I went to a national chess tournament event, and my team got 3rd place in grade-section. Does it help with college admissions (like considering a major award? or only individual awards count?)?
If this is a HS activity it will be considered as a nice EC – nothing more and nothing less. if you personally were highly ranked in chess it would be more powerful. (If you are not in HS yet then it should not go on a college application at all.)
Thanks for responding. I’m currently in 10th grade. I’ll find a chess tutor in the summer. Nice to meet you! 
Hi! When I attended an admitted students day for Boston University/Kilachand Honors College, they were listing off some of the accomplishments of students who they had accepted. A competitive chess champion was listed, so it seems like admissions looks favorably on chess!
Individual awards or Team awards? or both
Individual awards for a game like chess.
I think chess will be viewed mostly as an EC although some (University of Texas Dallas for example) provide scholarships. But,…the skill levels are high, think GM and IM. Many other universities have chess clubs that still attract top players but don’t have scholarships. Interestingly my son, who was an avid chess player for years, just mentioned that knows 4 other students at his college that were local chess players - players he had multiple games with over the years.
My kid is a USCF candidate master (unfortunately he retired before HS without getting his NM title even though he was only a few points away) and I personally do believe that this hook helped a lot into getting him into UC-B for the fall. He does also teach and does individual tutoring for really good money.
Winning an individual national title of some sort definitely would immensely help with college applications, although to win say a K-12 HS championship or a Grade Level championship would pretty much require you to be a titled player already and probably over 2400. Being on the USCF Top 100 list for age probably helps too. For say age 17, you would probably have to be at a minimum rating around 2100 to be in the Top 100.
As far as any team awards, they hold about as much merit as listing Marching Band place awards - probably not much, but worth mentioning on the apps since it shows teamwork.