Club Spotlight: Chess Club

Chess Club players gather for a photo. Courtesy of @exeter.chess

by ETHAN DIN and JOONYOUNG HEO

Every Friday night, the basement of the Elizabeth Phillips Academy Center (EPAC) fills with raucous laughter and the clicks of chess clocks. At long wooden tables furnished with felt boards and plastic pieces, members of Chess Club play from 8 p.m. until the building closes, undisturbed till the speakers blare and the building monitor ushers them out. 

Chess Club is led by upper Eric Wu, upper Achyuta Rajaram, and senior Alexa Wingate. It holds itself to a high standard of consistency. For two hours every Friday, the club offers a warm and relaxed environment where Exonians drop by to unwind before the weekend. 

The club’s masthead is driven by that sense of community. “What I love most about Chess Club is the passion,” Wu said. “Coming here on Friday night is completely optional for all the members, and it’s not going to help on college applications or anything like that. But people show up. We meet for double the amount of time that most clubs meet for and just play chess and have fun. It’s a community I haven’t experienced anywhere else on campus.”

“We’re here to play chess,” Wingate said. “But it’s also about spending time with some people we wouldn’t normally see around campus. That’s especially important for me as a senior. I’ve met a lot of really cool underclassmen in the club, for example, by going to tournaments and having fun with them every week.”

Members of the club similarly valued the inclusive community. “There aren’t very many girls in the chess community and sometimes it’s a bit intimidating,” lower Victoria Liu said. “But coming to this club, I realize that’s completely not the case, at least here. Players of all levels are welcome. No matter who you are, where you’re from, how long you’ve been playing, how dedicated you are — none of that matters when you walk through the door. No one judges you. When I’m here, I’m just a chess player like everyone else.”

“The club has a great community,” prep Andrew Su said. “Many people have been joining recently, and that’s really expanded our group. It’s grown tremendously this year because of the new class. And a lot of them didn’t know how to play in the beginning. That’s because Eric and some of the others don’t just play chess, they spend time teaching kids. For someone who didn’t have a real coach when I started playing, that’s something I really admire.”

For members with extensive experience playing virtually, the club has provided an excellent opportunity to interact with players in person. “The atmosphere is great when you play over the board,” prep Joseph Kim said. “Online, you’re playing against someone you don’t know or some computer. It’s a completely different situation when you can actually see and talk to and have a good time with the person on the other side.”

“Confidence is the most important thing. I find that people learn to be confident in what they do by playing the game because they control their own pieces. And when you make those choices, you feel in charge. You take away a sense of self-esteem. ”

Since the current co-heads took over, they worked to expand the club and increase membership. “When I was a prep, we were holding a lot of meetings online,” Wu said. “Toward the end of the year, we were actually able to meet in person, but the group was really small because it was recovering from COVID. So a lot of responsibility has been reopening the club and getting more people interested.”

“I really think there are benefits to playing the game,” Wu continued. “There’s a long list that includes academic calculation, perseverance, all that. But confidence is the most important thing. I find that people learn to be confident in what they do by playing the game because they control their own pieces. And when you make those choices, you feel in charge. You take away a sense of self-esteem. So the club helps people even outside the having fun part, and that’s been my motivation to boost engagement.”

With their work, the club has grown significantly over the past two years. It has also learned how to balance the competitive, team-oriented side of chess and the casual fun on Friday evenings. In the last year, the club has built an impressive record at state and national tournaments. 

“Our team has been getting very strong recently, largely thanks to the arrival of new talent in recent years,” upper Alan Bu said. “At nationals last month, we placed sixth in the whole country as a high school team, and we’re only getting better. I’m hoping these awards will not only inspire our players to keep up the work, but also draw more Exonians into the club. The future is looking very bright.”

The team did even better at the New Hampshire Scholastic Chess tournament a few weeks ago, scoring a decisive first place. “The state competition was a relatively small tournament, and we dominated,” Wingate said. “But it was really rewarding to see our school take the top three positions. We had three teams and they finished one, two, and three. We held our own at nationals this year, but we didn’t get a trophy. That made up for it.”

“We treat things fairly seriously on the team,” Wingate continued. “If you want to play competitively, you should spend some time studying the game and working to improve so we do well at tournaments. But that’s only one part of our club. If you just want to show up on a random Friday, we’d love to see you. We want you to show up. Chess is a lot more fun when everyone interested is involved.”

That, more than anything else, is what the club is meant to be. “At the very least, it’s worth a try,” Wu said. “With the Queen’s Gambit and Twitch and whatnot during the pandemic, people are starting to discover the beauty of chess. I love the game, personally, and I think this is a club for everyone. There really are no stakes. Just come on over on Friday nights, EPAC basement, and have some fun. That’s what our club is about.”