Throughout your typical day at school, you probably witness your classmates playing a variety of mindless computer games with the sole intention of wasting time. However, one game has emerged as a favorite among the senior class that involves strategy, foresight, and critical thinking: Chess.

Although younger people tend to see chess as a boring and more confusing version of checkers, chess is both enjoyable to play and quite easy to learn. In addition, playing chess doesn’t feel like a complete waste of time, which is nice.

I asked senior Evan Vollmer what he likes most about chess, and he said, “It’s a game that actually makes you think, and you can play against other real people online.” Chess.com allows you to play against people from all over the world and matches you up with people similar to you in skill, which Evan says “is always more fun than playing a computer.”

However, the best part about Chess.com is that it lets you play head-to-head against your friends, which raises the stakes and makes the game more exciting. There’s no worse feeling than putting your pride on the line getting thoroughly dominated in chess by a buddy, and for that exact reason, chess has become both popular and competitive among many members of the senior class.

When I asked a few seniors about their experiences playing chess against their classmates, I received some vitriolic responses: Ryan Tressler called Mark Schweinberg “an embarrassment to the game” and insisted that Mark is much, much worse than his cousin Joseph “Money” Beiter (which is true). Mark responded to Ryan’s slander by saying, “Ryan Tressler is the doormat of the 3rd bell chess league. I’m 5-3 against him and in those 8 games, he’s done everything from resign after 17 moves to getting his queen taken by my pawn.”

It’s obvious that people’s competitive natures tend to get the best of them and cause them to cast all sorts of aspersions, so hearing compliments about someone’s chess prowess is incredibly rare; however, I’ve heard from multiple credible sources that Ethan Meyer is a force to be reckoned with and is among the most formidable opponents at Elder. A good way to determine how good you are at chess is to play Ethan and see how bad he beats you.

If you don’t know how to play chess, a quick google search could have you playing in five minutes. Whether you’re looking for a way to demonstrate your strategic genius or are just bored and want to try something new, chess is the game for you.

Chess is fun, serves as a good mental exercise, and allows you to have some friendly competition with your classmates. Chess.com is a good, free website that you can use.