The CMS Chess Club hosted their first chess tournament on Feb. 23 through the 21st Century After-School Program. The tournament took place at the Perk Place and a team from Warner came to compete against Checotah while a team from Porum monitored the chess players.

The CMS Chess Club currently has eight members. The team as a whole has been learning how to play the game since the first of the school year. Though some students are beginners, others are more advanced having played a few years.

CMS Chess Coaches are Jennifer Sempel and Daniel Vogt.

The CMS first tournament was definitely a learning curve as the players competed in rounds against the Warner Chess Club. Warner is also fairly new to the competitive field but wants to become competitive in the area. As the teams squared off one on one, many of the older players helped mentor the younger players.

“We want to thank both Warner and Porum Chess Clubs for coming to our first tournament,” Sempel said. “We also would like to thank owner Jamie Spindle-Hilbert for donating the facility for us to compete in. It was the perfect place for our first tournament and the kids also enjoyed snacks and drinks and meeting other chess players.”