Sixth-grader Molly Mear smiled as she took her opponent’s white knight, drawing closer in the Wednesday morning chess match.

Seconds later, her smile turned to shock when Chad Maskiewicz countered with his bishop, crossing the board diagonally and claiming Molly’s black queen.

“No!” she said, groaning. She quickly realized her fate.

“All I’ve got is pawns,” she said, moving one directly into harm’s way. “This is just suicide now.”

Two more moves, and the game was over. Chad and Molly shook hands and moved the plastic pieces back in their original spaces.

The match was one of 63 Wednesday morning at the start of the annual chess tournament at James Mastricola Upper Elementary School in Merrimack. The school, which houses about 650 fifth- and sixth-grade students, is the only one in the district that places such emphasis on chess.

“The more they play chess, their academic skills tend to go up,” said Dennis Pymm, organizer of the tournament and a teacher in the school’s Gateway Program for Merrimack’s gifted and talented students.

Pymm said all students at the school learn the basics of chess, which helps build critical thinking skills and teaches sportsmanship. Chess is part of the school curriculum in some countries, Pymm said, and it has many academic and intellectual benefits.

The annual tournament started Wednesday with five sixth-grade classes – a total of 126 students – battling for two hours to narrow the field to five class champions. It was the first of seven days of competition, leading up to next Thursday when a winner will be crowned for each of the fifth- and sixth-grade levels.

Chad and Molly met in the semifinals for Meaghan Fowler’s classroom, along with Leith Sukkar and Sara Getchell. They all said they like the mental aspect of the game.

“If you’re good at chess, you can be good in life,” Leith said. “It exercises your brain.”

The school’s chess club at Mastricola Upper Elementary has swelled to 75 members, up from about 30 three years ago. Pymm said he hopes the growing interest will influence the middle school to start a chess club.

“I like how you always have challenges in it,” Sara said. “It’s fun. After you win, there’s a sigh of relief, but then there’s another challenge ahead.”

Girls have started to join the fun, too. There were no female class champions Wednesday, but one girl made the finals and others came close, like Molly and Sara.

“Chess used to be a guys thing, just traditionally, but now that there are more girls in the club, they’re getting later in the rounds,” Pymm
said.

As the tournament went on, the losing group gathered to talk quietly, watch a science movie or play chess or checkers against other defeated classmates. Once enough students had been eliminated, their teachers took them back to homeroom.

Winners carried a
white notecard, in which Pymm punched holes
after each victory, and
then played classmates with the same number of punches also sitting at their table.

“It’s not an official tournament by any means, as you can tell by the noise,” Pymm said, laughing, as voices filled the room.

To move games along in the early rounds, some matches are called on points. The pieces left over are totaled, using the following point system: the queen is worth nine points, rooks are worth five apiece, bishops and knights are three points, and pawns are one point.

The students played fast, focused and determined. The competition never grew heated, although tears have been shed in the past, Pymm said.

“It’s fun because it’s a game, and you use your mind a lot,” said Gabby Giordano, a student in Tracy Pinz’s sixth-grade class. “It’s not something you can do easily.”

Mastricola’s chess tournament is about fun, building skills and practicing the game, but Pymm said a smart bet on the winner might be placed on fifth-grader Robert Sawdey, perhaps the school’s own Bobby Fischer.

Robert didn’t play Wednesday, but he travels around to chess tournaments in the area and has achieved a high national chess ranking. Robert has beaten Pymm nine of the 10 times they played, Pymm said.

But Robert will have to beat some of Wednesday’s champions if he’s to win the school crown.

One of those was Ian Cummings, who was the only one left standing from Eric Fairweather’s sixth-grade class. Ian said he likes chess because it offers more challenges than most other games.

“It also helps being smart,” he said, with a wry smile.

The Learning Curve appears Thursdays in The Telegraph. Cameron Kittle can be reached at 594-6523 or ckittle@nashuatelegraph.com. Also, follow Kittle on Twitter (@Telegraph_CamK).