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Show Game is Dying wf i ) in Lcme&iae He view County bouth, Wednesday, Oct. 19, 1983 3A . Chess Being Checkmated in Schools BARRY KAWA Davis and Clearfield Review Staff schools have been disbanded At their peak popularity period in America after the Bobby Spassky match in 1972, chess clubs were as common as pep clubs in Davis County Schools. Students would gather before school and after school for hours to play the game, sitting in quiet concentration. cause of a lack of interest. Roy High has an active chess club and has played several Ogden schools in matches. Clubs at North Davis and Sunset Junior High no longer exist while small clubs continue at Millcreek, South Davis and Mueller Park Junior High. Chess has been a popular game among junior high and high school students because of the one on one competition and e strategy that goes on! No luck is involved in the game played on a board with pawns, knights, bishops, rooks, and a queen and king. Fischers victory in 1972 created a chess boom in the country and elevated the game to new heights of popularity. , But now, chess clubs no longer exist in northern county schools and face a cloudy future in south Davis. Woods Cross and Bountiful high schools continue to field teams to the state high school chess tournament each year but the game has become extinct in schools in the northern part of the county. Once strong clubs at Layton, high be- war-lik- re Robert Tanner, tournament director of the Utah High School Chess Championships, said a dominant player is needed in a high school to have a successful club. The main factor a chess club on is a strong chess figure at the school, he said. Dave Holbrook of Woods Cross is an example of this. In some cases, the momentum gained from having a strong player continues on. Holbrook, Woods Cross chess club president, is a United States Chess Federation accredited tournament director which allows him to organize and run tournaments in the area. He is one of several experienced junior players at Woods Cross on a team that is favored to win the state high school chess tournament in April. We dont have many club activities but just compete in tournaments, Holbrook said. We have about 25 players actively involved. Most are involved in other activities like band so we set up a lot of tournaments and matches with other schools. Holbrook said the future of the chess club is uncertain after the' current crop of juniors graduates next year but it depends on the interest that the South Davis Junior High School club can generis based ate. Richard Butler, director of transportation for the Davis County School District, was chess club adviser at Layton High from 1971 to 1978. He and skill are the essentials of chess. The medieval game, once popular in high schools in Davis County, is now slowing dying in CONCENTRATION re- members students interest in chess was sparked after Fischer beat the Soviet Unions Spassky in 1972 and became the first American to win the World Chess Champion title. It got a lot of press and was the thing to do at the time, recalls Butler. I made it a practice to get to school early to prepare for my chemistry classes. The kids knew I opened up my classroom early and they started to come by and play chess. At the time, it became very popular. Butler said when the clubs membership was largest, around 1977, about 30 students would gather around his room each morning to play. He attributed the popularity of the game at Layton High to the large number of youths from Hill Air Force Base families who attend there. A very small number of LDS kids played, said Butler. The LDS kids have other activities such as Mutual. Hill Air Force Base kids didnt have that much to do. Most lived on base and one would go over to anothers house at night to play. Davis High Chess Club Advisor Jeff Hollist feels computers at his school killed interest in the game. Hollist said he sees students who in past years would be dedicated chess players now concentrating on the schools computers. Kim Barney, former North Davis chess club adviser and now a teacher at Farmington Junior High, disagrees with the theory that computers and video games have hurt student interest in chess. I really cant see how, he said. Chess is a game of the mind and people who are afraid to play against a machine can ' play against a human. Barney ran the NDJH Chess Club from 1970 to 1983 with an average membership of about 20 a year. He said the key to a successful and continuing club is to have an adviser who is interested. You have to have somebody interested in sponsoring one, Barney said. I think they have to have an interest in showing kids the game is a lot of fun and providing them a place to play. They also should teach the right rules and all the basics such as the en passant and castling. Leslie Foy, South Davis Junior High chess club advisor since 1960, thinks chess computers have increased the number and quality of the players in his club. So the future of chess clubs and teams in Davis County is an uncertain one. Junior high clubs are the training ground for competitive high school players and the few that currently exist are in the south end of the county. Clearfield High players won the state high school championship in 1981 but those players are now gone and a club no longer exists there. 4-- A EVERY MORNING YOU WAKE UP WITH A POUNDING HEADACHE. YOU HAVE BEEN TO YOUR FAMILY DOCTOR, A NEUROSURGEN, AND A PSYCHIATRIST. THEY'VE RUN OUT OF IDEAS, AND YOU ARE STILL SUFFERING. HEADACHES! 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