Monday, January 29th, Rocky Mountain High School had started a chess tournament, for those who want a challenge and a prize for their chess intelligence. The chess tournament was divided by what skill they thought they had, so instead of putting them against someone that had a much better understanding of chess they played against someone with the same level of understanding. But further along the games, it was harder to divide them by skill level. At the start of this tournament, they had about 64 players. So, to eliminate some they did a special game called round robin, 4 rounds, whoever one got to move on. Then went to 32, then 16, 8, 4, until they got to the last 2 in the game to compete for the trophy and bragging rights.
This has been the second year that the Rocky Mountain High school has a chess tournament, and with the input of the previous players they made it more enjoyable this year. Ms. ORourke, one of the vice principals at rocky mountain high had said, “Rather than us doing a single elimination we did a double elimination, or best 2 of 3, which was liked more than the previous year.” They had considered everyone problems with last year and used that to create a different type of tournament this year.
Ms. ORourke also said, “Whoever won each bracket went to the champion ship, and there is a loser’s bracket and a winner’s bracket” The tournament was split between who won the losers bracket and who won the winners bracket (Loser is B Winner is A) each winner of each bracket would then go up against each other for the championship. Bracket B got tardy passes for each game they played while bracket A got different prizes like gift cards or pizza for lunch. It was also stated that people from opposite brackets would watch the other brackets game to make sure they weren’t cheating.
When sitting down to play both players would get 10 minutes to either win or let the other person’s clock run down. The game is double elimination so whoever wins both 2 games wins. With that, 2 people can end 1 of the three games with a draw. And if you lose you go to the loser’s bracket. Chess is a strategy game, meaning you need a high understanding of the game and your surroundings, what pieces move where, what pieces are being protected and or threatened. There are also openings, these are used for a quick way to get to a certain piece or just set you up for a quick check mate, using these are the key to winning any chess game. You will also have to take into account the person you’re playing against and the possible opening they are using to outsmart them and win.
With this knowledge, are you going to sign up to play chess next year? They could always use more players and have different levels. The real question is, do you want to challenge yourself?
