Club of the Month: South Eugene Chess Club

South Eugene has many clubs, from Gardening to K-Pop. However, one club that is often overlooked is the Chess Club. 

When people think of chess, they often think of two people sitting across from each other with a timer, moving pieces in silence while everyone bites their nails in anticipation of the next genius move. 

However, chess is more often a lighthearted and fun activity that anyone can participate in, not just prodigies. 

South senior Brooks Buckhantz shed some light on what it means to be in the Chess Club. 

“I would say that you don’t have to be a nerd. Like, it’s just fun,” Buckhantz said. “You get to just play, not just relentlessly beat the other person, because everyone is having fun.” 

The goals of the chess club are to get more people involved and to have a good time.  “[We just want] to get people into it, to have fun, and ignite the passion,” Buckhantz elaborated. 

Everyone’s reasons for playing chess are different. Some want to reach legendary status in tournaments to become what is called a Grandmaster, while some just want to mess around and sacrifice all their pieces. The extremely driven members of the club do have the option of joining the Chess Team, which competes at regional and state levels, and who tied for second in state last year.  

Buckhantz started playing when he downloaded a chess game on his phone while he was bored. After a while he got really into it, and enjoyed the fact that anything can happen in a chess match; after the first few movies, there are billions of possible outcomes. 

“It’s cool that everytime you play, you’re playing something that only you have ever played,” Buckhantz said.

Chess Club Vice President Spencer Pool enjoyed the entertainment chess brought and the friends he has gotten to play it with. 

“It can be competitive if you want,” Pool said, “but it’s not super competitive if you’re playing with friends. It’s just, like, a fun game that I personally enjoy.” 

It’s easy for students who want to learn more to get connected. “If they are interested in learning about chess, we have a lot of people who are very experienced in teaching chess,” Pool said. 

The Chess Club meets in the Physics Lab every Thursday at lunch; there are many options to help novices improve. So reevaluate any preconceived notions you may have of Chess Club: the folks that play, play to have fun. 

Article by Kieran Rajagopal-Durbin