Windermere High student looks to donate chess boards to schools

Fewer games have stood the test of time quite like chess.

By its very nature, chess requires critical and logical thinking, and requires the two opponents going head-to-head to plan out their attack several steps ahead. In other words, it’s a challenge worthy of appreciation from those who play it.

That’s why Windermere High School junior Evan Mathura is hoping to raise enough money to donate 500 high-quality chess boards to students around Orange County Public Schools before the start of the 2021-22 school year.

“When I was younger, I used to play chess — and I still play chess now — and it has done so much for me, so it became, ‘give back and give chess boards to play on,’” Mathura said. “That can really spark a love for chess to people everywhere and that’s a good thing.”

At the beginning of the year, Mathura approached OCPS — which has a chess initiative — and told them of his desire to help get more students involved with the game. After getting a list of schools that were in need, Mathura got to work.

As Mathura began to fundraise, he found a wholesale website with a company out of Alabama that offered him 20% off because of the nature of his endeavor. So far, Mathura has donated 20 chess boards — made of which he said was a nice vinyl material — to Bridgewater Middle School, Meadow Woods Middle School and Jones High School.

The reaction so far from students at varying schools has been overwhelmingly positive, Mathura said. Despite the age of the middle-schoolers, the centuries-old game still clicks for them.

“I remember when I brought the chess boards, they were like, ‘Thank you,’” Mathura said. “And we played a game, and this one girl — she is in middle school — was like, ‘That was the most intense game I’ve ever played.’ So it’s like, though it may be an old game — I would say timeless — even these middle school kids still enjoy the game. I don’t know what else you could compare that to.”

For Mathura, sharing and teaching this old game is especially rewarding. Mathura first started playing chess at age 9 after his father introduced him to it. What followed was match after match of losing to his dad. However, one day, something clicked, and Mathura found himself absolutely enthralled with the game.

“We were playing a game by the beach, and I finally won,” Mathura said. “That was really a turning point for me. After that point, I started to train a lot harder, and I started to practice more, because it’s really satisfying when you work hard and you win in chess.”

Since that first win, Mathura has participated in a variety of chess competitions — and even earned a third-place finish at the OCPS District Championships his freshman year. He also has served as the president of the Chess Club at Windermere High School the last two years. In that role, Mathura has helped teach the game to other members and also has hosted tournaments.

Like any good chess player, Mathura is working several steps ahead for his donation project. Although he already has handed out 20 sets, he has raised enough money to start handing out 100 more.

Between the GoFundMe page and the website he’s working on now, he still is hoping to achieve that ultimate goal of getting 500 chess sets to students before the next school year. While getting the boards into students’ hands is important, the real prize is the benefits that chess can offer, Mathura said.

“A lot of people will see chess like, ‘Oh, that’s cool,’ but they never really understand that chess can really help you in your life,” Mathura said. “I think my duties with donating these chess boards is it is not just a game in that you can play and you leave it. You also live it, because it teaches you to think logically, and it teaches you patience, and it instills so many values that are important.”