Ryan and students continue Medical Lake chess tradition

After most Medical Lake Middle School students have left school for the day, several of their classmates sit quietly in a classroom, hovering over a chessboard and waiting for their opponent's move.

The Medical Lake Middle School Chess Club had its final meeting, March 30, with a mini-tournament where students showed off the skills they learned in the last couple of months.

Paul Ryan, a parent volunteer and the club's adviser started a chess club at the elementary school where his son Jeremy was a student. He later brought the club to the middle school where it's stayed ever since. Ryan has been playing since he was a child.

"My father swears he taught me when I was 4 or 5," Ryan said. "By the time I was 12, he couldn't beat me. I was inspired to create a chess club in school because I thought it was a shame the school didn't have a chess club."

Like his father did for him, Ryan taught his four children to play chess. He coaches two sessions each year foreight weeks at a time. The first session, which goes from December to January, is comprised of sixth graders. The second session, from January to March, has seventh and eighth graders.

Ryan said groups are comprised of new players and those with experience.

"I take all students of all experience and I will work more with the ones with lesser experience," Ryan said. "I have a couple players who have been a part of the club for several years. This year's sixth-grade group had some beginners as well as some serious players in the eighth-grade."

Jicharri O'Neall is one of the seventh-graders in the club. O'Neall, who has played chess before, joined because of his friends Victor and Vincent Long.

"It's fun, it's a way to hang out with everyone after school," O'Neall said after he won his second match in the tournament in just two moves.

Chloe Haynes, an eighth-grader who did not have much experience playing chess when she first joined the club, has enjoyed learning the game in these last couple of months.

"I liked learning the different movement of the pieces and coming up with different strategies," Haynes said.

One thing Ryan has noticed over the years with teaching chess to his children and students is the correlation between the game and mathematics.

"If you play chess at an early age, it can improve your math skills," Ryan said. "It's also a good social skill and helps with academics, half of the club has a music background. It's a correlation of all those skills."

Ryan said he plans to bring the club back next year. He also organizes a chess tournament in May where students and community members can play.

"In the finals of the tournament you'll have two players at a regular chess board and there will be a corresponding life-size board," Ryan said. "At the corresponding chess board, people will be dressed up as chess pieces who will mimic the moves of the players. It's a lot of fun."

Al Stover can be reached at [email protected].