A club that you typically see around high schools is the gathering of strategists known as Chess Club. Unfortunately, Manhattan High School’s Chess Club was almost history when their former sponsor, beloved English teacher Jane Kenyon, passed away two years ago. At the start of the current school year, however, Chess Club’s return was spearheaded by determined veteran chess player Yusuf Ciftci.  

“Mrs. Kenyon was our sponsor and when she passed away we could not find a new one until [Mr.] McCoy moved from the middle school to the high school,” Ciftci said. “He actually sponsored the Chess Club at the middle school so i asked him and he accepted.”

Chess Club is gaining quite a large amount of members despite just being reinstated as a club.

“We have some seniors but the juniors are really good at chess and there are some sophomores that I still need to talk to.” Ciftci said.

While some chess matches are a timed battle between two veteran opponents, the MHS Chess Club pits new and old player’s pawns against each other in a deathmatch until one emerges the victor.

“We are gonna go in after school and meet for like an hour or an hour and a half and play with whoever wants to play,” Ciftci said. “It is just whoever wins; we are not going to have time it because we are not that good yet.”

The main reason for Ciftci’s determination is a sense of nostalgia that he feels to his experience in middle school of when he was surrounded by people as eager to play as he is. While the enjoyment of playing with his friends drives him, he is also excited to lead the club and play with less experienced people.   

“I think it is going to be a good experience because I did it in middle school and my friends would just come together and play chess,” Ciftci said. “I think we are going to bring that back to the high school.”

The MHS Chess Club is back and is shaping up to be a force to be reckoned with thanks to the efforts of passionate students working through adversity.