My earliest memories of chess date back to the fifth grade when my friend Josh and I would play at school. Occasionally I can convince people to play me at my family’s cottage, but that’s a week or two out of the summer. Luckily it is 2018 and having nobody to play against is no longer a problem. We have the internet.
Right now I’m hooked on playing chess online, particularly on lichess. My friend Kyle and I have slowly been playing games that take us about a day (he’s up thirteen games to five). I have played about one hundred games against random opponents. My openings are more confident, I’m recognizing a few patterns, although my endgame play is poor. Slowly but surely, I’m getting better.
But I wondered where I could find people nearby to play. Luckily the internet can help with that too. Friday night I checked out the Arlington Chess Club.
I did not know what to expect. I read on the club’s website I needed my own equipment, so I walked in with a chess board, pieces, and clock. When I arrived there were three players huddled around a board. They were attempting to solve a puzzle they saw on a chess website that morning. To the side, one gentleman was posting matchups for that night’s games.
I introduced myself as a relatively new player. He was welcoming but honest. They don’t do casual games. If you join the national association and local club you can play on Friday nights. One game lasting approximately four hours.
Woah. When I play online I play with time controls, five or ten minutes per player. I can’t imagine playing a game for four hours.
I’m not even sure I want to. My goal is to practice chess and get better. In four hours, I could play twelve games online.
I hung out for about an hour, watched the start of these marathon games, thanked them for their time and headed out. On the bright side, they referred me to another group in the area that is more casual.
We’ll see if I stick with this long enough to be up for a four hour game.