Chess K-12 on Marco Island

I love the game of chess. The battle is vigorous as you match your army against an opponent and each tactical move advances to achieve your strategy…or not!

But now I focus more on being a good coach for students in grades K-12. A very important factor at this point is the chess club at the local high school, Marco Island Academy. Let me explain the process.

Back in 2016 on July 4th in Philadelphia I was deeply involved in the final game of a nine-round tournament, the 44th Annual World Open. I tried hard to win, and even expected to win. But I lost to a six-year-old girl. You might think similar to the Netflix movie with seven episodes, “Queen’s Gambit”.

By the way, if interested in my rather emotional experience of being defeated by little Rachel Li, you can see my column online at coastalbreezenews.com. Search for Chess Wade Keller, then scroll down to the photo and column.

Since 2016 I’ve had several different chess clubs for students. I guess teaching is part of my nature. Back in the old days of the ‘70s and ‘80s I was an accounting college professor. Now I really enjoy being with the kids, teaching the skills of chess.

At Marco Island Academy a wonderful job was done by Ms. Dolores Cobos, Biology and Chemistry Instructor, as she launched the chess club last year. On invitation by Principal Melissa Scott and Miss Ryan Roberts, Director of Athletics and Activities, I joined the team. It was decided I would focus on competition/tournaments and Ms. Cobos would meet with students in another room to teach the beginners of chess.

Initially we worked on two important parts of competing in tournaments: 1) recording each move for later analysis of the whole game; and 2) play under time pressure and tap the chess clock after each move to shift time running to your opponent.

We had our first tournament, a Round Robin of six students, in November. The award for first place was a very nice chess set contained in a quiver bag. The winner was 10th grader Alex Sousa.

The chess club – I call it CHESS MIA – meets each Thursday after school from 3:20 to 5:00 PM. For the second tournament we decided to spread over the three Thursdays in December- the 2nd, 9th and 16th. We had two rounds each Thursday for a total of six.

In the December Swiss tournament there were eight participants: Tyler Clifford, Robbie Davis, Kamden Engle, Phoenix Gutierrez, Keagen Hallock, Austin Hendrick, Alex Sousa and Grant Tirrell. Awards were trophies for the top three winners and all participants in the tournament received Chess Medallions, a copy of the original book about the struggle to create Marco Island Academy, “Fighting for Kids”, by Jane Watt and classical copies of Chess Life, the magazine of US Chess Federation.

We are very proud of all the chess players. 

As looking into the new year of 2022, perhaps CHESS MIA will compete against some of the other high schools in the area. Frankly I am confident we can have a very strong team to compete in chess tournaments. And to promote all of Chess K-12, hopefully we will establish the Interscholastic Chess Leagues in Collier County. Yes, I do love chess!