One Move Ahead Seeks to Attract, Expand, Improve

JENNIFER PIERCE

Staff Writer

Chess, a game developed in the late 15th century, has now become the focus of a new special interest club at AHS, fittingly named the One Move Ahead Chess Club. Although still relatively new on campus, the chess club has a bright outlook on its future.

The Chess Club kicked off the year with their first meeting on Sept. 8.

The club hopes to recruit more people by leaving registration open all year long.

“It’s okay if you don’t know how to play,” said founder and former President Clinton Tran.

One Move Ahead holds weekly tutorials on how to play chess and provides strategies for achieving a checkmate.

They also anticipate setting up tournaments with other local schools this year to increase awareness about chess.

“[One Move Ahead] is a place where people of all skill levels can come together to relax and play and just enjoy chess for what it is,” said senior member Bob Qian.

Tran reminds potential members not to worry about losing and states that the club’s purpose is to give people a chance to improve their chess-playing skills.

Besides the weekly tutorials, members get a chance to learn from their peers.

“It’s fun [because] you can learn game strategy,” said freshman member Jesus Torres.

Meeting every Wednesday after school in D-113, the club hopes that their ability to provide a variety of skill levels will attract potential members.

“Chess stimulates [the] brain, intellectual activity [and] logical thinking skills,” said Qian.

Tran especially wants to attract people who do not have an opportunity to experience playing chess and to people who have not given the game a chance.

He envisions the club as one that will “gather up people together and take [them] out of usual situations” to play the game.