With plenty of time left to spare, Omar Shaban ’14 makes his final move to end his game, check mate.

“My strategy is to win at all costs.” Shaban said.

Shaban was one of eight students that competed at the first home chess tournament of the year. Two City High teams competed at the tournament, each made up of four students. The first team, Team Red, came out in fourth place and the second team, Team White placed fifth. In total, eight teams attended, three of which were middle school teams and one of which were last year’s state champions.

“The chess tournament was actually really fun.” Shaban said. “I thought it might have been boring but it was far from it.”

Shaban has been playing chess recreationally for many years, but attended his first tournament just a couple weeks ago. He ended up winning one match, tying another, and losing two.

“I enjoy a lot of things about chess, like the strategy that goes into it, but most of all, I enjoy winning.”

An upcoming tournament that the City High chess team will be competing in will be on April 7th, followed by another on the first Saturday in May.