Sixteen warriors stand in ranks ready to battle their foes. Sometimes they are stark white, earthen brown, shining silver, clear crystal or hundreds of other forms, but their roles are always the same. They are pieces in the game of chess, where players use their strategic skills to try to defeat each other. Those pieces in their various forms may soon come to Lee’s Summit High School as a new club.

“I am trying to gain interest for a year or two to get the club going.” Science teacher Kim Rush said. “It will start next semester at the earliest.”

Rush is a new teacher at this school who is interested in making a club dedicated to the game of chess. She successfully ran chess clubs at the previous schools where she worked and wants to start one here. At those schools, the clubs formed naturally, but Rush has been actively looking for people interested in joining a chess club.

“I enjoy chess and I think it would be cool to have a whole club dedicated to it.” Freshman Will Eckert said.

Eckert thinks that it would be great to introduce more people to chess through a club dedicated to the game. He thinks that the strategic thinking involved in chess can be important for people to learn and put into practice in their everyday lives. He also thinks that a lot of people would enjoy playing chess in the form of a club where they might find out more about chess.

“There is a larger chess world than most people believe,” Eckert said.

Rush currently does not have any hard set plans for what the chess club will do. At one of her previous schools, the chess club arose naturally from student interest and Rush believes that it is important for students to have a say in what the club’s goal will be.

“It should just be about playing a lot. Going to a state competition could be a goal for the club,” freshman Conner Dugan said.

Forming a new club here requires someone involved to fill out the club application form and give it to the Building Activities Director. This form includes filing out the purpose of the club, when the club meets and who the teacher sponsor of the club is. This means that the club could be set up at any time if there is enough support for it which Rush hopes to find.

“Anybody interested just come learn chess and have fun.” Rush said.

Though the face of the game might change it seems that the goal behind it of having fun and making strategies to win does not. Soon the game in all of its forms might make it to Lee’s Summit High School.