Photo, above: The team gets a lesson from IM Dave Ross. First row (left to right): J’Kennethon Smith, IM Dave Ross, Camden Graham, Beth Thrasher, Brad Davis, Aronise Walker. Second row (left to right): Sanchez Palmer, Rodney Thomas, Parnell Stephnson, Kamarie Young. Takes Flight in Wingfield Building a school chess program in a rural Mississippi city that has a 75% poverty rate

By MONIQUE HARRISON-HENDERSON Photos by NIKARI MCKEE

ingfield High School freshman Jacob Wakefield laughs at the our hands. But now at Wingfield, we walk around saying, ‘Hey, I can beat idea that anyone would call him a nerd because he is on the you at chess.’ It’s cool. People who don’t know how to play want to learn.” Wschool chess team. The transformation is one that brings a smile to the school’s chess coach, “A nerd? No, that’s not really something that people would say to us here,” Beth Thrasher. The math teacher runs the team with the help of her husband, he said, giving a half smile and shaking his head. “At Wingfield I guess a stay-at-home dad who also home schools the couple’s two children. people used to talk more about fighting—about beating each other up with Thrasher got the idea to start a chess team after talking to some

36 May 2018 | Education / Rural Chess Programs students who said they knew how to play. But when she asked the guidance of her father since she was about six. “They definitely aren’t students to set up a board, they didn’t know how—the result, she said, viewed as easy to beat. They are pretty equal and they have earned respect.” of only playing chess online. The students are likely successful in part because they play a lot of “My teacher brain kicked in and I started thinking about the importance chess. They practice most days after school and often play against both of the process,” she said. “I told them that they say they know how, and students and adults on Sunday afternoons at an outlet mall food court they thought they knew how, but they didn’t know the process. And in nearby Pearl. They also help mentor students in a nearby after school the process is important—the process matters. It matters in math and program, teaching them the basics of chess and playing games with in school and it matters in life.” them. They play numerous tournaments at area colleges and univer­ Through the conversation, a core group of students said they wanted sities. to have a after school. Thrasher, who already was the sponsor Thrasher also has done fundraising to help keep the team going. She of an active jujitsu club, decided to give it a go. was able to get US Chess to give the school’s students free chess “I never want to be stagnant. I want to be open to new things. I’m memberships in 2017 and this year a Mississippi group donated always doing something. So, of course I said, ‘Let’s go!’ ” memberships to the school’s students. The chess team also received free The school’s first-ever in January 2017 was a reality memberships to chess.com. . Wingfield took seven students to the tournament. They played Fundraising is critical to the future of the program, said Thrasher, who also has invested her own money in the club. The school, which is “I tell them it’s not about how good you are about chess, it’s about how good chess is to you.” ~Beth Thrasher

located in the southern part of Mississippi’s sprawling capital city, has a poverty rate of about 75 percent, when using the school’s free and reduced lunch program as a measure of family income. Students at the school also underperform when compared to their state and national peers. Of the 14 percent of students who took an advanced placement (AP) course in 2017, zero percent passed the end­ of-year AP test that allows them to earn college credits for the course. Four percent of math students are proficient on state tests, while 14 percent are proficient in English. Students say they know Wingfield has its struggles. And that makes the possibility of bringing a state chess championship home to the school incredibly appealing. “It would mean the world,” sophomore Rodney Thomas said when asked about the possibility of winning a state championship. “It really would. Wingfield hasn’t had a lot of trophies lately.” Thomas has been a member of the team for a little over a year. He is Beth Thrasher, Wingfield High School’s chess club founder and coach. already coaching his sixth grade sister in chess, hoping she will be the future of the team. Thomas, who is considering a career as a welder, a total of 35 games, but the only games Wingfield students won were already knows he would like to come back to the school after graduation games where they played against each other. and help keep the program going. “We all had a decision to make at that point. We could decide it was “We are doing a good thing here,” he said quietly, gazing off in too hard and we wanted to quit, or we could decide that we wanted to thought. work really hard and get better. I’m really proud and thankful to say Despite the program’s successes, Thrasher often frets about how she that they rose to the challenge.” should run the program—how much pressure she should put on the Since then, Thrasher said the team has shown steady improvement. students and how much time she should expect them to invest. She After the first tournament, most Wingfield students had a US Chess worries about finances and access, too. rating of between 200 and 400. Now, the top four players average a She also spends time thinking about the team members she has lost rating of around 850. The team also has grown from six to 15 players. along the way—particularly those who might have chosen less healthy In March 2017, the first Wingfield student won an individual trophy. outlets. Talia Buxbaum, a 13-year-old chess player whose father, Dave Ross, “There are kids who were here, who seemed to be enjoying chess is a nationally recognized chess player and coach, said the Wingfield and they’ve quit. Some are gone from the school all together, others program is increasingly viewed with respect. decide they aren’t coming back to chess. And those kids, they break “I’ve lost to them,” said Talia, who has been playing chess under the your heart. They absolutely do.”

www.uschess.org 37 Education / Rural Chess Programs

Above: A Wingfield tournament in progress. Right: Kamarie Young (top) and William Smith from Wingfield playing in the tournament.

Students smile when they talk about Beth sneakiness of some of Thrasher’s life lessons Thrasher—a fast-talking teacher who never are discussed. quite seems tired, even though she is frequently “There are a lot of things she’s teaching us seen moving rapidly about on steel crutches to here,” said JKennethon Smith, a senior clad in take pressure off her achy lower body. one of the team’s t-shirts, which features the Thrasher talks a lot to the students about slogan, ‘The battle is all in your mind.’ “I’m lessons beyond chess. learning how to meet different people and go “I tell them it’s not about how good you are different places. It’s helping me to be free of about chess, it’s about how good chess is to some of the stress in my life. I am learning you,” she said. “Chess can teach a lot of life different ways to move the pieces. You think a skills that these students—and really all of us— lot. You are always trying to think two-three­ need. Chess is about thinking ahead and four moves ahead.” planning. It’s about being patient. There’s a lot Smith said he knows that chess is helping to of thought and strategy required. And you have prepare him for a bright future. to learn to handle defeat. You learn to handle “I’m learning to get out of my shell— losing with grace. And then you also have to communication skills and just being comfortable learn how to win with grace and integrity. It with different people and myself,” he said. “I’m really is a beautiful thing.” learning what it means to be a good leader and The travel that has come with the chess team I’m learning to lead.” also has brought lessons. Students have visited Camden Graham agreed. He had his the state’s universities, including Mississippi leadership and patience tested in late February, State and the University of Mississippi. A trip when he endured a loss to an elementary school to nearby Jackson State University was also an player who is the best player in the state. eye opener for some of the students, who had “This game—it can make you mad some ­ never before set foot on the local campus. (For times,” said Graham, an aspiring graphic artist. more about how tournaments in college settings “But you also just learn to have fun and to work affect academic goals, see “Chess Changing Academic through it. You learn you don’t always have to Trajectories” on page 40. ~ed.) react. It teaches you to slow down and to think— All the lessons being taught by their high- you don’t have to rush for everything. And it energy, fast-talking teacher aren’t lost on the teaches you to be a good person. I think that’s chess players. They smile knowingly when the the point sometimes.”

38 May 2018 | Chess Life