Chess Club comes to Ventura High

In this photo, a white pawn has moved two spaces forward to start off the game. Typically, the white side in a chess game will start off first. Photo by : Emily Nguyen

Emily Nguyen
September 30, 2021

Preston Biller founded VHS Chess Club

Located in room 108, Preston Biller is a mathematics teacher that currently teaches Math 1 and Math 1 honors. Biller has started a new club on the VHS campus. This new club currently features chess. 

Chess club was started as an opportunity for those who would like to play chess or for those who are interested in learning the game as well as compete against others. After interviewing Biller, he has stated that anyone can join, you do not require experience or knowledge on the subject. “You could know nothing about chess or you could have been playing your whole life, it really doesn’t matter.” All students are welcome to come by and participate.

   The idea for a chess club was born after Biller and his students were discussing Queen’s Gambit together during the last few weeks of the 2020-2021 school year. Biller also observed that students would carry around chess boards on campus, leading him to discuss starting a chess club with the students. 

A digital game of chess, the black pieces have forced the whites into a checkmate, therefore winning. Checkmate means to trap the king. Chess game played on and graphics by chess.com

Biller hopes to have the club benefit the school by giving members a chance to play chess. He believes that “This is a way for people to get involved with school, some students may be more reserved but may get excited over something like a chess club.” After interviewing freshman Lola Camus, Camus says she  has heard about the new club and she believes that a chess club will be beneficial to our school as it endorses positive learning and will help students develop logic skills. When asked if she would join, she said she would consider joining but would not want to be a full time committed member, instead, she would prefer coming to meetings once in a while to play a game. 

As of right now, there are no plans to join official chess tournaments at the moment, any sort of competition is meant to stay on campus among the members of the club. Currently, there is no overall or bigger aim for the club other than providing members the chance to play chess at school, unless the members decide otherwise. The club and its members will be planning to meet during lunch time on Wednesdays.