connections outside of the game, supporting each other.
“I feel like my team is like very supportive of each other and helps us learn and get better at chess as a whole,” Chung said. “And that’s part of why we placed high at State. We continuously place high at State almost every year and usually play very competitively at Nationals.”
The Chess team will continue to practice through Nationals in April.
