Students at Atkins Excel Playing Chess

This story is by Yiannie Varoutsos and Kimani Carter at Atkins Academic & Technology High School:

Imagine if you could be a brave knight, strong and all-powerful queen, or a wise king. How could you possibly find out what it’s like? The answer, though it may not seem obvious at first, is chess. In this age-old game you control a set of pieces, each with a set of certain abilities. The aim, of course, is to attack and trap the other player’s king, effectively ending the game with a checkmate.

In his second year as coach, teacher Scott Plaster has built the school’s chess team and club into a powerhouse. With 20+ member players, the Atkins HS chess team is officially the largest high school chess in the state of North Carolina, and ranked in the Top 10. It finished in third place at last year’s state championship in Raleigh. 

The club meets Tuesday and Thursdays on the upper 500 hall, filling two rooms with as many as 45 players. “Having so many players is a good problem to have,” said Plaster, adding that “the real challenge is finding opportunity to develop the potential of individual players.” 

Typical of the academic atmosphere of Atkins HS in general, you can also find students playing chess during breaks in the media center. Media coordinator Corinne Jenkins says the boards she keeps behind the counter are “much loved,” as students check them out before school, during lunch, and even during athlete study hall after school.  

Plaster’s team recently attended a regional open in Greensboro on October 11 at Bennett College and brought 17 players, including registering seven new US Chess Federation members. Although there was no true team component, an Atkins student won each of the four divisions in which they competed. Winning the Candidate class was Ali Mirzadeh, going 3-0. Going 2-1 and winning the Booster class was Luke Leahy-Higgins. Winning the Club class with three wins was Reece Neff, and the top unrated players, going 3-0 was Cameron Goode. Calvin Ackerman and Arel D'Agostino also won prizes with second-place finishes. 

“I can’t imagine a better place anywhere to coach a chess team than Atkins High School,” Plaster said. "We are very blessed to have all of our returning members from last year's team, and an extremely eager freshmen class. Not only did we get one of the best scholastic players in the state, but a number of other very promising players. We have a good team, and we are only going to get better."

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