Last fall, Bowie resident Rebecca White found the family activity she was looking for on the Prince George’s County library system website a chess club at the Beltsville library that was open to beginners.
She started going with her three young sons in October, but as winter approached, she thought one way to eliminate the 25-minute drive to Beltsville might be to initiate a chess club at the library closer to home in Bowie.
Thanks to Bowie Library employees Susan Smithers and Eileen Taddonio, the library began hosting meetings for players of all ages and levels in late December.
There is no charge to play, and members now meet from 6 to 9 p.m. on the first and third Tuesdays of the month at the library.
Chess players Mike Farmer, a retired cryptologist from Laurel, and Nicholas Fernandes, a retired lab technician from Beltsville, also volunteer their time to help people learn and improve their games.
The Prince George’s County library system has 18 branches, about half of which have chess clubs.
“It seems to have caught fire,” said Smithers, Bowie’s youth services librarian, about the turnout.
Smithers said families with children consistently use the Bowie library, but it’s hard to predict what will click with them.
“You never know what the next trend will be,” she said. “Sometimes we’re ahead and sometimes we’re behind the curve.”
Keith Gethers of Bowie, a retired county police officer who now works in security and security consulting, stopped by Jan. 3 to scope out the club for a friend who has two young boys he thinks might benefit from learning the game.
“I think it’s good to expose kids to games that take patience,” Gethers said. “Attention spans are getting so short. It’s all about immediate gratification and how far you can get in a minute.”
Gethers also said the club would be a good way for the boys to meet a diversity of people, an experience that enriches children’s lives in ways that can’t be taught.
He said he needs to learn the basics of the game himself and soon planned to return.
White, who home-schools her three boys, ages 10 and 11, said the chess club in Beltsville initially caught her eye because it’s something that all her children can participate in.
“It’s a game all three can do together, and that I can do with them,” said White, who like Gethers, said she believes chess will help her boys focus and concentrate.
“Chess helps them slow down and stop and think and plan ahead,” she said.
Son Matthew White, 11, said the rules aren’t hard to learn and that he likes the competitive aspects of the game.
“I like taking the pieces. I like to capture,” said Matthew, who enjoys playing against his brother, Joel, 10, even though Joel sometime wins.
“I don’t catch everything he tries to do, but I learn from it,” Matthew said.
Son Michael White, also 11, said he likes the game but that it takes some effort.
“It’s fun, but it’s also frustrating, because it takes a lot of thinking,” he said.
The fun aspect is what appealed to Liz Reitzig of Bowie, who brought her young children to the club Jan. 3.
She said her mother taught her 6-year-old son, Aiden Reitzig, the basics of the game and that “he just flew with it.”
“He lost a lot, but he stuck with it and got better,” Liz Reitzig said. “He likes the competitiveness of it. He doesn’t like to lose.”
Farmer, who started playing at age 11, said that’s not unusual.
“I never had a kid who wants to lose a chess game,” said Farmer, who helped start the chess club in Laurel in 2004 and who, along with Fernandes, currently also volunteers at the Beltsville library chess club on the second and fourth Tuesdays of the month.
Farmer said children “have brains like a sponge” and can usually learn the rules fairly easily by following the instructions that come with the chess board in the box.
But to improve their games takes more work and study, including learning the patterns of play.
“You have to calculate and envision in our mind ... one, or two or three moves ahead,” he said.
Farmer said players will sometimes test their skills against a computer, but nothing beats sitting across a chess board from an opponent.
“I think if two human beings communicate, they improve each other,” Farmer said. “It promotes both people, which is a plus you don’t get when you sit down in front of a machine.”
For more information about the rules and history of the game, visit the U.S. Chess Federation web site at www.uschess.org.
For more information about regional tournaments, visit the Maryland Chess Association at http://mdchess.com.
vterhune@gazette.net
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