CHARLIE VETTER
Contributor
Whitwell Senior Trinity Schmittendorf won Marion County’s first ever scholastic chess
tournament bringing together 39 of the top students in the county. Trinity said he learned chess when his
“dad taught me when I was six.” He said he started taking the game more seriously in 2020 when he
bought some chess books. The future University of Tennessee at Chattanooga mechanical engineering
major said chess appeals to him because “It’s the ultimate strategy game. There’s so much nuance.” He
said his strategy for the match was to “go for solid. Nothing fancy” He said his toughest game was against
Marion High’s Wiley Jiang. “He was really good at attacking,” Trinity said. “I had to be precise.” The
game was tight right till the end. Trinity got ahead by a single pawn and kept that slight advantage till the
end. Wiley can join Trinity as nice additions to the UT Chattanooga Chess Team next year.
In the K-6th category the winner was sixth grader Joseph Robertson from the Kimball Christian
Academy. This was Joseph’s first year at Kimball Christian Academy. He said he learned chess from a
friend named Landon who taught him how to play at South Pittsburg Elementary School. The K-6
tournament was a fight between two undefeated players, Joseph and Trevor Ashley of the Kingdom Kids
Co-op. Going into round four, they were both undefeated and scheduled to play each other. Joseph got far
ahead, but then disaster struck when he stalemated leaving each boy tied with the lead at 3.5 points. The
last two rounds, each student won their games leaving them tied for first place undefeated with 5.5 points
each. That meant a playoff game was needed to determine first and second place which Joseph won.
Summing up the tournament, Joseph said there “weren’t really any hard games.” Comparing chess to
soccer, Joseph said “chess is way more stressful because I’m good at soccer.” He said what he needs to
improve on for next year is “making better trades and no more stalemates.”
Photos by Martha Dunn
