Niles West Chess Club stands out as a dynamic community where competition meets companionship. The club provides students with a platform to not only work on their chess skills but also to meet new friends from Niles West and schools in the surrounding area.
The Niles West Chess team is sponsored by Nathan Noparstak, Michael Page and Douglas Roberts. The team consists of both a varsity level and a junior varsity level, with teams made up of students from every grade.
Science teacher and coach Noparstak sponsors Chess Club and Red Cross Club. Noparstak has sponsored Chess Club for the past two years and is now in his third year. His co-sponsor, Page, is also a science teacher whose love for chess began at just five years old.
“There’s such a wide range of abilities in chess. Some of our top players are really dedicated to chess and really focused on chess, and study [chess] for long periods of time outside of school. They’re better than me in terms of my own chess abilities,” Noparstak said.
In light of his third year as coach, Noparstak has high hopes for the chess season.
“I’m hoping that we can continue to be a competitive chess team in our state and in our region. We are in a very competitive conference and we play teams like Evanston, New Trier and the Glenbrooks […] so we are hoping that we can continue to foster and improve our growth with some of our younger players, so over the next couple of years we can get [on par with] some of the more competitive teams in our area,” Noparstak said.
As someone who has been playing chess from a young age, Page, like Noparstak, has an interest in helping students refine and perfect their chess abilities and knows the importance of getting students interested in the activity from an early age.
“[Chess has] been a part of my life for as long as I can remember. We [Chess Club] want to eventually be finalists or at least competing for a state championship at one point. I think in the nearer term, [we want to] set up programs at our feeder schools so we can develop relationships with those schools’ training programs and we can have a larger batch of students show up and compete,” Page said.
Noparstak and Page enjoy their role as the chess coaches. From witnessing growth to forming relationships with students, the club brings new experiences to the sponsors and its members every day.
“[My favorite part about being the sponsor] is actually witnessing and being a part of the growth of a lot of these chess players, both as chess players but also as students and human beings,” Page said.
A handful of freshmen have joined the chess team this year. Scattered on both varsity and JV, the freshman chess players have brought fresh talent and enthusiasm to the team.
Nusaiba Rehmani is one of the freshmen on the junior varsity chess team. Rehmani has been interested in chess since middle school, and Chess Club provides her with the perfect place to practice and refine her chess talents.
“We usually go out and visit other schools for tournaments and I get to meet people from other communities, which is nice. I have a couple of friends on the chess team who [I like to play with],” Rehmani said.
For her future chess seasons, Rehmani’s main goal, in addition to improving her skills, is to move up to the varsity level.
“[Nusaiba is one of our] freshman players who is learning chess for the first time. [She] is very passionate about learning chess and is working very hard on getting a lot better because [she] genuinely cares and is focused on getting better to help the team,” Noparstak said.
Along with the freshmen who joined the team this year, the Niles West Chess team has a handful of established upperclassmen players.
Junior Gavin DeCicco is one of these established players.
“I started playing in October of my freshman year. My favorite part of Chess Club is definitely just the team bonding. We love competing together. Seeing everybody here and playing makes me really happy because I enjoy the game a lot. I enjoy seeing the new players and the old players who are dedicated to this game, […] a lot of our players have really nice dedication,” DeCicco said.
Unlike his sponsor, Page, DeCicco did not have an inclination for chess from an early age. But, since joining Chess Club his freshman year, he feels that he has found a hobby he is now fully dedicated to perfecting.
“At first, it was kind of just something to do and then I started to take a really big interest in it,” DeCicco said.
Through Chess Club, DeCicco has not only found a new hobby but also a sense of community with his teammates and coaches.
“Every single one of [the people on the team] is definitely a friend. A few of our old seniors, I got really close with before they left and I’m definitely close with everyone on this team,” DeCicco said.
Noparstak and Page often struggle to find great turnout for Chess Club, though, because they have competition from other clubs despite the club’s excellent retention rate. For those hoping to find a new club and community and hoping to pick up a new hobby, Chess Club meets on Mondays and Wednesdays after school in the Lit Center.
