Monte Vista, Camino Real, Arrowhead Park claim wins in LCPS chess tournament

Manuel Castillo finished first overall and led Monte Vista Elementary School to first place in the Las Cruces Public Schools chess tournament held Nov. 19 at Camino Real Middle School. Seventy-five students participated from elementary, middle and high schools across the district.

Here are the tournament results:

Elementary school teams: First:  Monte Vista Elementary, second: Highland Elementary; third: MacArthur Elementary;

Middle school teams: First: Camino Real Middle School varsity, second: Vista Middle School, third: Camino Real junior varsity;

High school teams: First: Arrowhead Park Early College High School, second: Organ Mountain High School varsity, third: Organ Mountain High School junior varsity.

Chess became a New Mexico Activities Association (NMAA)-sanctioned activity in 2015, with the help of William Barela, who is a coach at Arrowhead Park Early College High School, president of the Doña Ana Community College Chess Team (the most awarded club at DACC), DACC Student Government Association president, NMAA regional chess director, NMSU Chess Club president and president of Endgame Chess of Las Cruces (https://endgamechess.com/).

Barela has been helping students fine-tune their chess skills and has been instrumental in linking community support from local sponsors for chess tournaments, securing a place to practice and providing meals to students that participate in chess after school and on Sundays.

“Everybody is always invited,” Barela said. “There’s so much more room to grow, even if we find a school that has one or two players, we’ll always make room for everybody to play.”

While the popularity of chess has grown worldwide with the release of the Netflix series “The Queen’s Gambit” in 2020, it is the work of nearly 20 dedicated volunteers and coaches in the district that deserve recognition for helping spotlight the game at the local level in schools.

Manuel Castillo is the chess coach for Highland, Sonoma and Monte Vista elementary schools and Mesa Middle School. Castillo also runs after-school programs through the Southern New Mexico Chess Academy. In recent years, Castillo had the highest turnout for chess players from different schools.

Rose Vicario and Jesse Vick are volunteers that made it possible for Zia Middle School to attend chess tournaments. Joshua Wisner coaches chess students at Vista Middle School. Jesse Vick is also a DACC Chess Club member and supported the LCPS chess tournament by being a tournament director, ensuring accurate reporting and answering student questions. Deborah Soffera is the chess coach for Camino Real Middle School. Michael Soffera facilitates the chess club at Organ Mountain High School.

Chess is offered to anyone interested in playing. With the help of many volunteers at LCPS, students are invited to meet on Sundays at 3 p.m. at the Corner Bakery, 2305 E. Lohman Ave. for practice. Meals are provided.

Organ Mountain High School, 5700 Mesa Grande Drive, will host an individual chess tournament Friday, Dec. 17. Check in is at 1:30 p.m., with the first round starting at 2 p.m.

For more information, contact wibarela@nmsu.edu.