"Much as it pains me to do this, I'm going to have to take you out." Matt Ashley eyeballed a human chess piece from his vantage point on a ladder next to the new board outside Metcalf Junior High. "Rook, take her."
The pieces obeyed as chess club alumni Ashley and Alan Polk, his opponent, broke in the Burnsville school's giant outdoor chessboard last Thursday with a game peopled by students dressed as pawns, sword-bearing knights and crowned kings.
Students in Metcalf's powerhouse chess club raised money, shoveled dirt and lugged patio pavers to build the chessboard, a striking display of the school's decades-long dynasty. "The first thing that everyone knows about Metcalf is chess," said principal Kelly Ronn.
The school's chess team has brought home 11 junior national titles, more than all but one other school in the country, along with a record 21 state championships. More than 70 kids are in the club, about 10 percent of the student body.
The club's success is largely due to coach Brian Ribnick, a math teacher who has led the team for 25 years, said current and former members.
"It's really contagious, the enthusiasm he has for this game, and the for the social community the kids have here," Polk said.
Some credit for the 20-by-20-foot board goes to Doug Yates, a fellow teacher who probably knows more about building patios than playing chess. Impressed by Metcalf's bank of chess trophies, Yates pitched the idea to the coach in 2006, when he had taught at the school for less than two years.
At first, Ribnick wasn't sure what to think. "I said, 'What's your name again?'" he joked. But Yates persisted, and the club came up with a plan to fund the $9,000 board by selling commemorative bricks around its edge.
