Success is end game for chess club

Success is end game for chess club
National ranking in tournament could bring rewards for Escambia middle-school students
Rebekah Allen • rallen@pnj.com • February 11, 2009
Pensacola News Journal – Pensacola, FL, USA

Don’t call these kids nerds.

Sure, it’s chess club. But the Ransom Middle School Knights are not just quiet kids playing board games.

The group of more than 20 students is loud and excited. They may play chess in the morning, but they play sports in the afternoon.

They’re diverse, but they all have one thing in common: They want to win.

“You don’t have to be a nerd to play chess,” said John Lowe, Ransom Middle reading teacher and club founder. “You just have to want to beat people.”

Lowe said when he started the club in 2004, he had only six students and no supplies.

But through word of mouth and aggressive fundraising, the group has grown in popularity and has traveled across the state to compete in tournaments.

Every Thursday morning, 15 to 30 students meet on the far corner of Ransom Middle School for practice before school starts.

Many of them line up at the door before Lowe arrives, eager for practice.

The students laugh and goof around while playing on cloth chess boards and keeping track of the moves they make.

Later this month, the Ransom Knights will host Escambia and Santa Rosa’s first tournament sanctioned by the U.S. Chess Federation, which means its players can be ranked nationally. Students with national rankings are eligible for college scholarships, Lowe said.

Last year, Lowe said, the Knights became Escambia County’s first public school to receive an affiliation through the U.S. Chess Federation.

“It’s awesome,” said sixth-grader Tristan Fromm, 11. “I taught my dad to play.”

Lowe said students who play chess tend to excel academically.

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