Sophomore Liza Tarakanova, new to playing chess, carefully strategizes her next move while playing one of her first games as part of chess club. When Tarakanova started playing chess last semester, she found the strategizing and thinking aspect of it to be most challenging part of it. “Chess helped me expand my mental capacity because it challenged me to think about the actions I took, and playing against kids at this school who have been playing chess for years really forced me to think extra carefully during matches,” Tarakanova said.