The Greatest Comeback in Chess League History

On Jan. 23, St. Luke’s Chess Team fended off King School, our friendly archnemesis from Stamford. Racing out to an insurmountable 8-0 lead, the St. Luke’s School Chess Team was quickly assured of overall victory in the 14-board match. 

The highlight among those first wins was surely sophomore Salman Memon's come-from-behind win on board six. Down a queen and a rook for just two bishops — a precarious situation in which many players would just resign — Salman struggled on with his meager resources. His unwary opponent concentrated on his attack and missed that Salman rowed a pawn gently down the stream and stood on the verge of getting a new queen. Forced to sacrifice almost his entire advantage to stop this, the King player had to give up even more to stop a back-rank mate. Salman masterfully played the endgame, positioning a bishop to stop a huge pawn storm. Deftly maneuvering his king to pick off that long chain of pawns, leaving him a simple win, Salman pulled off what must be one of the greatest comebacks in league history!

Earning solid two-win performances for SLS were Jack Aronian '27, Laurel Aronian '25, and Arjan Kochar '26, carefully holding down the top three boards. Sam Thomas '26 and Wyatt Patrick '26 played error-free games and handily dispatched their opponents. Jake Nadel '26 notched a win to make the final score a convincing 12-2 victory, raising the Storm's league record to 6-3.  

With only two weeks to go, Greenwich High School and Brunswick are undefeated (9-0) and scheduled to play each other in the final week. The Storm will take on Staples High School in Westport next in what should be another great contest.