* Disclaimer: Ryker Stevenson, a staff member of 42Fifty who is the fourth board for the chess team, did not edit or help contribute to this article.
On Feb. 9th, 2024, the OH chess team went to State at Peoria’s civic center. They ended up placing 62nd overall, a big step from last year, in which they placed somewhere around 90th place.
“I was very excited about the experience and memories I would make at state,” said OH senior and first board of the team, Bryan Camargo. “[The] team and I were messing around the whole time. Don’t get me wrong, though; I love playing chess and had a lot of fun playing.”
The team saw it as an opportunity to have fun and play more casually, not competitively. They were active during the tournament and respected each other and their opponents.
“My expectations were not to win. We were never going to win that,” said Camargo.
“I kept my expectations pretty low; I doubt we would have won since some of those schools are really skilled. [I] still tried my best, though,” said OH senior Tom Knight.
They maintained understandable expectations and fairness about what they would face at the tournament.
“I was nervous about where we would place this year. I kept my expectations low and in the moment, I just cared about having fun,” said OH sophomore, Julian Leon.
The team felt that while they were unlikely to emerge as champions, they still wanted to put their best effort into competing.
“I thought about the fun that would come from State. I also had to think a lot to beat my opponents,” said Camargo. “Most [of them have played] chess their whole lives, and I’ve only been playing it for less than 3 years, and I’m already better than most of the people at the competition.”
The chess team stayed humble and won enough to reach a significant number and place. They broke expectations, and more is to come from them this year.
“I was satisfied with how it went as a team. They did better than I thought they would. We ended up placing 62nd compared to last year, when we placed [[90th]]. I was very happy with my performance. I beat the first board of a good school [[…]] I felt great about that,” said Camargo.
I am a senior and a staff reporter for 42Fifty. This is my first and only year on 42Fifty and I really like to review things.
Amazing! Congrats to our chess team!