By Sloane Samberson

staff writer

A new powerhouse is emerging at Coppell High School, but this team does not collect its victory on the field.

The Coppell High School chess team was crowned regional champions on January 31st, at Collin County Community College Frisco.

Formed in 2003 by avid chess players and lovers of the sport alike, CHS business and marketing teacher David Phillips was asked to sponsor the club and has sponsored all chess teams since.

“I have competed in many chess tournaments myself,” Phillips said. “I have an expert rating at chess and was former state champion of Arkansas. I have a lot of experience and passion for chess.”

The chess club meets every Wednesday after school where Phillips teaches members, interactively, vital chess techniques.

“[Phillips] teaches us different tactics used by grandmasters at the beginning of the club,” said freshman Karthikeyan Lakshmana Doss, who is the No. 1 ranked player on the team. “After that, he lets us play chess with each other. He checks on how we play against each other now and then to recommend some strategies.”

There are many chess club members at CHS. Because club meetings are not mandatory, attendance can be sporadic.

“We have two types of players in the chess club and we need both of them,” Phillips said. “One is your casual chess player, who likes to come and play chess every once in a while, the other is your tournament player who will take it to the next level and give up some of their weekends to play in a competition.”

Some regular attendees include Lakshmana Doss, junior chess club president Dev Thimmisetty, sophomore vice president Ram Nandula, and junior treasurer Vishual Sakthielnathan.

“I have actively played chess for about four years,” Nandula said. “I realized I had a passion for chess in middle school, as I started playing more and more tournaments. My father helped instill this passion in me because he was very interested in the game and is also a good chess player.”

Chess club is not only a place to improve chess skills but to make new friendships with people who share the same passion as you.

“[Chess club] has brought me together with others who share the similar interests of playing chess, competing and improving their chess,” Nandula said. “Chess club has also helped me grow as a team member.”

With four tournaments down, a first place win at regionals and the upcoming state championship in McAllen this Saturday and Sunday, the 2014-2015 chess team has had great success.

They won first as a team at the Scott Watson Memorial a tournament in Irving which honors Irving High School’s chess coach, who died in 2009.

First as a team in the junior/senior and sophomore categories and second as a team in the freshman category at State Grade, a state tournament held by the Texas Chess Association on Nov. 1 and 2 in 2014.

First as a team in the Scholastic Chess Tournament held in Lovejoy ISD, a tournament for students in kindergarten through 12th grade.

Senior Nikhil Kesarla placed first as an individual at the Eagle Chess Classic Tournament held on January 24th at Universal Academy in Coppell.

Those who partook in regionals are very proud of their win, giving thanks to Phillips’ instruction and the hours of practice they spent preparing.

“It feels great that we’ve won first place at regionals because we prepared and worked hard as a team,” Nandula said.

Chess is a sport that anyone can learn, and everyone can learn from.

“If you enjoy chess, I think it can teach you some lessons about life. It can teach you patience and how to plan things out, not to make quick decisions before thinking things through,” Phillips said.

Phillips encourages all students, who even have a little bit of interest in chess, to come to a chess club meeting and check it out.

“I’ve always enjoyed the game, and I think the game is a fun game, a challenging game, probably the oldest game that is still around,” Phillips said. “We have players of all levels in the club so if you don’t feel that you’re that strong of a player I wouldn’t want that to discourage you from coming and playing the game.”