Chess club battles played over game board

Simon McGlenn and Hans Mazur sit locked in a battle — one moves a pawn then the other a rook — they’re competing across a chessboard and their focus is one of serious fun.

The pair of friends, who will be seniors this fall at Whitefish High School, have been playing chess together since they were in middle school. They organized their first chess club in school, but have since moved to The Red Caboose downtown with the goal of attracting all ages of players to the game.

“We started playing in middle school and the more we did it the better we liked it,” McGlenn says. “We’d like more people to get into chess. It’s really great and we’d like more people to play it with.”

The group meets every Thursday from 7-9 p.m. The numbers ebb and flow, but on some nights they might have a half dozen players battling. They welcome any players, experienced or not to join. McGlenn charges $20 for private chess lessons, but learning during the club meetings is free.

“We’d like to get more people to join the game,” he said. “The more people there is, the more competition.”

Since beginning their foray into the game of chess, both McGlenn and Mazur have attended chess tournaments across the state. This year McGlenn earned the honor of Montana State Junior Grand Prix Winner.

McGlenn said the tournaments are fun for competition, but more fun because of the friendships. Often players spend time together between the competition analyzing the other games and players.

“There’s different ways people play chess, but we all understand the same thing,” he said. “We play in the tournament and go over games together — it’s a really great experience.”

Chess is unique to other types of competition, especially athletics, he says, because age doesn’t really matter when it comes to playing against each other.

“There’s all ages competing against each other — a 7-year-old might be very good and beat older players,” he said. “Chess is all about thinking and practice. That’s not true of other competitive games — you don’t see an 8-year-old play a 6-year-old in soccer and at least be a competitive game.”

It’s a misconception, they say, that only those with high IQs can do well at chess.

“You don’t have to be a genius to play — it’s about practice and patience,” McGlenn said. “Some of the people who are not the smartest are the best chess players.”

McGlenn says Mazur is smarter and better than him — Mazur once won 30 games in a row before McGlenn won — but still McGlenn wins his share of the games.

“There’s many different ways to play,” McGlenn said. “You can’t always know the best moves because there’s too many moves. Sometimes you have to pick the right move and sometimes you just have to pick a move.”

For more information, call McGlenn at 250-1054.