By Taran Idnani ’21, Staff Writer

When I came to Newark Academy, I joined the Chess Club since I am passionate about chess. The Chess Club meets in Room 217 (Dr.Hobson’s Room) every Friday after school. While in the Chess Club, we encourage you to play friendly games against your peers. This club certainly helps you improve in chess.

One Friday afternoon, we took a tally of all the chess players who would be going to the tournament. When we found out that so many people were participating in the “The New Jersey Chess Grade State Championships” we decided to have different ways to learn and prepare for the tournament. Some of the ways that kids learned include:

•      Michael Lim`17 found a website and went over problems during the Chess Club
•      Pete Tamburro (author of “Teaching Chess: Step by Step”, and “Openings for Amateurs”) came to Room 27 (Mr. Ball’s room) and taught the Middle School chess players
•      Taran and Roshan Idnani`21 held 4 chess training sessions (each for 1 hour) showing games and tactics to their teammates on the chess team in the Middle School

Everyone who participated really followed incumbent World Chess Champion Carlsen’s advice: “Self-confidence is very important. If you don’t think you can win, you will take cowardly decisions in the crucial moments, out of sheer respect for your opponent. You see the opportunity but also greater limitations than you should. I have always believed in what I do on the chessboard, even when I had no objective reason to. It is better to overestimate your prospects than underestimate them.” The results were truly spectacular.

The 6th grade team, made up of 4 players (Justin Gawron, Kris Sethi, Roshan Idnani, and Taran Idnani) clinched the 1st place team trophy with 10.5 points. In the 6th grade, Taran Idnani got 2nd place and Roshan Idnani got 7th place.

The 7th grade team, consisting of 6 players (Lucas Rich, Daniel Teytel, Luca Moretti, Alex Chen, Aidan Orr, and Warren Sunada-Wong), also got the 1st place team trophy, beating the 2nd place team by 2.5 points. In the 7th grade, Warren Sunada-Wong tied for 3rd and Aidan Orr, Alex Chen, Luca Moretti, and Daniel Teytel tied for 8th place.

The 8th grade team, made up of 3 players (Andrew Cen, Jack Waitz, and Simon Gorbaty) got the 3rd place team, a fantastic score for a team only made up of 3 players! Also, Simon Gorbaty tied for 2nd place.

The 11th grade team, consisting of 4 players (Jonathan Holtzman, Daniel Ratner, Adam Branovan, and Jeremy Glassman) got 2nd place in the team results, a great score! Also, a special shout out to Jeremy Glassman, who finished 1st in the tournament with a perfect score!

In all, everyone played very well and tried their best.