Emilio Puentes dangled his king just above the chessboard as he pondered his next move.
A cluster of spectators surrounding the table oohed and aahed every time he swayed the piece in one direction or another. Despite all the noise, Puentesβ attention remained fixated on the board, his eyes rapidly darting between squares.
He really wanted to beat the guy sitting across the board from him β Wesley Yandell, mentor and coach of Sierra 2-8 Schoolβs chess club.
βThis is the only time itβs OK to kill the teacher,β he joked.
The club was recognized by the Sunnyside Unified School Districtβs Governing Board recently for its impressive performance at the Southern Arizona Chess Association scholastics opener in September. Sierra students placed second, fourth, fifth, sixth, seventh and 17th. One received a perfect-score trophy.
In another tournament in October, Sierraβs team placed third. Two kids have qualified for all-state in the past year. βWeβre not doing too bad,β Yandell said.
Playing chess has great benefits for childrenβs brains, he said. It facilitates analytical and strategic thinking and reasoning. Among other things, those skills can help with standardized testing, he added.
Most important, though, Sierraβs chess club is a haven for kids, he said.
When he arrived at the school on a recent Tuesday morning, five kids were already waiting outside the classroom at 7:30 a.m. He said thatβs pretty typical β kids sometimes wait for him in the parking lot.
βThe kids know when they are in here,β Yandell said, βnobodyβs going to come in and mess with them.β
Yandell is more βPapa Bearβ than coach. One recent day, each kid walked in and gave him a big hug before picking up a chess set. Puentes, the sixth-grader who was eager to beat him in a match, handed him an orange bracelet with a Minion character on it.
βIt reminds me of him,β Puentes said. Minions are Yandellβs favorite.
Several other Minion-inspired items adorn the classroom, which also sports custom furniture Yandell made with knowledge handed down from his father, a master woodworker.
Another thing that he inherited from his family is chess. His brother taught him the game when he was 4 years old.
As the only surviving member of his immediate family, itβs important for him to pass his family traditions down to his students, he said.
By 7:50 a.m., nearly 30 students were crowded into the classroom to watch Yandell beat all of his young opponents.
βA little trash talk is OK,β he said, though insults and name-calling are strictly banned from chess club. Respect is key in maintaining a safe environment for the nearly 30 kids, but competitive spirit is highly encouraged, Yandell said.
βI go for the more guerrilla warfare tactics in chess,β he said.
That tends to throw off textbook chess players in tournaments, he said.
Edmundo PeΓ±a qualified for all-state last year and is one of a handful of kids who has beaten the teacher.
He said Yandellβs energy is fun and inspiring.
βHe helps me build up my strategy and think,β the eighth-grader said.
For Yandell, what matters more than winning tournaments and producing the best chess players in Southern Arizona is providing a place where kids feel safe and can grow.
βItβs like a family,β he said.
