Introduction to Chess in Clearfield

On Saturday, April 15^th, five students from Clearfield and nine from Philipsburg Osceola met at the Clearfield Area Junior Senior High School library to play some chess. The Clearfield students were Luke Pallo, Peyton Reasinger, Isaac Samsel, Conner Morgan, and Tyler Sinclair. This event was scheduled by Mr. John Chelednik due to his love for the game. In this unofficial tournament, the games played were ten-minute rapid games with many different boards brought by individuals on each team. Most games were played with a timer from a person’s phone utilizing a chess timer app.

With the unbalanced number of competitors on each team, five matches were played per Clearfield student. Some of the Philipsburg competitors only played two or three games. Each match started with someone holding a white and a black pawn, one in each hand. The other selected a hand, blindly selecting the color piece of which they would play. Once the board was aligned correctly, white would make their move and start the timer.

At the end of the twenty-five overall matches, Philipsburg ended the day with a win over Clearfield. The official team scores of 14.5 Philipsburg to 10.5 Clearfield. Each point was scored by a win over the opponent, and a half point per side with a draw. This was an experience that could open the door for the future of amateur chess at the high school level. With some improvement in planning and support, more matches throughout the year could be organized, and chess could become regulated within the halls of our high school.