By Jack Ankony, sports editor

Chess team is competing in the state tournament starting Feb. 12. The Peoria Civic Center is host to the tournament this year.
After a third place finish in the MSL, the team clinched a spot at state for the fifth season in a row according to second-year head coach Nicholas Olson.
In the MSL meet, senior Billy Doherty went undefeated on his board, placing first in conference individually.
“It was really nice after four years to get something at the conference level,” Doherty said.
Senior Eulises Campos thinks this was the most memorable meet of the season.
“It was cool to see [the lower boards] improve and help us place third [in the MSL],” Campos said.
Olson thinks this season was different because of the team’s ability to grow throughout the year.
“It was great to see [the players] hard work pay off,” Olson said. “They have all earned their chance to play in Peoria this weekend.”
Olson explains that state is a Swiss-style tournament. This means there are seven rounds over a span of two days. Every team plays each round and moves up or down depending on wins and losses. The Knights will start ranked 24th out of 150 teams.
“It’s a grueling two days of chess, playing for about 14 hours,” Olson said. “Imagine yourself in a room with around 600 chess games all going on at one time. It’s an impressive atmosphere.”
Campos, a four-time state competitor, says that this has been one of his favorite seasons going 7-2 in matches as the team’s third board.
Campos and Doherty use chess.com to help them train for state. Chess.com provides users with five free puzzles everyday to work on. Doherty likes these puzzles because he believes they help you think differently about positions on the board.
The Knights have gone 7-3 in conference this year and look to finish off the season well with a good showing at state.
“[The players] support of each other is key to a successful tournament,” Olson said. “The best part of the experience is seeing the students create friendships with other students from all over the state and grow the game.”