The room is silent except for the faint noise of moving pieces. 

Think, click, think, click.

The tension is palpable as the final two players compete for the tournament champion title.

Over 30 players from five schools competed in a chess tournament on Nov. 21, and Hagerty took home the title. However, one player took home the title of champion: sophomore Prerona Sarkar.

“My favorite thing [was] getting another win for Hagerty because, it [is] not just an individual victory,” Sarkar said. “It feels good for a team.”

Sarkar, who has been playing since childhood, beat players from Crooms, Oviedo, Lake Howell, Lake Brantley, Lyman and even her own team to gain the title. This was larger than other tournaments she has played previously, and therefore harder to do traditional ranking systems for the players. Instead, tournament leaders create a bracket system for the tournament, with a winner’s and loser’s bracket. The winner of the winner’s bracket was the champion, the runner up in the final game took second place, and the winner of the loser’s bracket took third.

“It was really fun,” sophomore Sahana Vinod and first-time tournament attendee said. “There was food–we love that always, and I got to hang out a lot and play chess and watch intensely at the board at other people who were playing games.”

The final game between the top players in the winner’s bracket had unmistakable intensity, with students watching on in silence. 

“I liked watching the final match because it was just so intense, so quiet.” Vinod said “If you made the tiniest sound, people were like ‘shh.’ It was intense, but hilarious at the same time.”

Aside from the final match, the overall atmosphere of the tournament was light and friendly, emphasizing fun and socializing. The spirit ended up being more like the gathering of a community than that of a competition. 

“It was really fun because I have a lot of friends in [the] Chess Club,” Sarkar said. “It was like a friendly hangout.” 

Overall, the team had a good experience and a good opportunity to practice and further their skills.

“I feel like the team overall, we did pretty good, even if some of the people did not do that great,” Sarkar said. “[We need] to try to get better at the game, learn new strategies and tactics and also with the time just think fast under the time pressure which is five minutes and not overthink it.”