The 2025 Missouri State Scholastic Championship for chess took place at BHS on March 22 from 8:30 to 8:00. K-12 students were eligible to participate and had to sign up between March 10 and March 20 for an entry fee of $25. Players were separated into two divisions: the high school section and the under sections. For the high school division, schools could enter any number of teams consisting of four players each and one partial team. Within teams, players are divided into four categories relative to their skill level: best player on Board One, second-best on Board Two, and so on. There were five rounds, each 55 minutes long, with a five-second time delay.

Battle entered the tournament with eight participants and two volunteers. Out of the 29 teams that attended, Battle placed 16th. For the first time in Battle history that a full team was fielded, Chess Coach John Eckles was very pleased with Battle’s performance. 

“They did awesome. I love how it was completely self-directed and put together.”

Junior Angel Guerrero and Junior Tiger Sun placed 26th and 30th, respectively, in the Board One competition. Sophomore Amir Chitsazi placed 31st on Board Two, and Junior Adam Yn followed close behind at 32nd. For Board Three,  Senior Lili Parker placed 17th and Senior Sardar Kakozai placed 25th. Finally, on Board Four, Junior Nathan Drymalski placed 25th and Junior Isaac Santos placed 50th. 

Overall, the team showed many signs of improvement, according to Mr. Eckles. He hopes that in the following years, “we not only replace the graduating members, but surpass that.” A very reasonable aspiration as chess club takes in “everything from the person who knows absolutely zero about chess, all the way up to members of chess association who want to do tournaments.”