Bellevue West’s new chess club offers students a new after school club to try out. Chess club president junior Vincent Nichols held their first meeting on Friday, Jan. 16, 2026 in room 321. The club was open and catered towards the entire student body regardless of prior experience with chess.

Prior to the first meet, Nichols anticipated a much lower turnout than they had actually received.

“So it was really, really astonishing, because I expected like 10 people to come up,” Nichols said. “But it was like 20 or 30 people actually showed up.” 

The chess club is recommended by its members for being fun while giving students an opportunity to try out chess. Junior Lucas Renner recommends the club to those who don’t have a lot going on after school.

Freshman Landon Sullivan also recommends the chess club as it helps players learn to think ahead.

“So then it’s like, oh, what move should I do next?” Sullivan said. “So then you’re thinking into the future. That’s what you got to do in life. You got to think right now we’re in high school, we got to be thinking about what our career is where we’re going to go college and stuff. So you got to think ahead and, yeah, chess is good for that.”