“Checkmate,” Chess team member Ari Deutsch said, ending his first match in the Illinois High School Sports Association (IHSA) State Chess tournament on Saturday, February 14.
For the third consecutive year, the Parker Chess team made their way to Peoria, Illinois to compete in the IHSA State Chess tournament. This year, the team placed second in the 1A division.
The numerous victories of this chess season were built on hours of practice and learning. Prior to State, the team competed in matches against schools from around the city such as Latin, St. Ignatius, and Mount Carmel. During the regular season — matches not including state or conference championships — the chess team held an 8-1 record, the highest winning record of any Parker sport in the fall and winter seasons. According to captain Ari Deutsch, the successful season wasn’t just about making the right moves on the board but building a strong team culture.
“Tyler and I have done our best to foster a good environment at practice,” Deutsch said. “What leads the team to success is creating an environment of inclusivity and growth, which makes the community and team great.”
Deutsch further emphasized the importance of building community around the chess board, describing how the team develops skill. Deutsch explained how, while the team jokes around and creates an environment where it’s OK to make mistakes, it’s also important that the team learns and grows from those mistakes instead of just “shrugging them off.” While knowing how to play chess itself is important to being a part of the team, the chess team is open to anyone who is open to learning and taking chess seriously.
While a strong team culture has helped the team develop and bond, exhilarating and comical moments throughout the season have also played a part in enhancing the team’s culture. “During our conference game against St. Ignatius, the best school in our conference other than us, we lost a close match against them,” junior William McCloskey said. “We were matched up against Ignatius again for the game that would decide the conference tournament. We were able to win and redeem ourselves again. [The win] really brought the team closer together.”
As the chess team is a relatively new team, many of the members have seen it grow and develop since its founding. “Back [when it was started,] the chess team was pretty niche, and a lot of times we could barely get together enough players for our conference games. But since then chess has gotten a lot bigger at Parker and we’ve been able to attract a lot of new people to the game, and to the team,” McCloskey says. McCloskey joined the team at the start of his freshman year and has seen the community grow around chess in a way he “never could have imagined.” From developmental meetings in the library to now state recognition and victories, “the way the team has grown and accomplished what seemed impossible is simply inspirational,” McCloskey said.
Senior Darius Cleaver, a team member since his sophomore year, shares the same sentiment about the growth he has seen on the chess team. “What started as a somewhat awkward group has grown to almost a family, which I would credit my fellow seniors Ari, Tyler and Lia for reshaping the team,” Cleaver said.
For Cleaver, however, the team’s victories don’t start with trophies and checkmates but the Parker community itself. “The chess team gets all the recognition we would like,” Cleaver said. “We don’t expect as much advertising as soccer or basketball because, believe it or not, chess isn’t very exciting to watch.”
As some of the original members of the chess team, which was founded in the 2023-2024 school year, the seniors “should get a lot of credit in the success of the team,” Cleaver said. These seniors, however, are excited and hopeful for the future of the chess team. “I have faith in our younger players,” Cleaver said. “Josephine, William, Isaiah, and Griffin will be able to find new talent to refill the upcoming spots as well as lead the team to another 1A state title.”
