<p>Chess team -- awesome. I am a chess player, and I was really active in my chess club in high school. Our team competed in local and state tournaments and even competed on the national level twice (with modest success). Well, for admissions purposes, I think chess looks good, but more influentially, if you are really good..as in, master level and beyond, some colleges will actually recruit you. I know that University of Dallas-Texas actually gives full ride scholarships for chess. Harvard, Stanford, and other top colleges have compettitive chess teams, and obviously these schools want to keep their chess teams competitive if possible. I'm not sure about UChicago in terms of chess teams/clubs. I'm not good enough play competitively in college. (USCF rated 1600ish)</p>
<p>Your SAT is solid, but not particularly high for UChicago. <a href="http://apps.collegeboard.com/search/CollegeDetail.jsp?collegeId=1713&profileId=6%5B/url%5D">http://apps.collegeboard.com/search/CollegeDetail.jsp?collegeId=1713&profileId=6</a></p>
<p>But you didn't give your GPA, so it's hard to determine your chances b/c GPA is the number one criterion.</p>