The trophy is two feet tall and currently lives on a folding chair, because the Knight Owls' clubroom, a converted storage space at the Sunset Park Recreation Center, does not have a shelf. On Sunday the teen chess club won the Five Borough Team Championship, beating 31 other teams and taking the title from a Manhattan private school program on a final-round tiebreak.

The Owls' coach is Vladimir Ostrenko, 74, a retired doorman who spent four decades playing lunchtime blitz and never rose past club strength himself. He founded the team six years ago with a milk crate of donated sets. "I was never a great player," he said Sunday, still wearing his lucky cardigan in August. "But I am a very good noticer. Every kid calculates differently. My job is to find out how, and then stay out of the way."

The clincher came from Daniela Reyes, 14, who defended a locked rook endgame for 40 moves to hold the draw that decided the tiebreak. "Everyone wants the checkmate," she said. "I like the games where you just refuse to lose. It drives people crazy."

The team returns to its Tuesday and Thursday sessions this week, which are free and open to any student. Ostrenko is accepting shelf donations.