A hand paused over the white knight, then withdrew. The teenage boy who controlled the piece rested his chin on his curled fingers and sighed.

Chess isn’t much of a spectator sport unless you know the game. But for those who do, Burlington-Edison High School was the place to be Friday night. For the first time, the school hosted the Washington High School Chess Association State Championships.

Some 240 of the state’s best high school players converged on the school cafeteria. When the first match started a little past 4:45 p.m., the room was nearly silent — save for the taps of players moving their pieces, followed by the light click of fingers on the time clock.

In a surprise win during the first round, a second-ranked Burlington-Edison player beat a first-ranked Skyline player. Burlington-Edison’s David Lemme moved up when his team’s top player could not attend and defeated Zach Oseran.

Mark Rathvon, 15, of Sedro-Woolley lost his first match against a player from Garfield High School in Seattle, which placed second at last year’s tournament.

“You don’t play to win,” Rathvon said. “You play to learn instead.”

Players were allotted 60 minutes each for their moves in the first round. In subsequent rounds, players get 90 minutes. But Shorecrest, which placed ninth last year, was penalized 46 minutes in its first match for being 46 minutes late. As a result, each of its five players had just 14 minutes for moves.

Shorecrest’s Kippy Gascoigne, 15, ended his game in a stalemate. He said since he had so little time to think about moves, he was shooting for equal piece exchanges throughout the match.

“It was tougher than usual,” he said, “but since I’m moving quickly, my opponent is also moving quickly. ... They don’t want me to think during their time.”

He said his teammates were happy they could play at all.

“We didn’t want to drive an hour back for nothing,” Gascoigne said.

In all, players completed two rounds Friday night and will play three more today. Teams in subsequent rounds play teams with similar records, said Stacy Murdock, Burlington-Edison’s chess club advisor. By the end of the tournament, the top two teams usually end up playing each other.

Twenty-eight schools made the trip, compared with 38 last year. Several teams from Eastern Washington did not attempt to traverse the snowed-in mountain passes.

Mount Vernon, one of the area teams scheduled to compete, arrived late Friday and didn’t get to participate in the first two rounds. Tournament officials will decide whether Mount Vernon can compete today.

* Kate Martin can be reached at 360-416-2145 or at .