“This year’s chess state tournament was very important to me because it showed the start of a new era for the Mount Carmel chess team.” 

So said Evan Wiersema ’24 last year after the IHSA Chess State Tournament. 

Even though it has only been a year, I can confidently say that Wiersema was correct and that a new era of MC chess is definitely here. This year the team went down state for the second time and did better than last year. 

When I first got involved with the chess team during my sophomore year, the roster then mostly consisted of seniors. 

I thought at the time that there was a good chance the team would not even survive to the end of my time at MC, as we often had trouble fielding the required number of players for a full roster. Our practices were usually sparsely-attended, and it was a struggle to get people to show up. Eight people are needed to play a match without forfeiting any boards, and it’s really hard to win when giving up points because you don’t have enough people.  

“I started playing chess at Carmel my sophomore year,” said senior Declan Deering. “The number of kids that show up has grown exponentially. My sophomore year there were games that we had to play with seven or six kids because we didn’t have enough.”

The team has grown since then, and with new interest from many underclassmen, it can only keep growing. 

This year there were eight underclassmen on the team, including three freshmen and five sophomores. 

Two of the freshmen, Lamarr Coats and Hunter Hawkins, even started throughout the entire season and will be leaders of the program for years to come. 

“At the beginning of the season being a freshman was intimidating,” said Hawkins. “With the support of my team and coach, however, I’ve grown into my role on the team and my confidence has improved overall.”

The team is in good hands. I played with Hawkins all the time, and he has a dedication and focus like no one else.

He is not the only focused freshman, though. It was exciting to also see Coats’s dedication when he showed up to sectionals the day after he had broken his hip playing football. 

“I have no idea how that kid sat through matches and won them at sectionals,” said senior Jordan Whaley. “I did not think he was going to show up. Who shows up to play with a broken hip?”

Seeing Coats limping on crutches into the building was inspiring for the whole team. It was really a stark contrast seeing dedication like that compared to just a few years earlier when it was hard to get people to show up to practice. 

The program’s year-to-year improvement is not going to stop. 

We lost our top two players after last year, and the season depended on the team’s underclassmen to step up and win the lower boards. 

“This year there was a lot of uncertainty about how this year would go,” said sophomore Sam Walsh who was only one win away from receiving a medal at state. “We faced adversity, we improved, and chess has a great future at Carmel.” 

We were only half a point away from winning a match down state that would have secured that spot. The team is a tight group, and we were able to bounce back from that loss without blaming any one person for it.  

“I’m excited to be a part of this amazing program with so many great people,” said sophomore Aaron Hyler. “We’re always working to grow and improve ourselves, and I’m excited for the days of chess to come.” 

Hyler had a rough start at state, losing his first match. He then had the biggest comeback and even received a medal for winning six matches after that first loss. 

“This was a chess tournament at the very highest level, with very many incredible high school chess teams,” said head coach Dr. Jon Berry. “I am convinced that for all of you, your chess skills have improved enormously just by competing at this high level. You should all now fully appreciate how exciting a team chess match can be.”

The difference in the dedication of the players and also their skill is drastic from when I started playing chess at Carmel and now.

“The growth of the chess team is due to Dr. Berry and the seniors from the class of ’24,” said Deering in reference to Wiersema and Luis Munoz.

I would like to think that I have left this team much better than I found it. It is going to be an awesome time for me to come back next year over break and go see a match or two. I hope that everyone will have improved tremendously. 

“Our chess program will only continue to soar from here as it is always expanding and improving,” said Hawkins.