BHS freshman leads chess team at state tournament

Blaine High School freshman Carson Roesch led the chess team at the state tournament in Stanwood, going undefeated and winning First Team All Star.

Twenty-six teams traveled across the state to compete at the Washington High School Chess Association state championship at Stanwood High School March 4-5. Blaine brought five varsity team members and two alternates from its 23-person team. 

“It was a great year,” said coach Jeremy Roesch. “They were up against some pretty tough teams.”

This year’s team did well, especially considering the varsity group that went to state was comprised of two freshmen, two sophomores and one junior,
Jeremy said. 

Carson only drew once during the tournament, tying the game with a national master – one of fewer than 900 people who are in the top 1 percent of chess players in the U.S. 

“I played a questionable opening and he annihilated me,” Carson said of the national master. “But he made slight mistake after slight mistake and it got to a point where we were both even. I eventually drew to end the game.”

Carson also left with a 4.5 out of 5 score in the tournament. 

“Carson is one of the top players in the state,” Jeremy said, who is Carson’s father. “I’m super proud of him.”

Carson, 15, started playing chess competitively in his last years of elementary school after he found a chess book in a thrift store. 

“I really enjoyed reading it,” he said. “Once I learned some of the positions, I had a lot of fun with it and started playing games on chess.com and got more and more into it.”

This was his fourth time going to state; he placed 20th his first time and worked up to 3rd place last year.

Carson studies chess for a couple of hours plus plays two hours of games daily. Dereque Kelley, a Seattle-based national chess master, also coaches Carson weekly online.

As for Carson’s advice to chess players looking to improve their skills, he said they should play more games.

“Most people say they’re not improving but the reason they’re not improving is they’re not playing enough chess games,” he said. “If you spend all of your time looking at what could happen but not actually playing what does happen, you’re never going to get better.”

Carson has his eyes on becoming a national master before he graduates. But for now, he will be playing chess games at Blaine Library 6:30-8:30 p.m. every Tuesday starting March 22. All ages and skill levels are welcome to join the chess practices that are restarting after Covid-19. 

For more information on the Tuesday night chess games, contact Jeremy Roesch at jroesch@blainesd.org.