Chess is like life, Clancey Black says — there are constant choices, and sometimes you mess up, but in the end there’s always a way to get better.

When you beat a video game, the 16-year-old says, it’s the end. “But in chess I can beat somebody and then I can say there’s always going to be some way and some thing better than what I just did. And I can constantly improve.”

The West Bountiful teenager practices for hours a day, from playinge digital chess online to carrying a roll-up board to challenge friends and even envisioning a board to plot strategies in his head.