After 18 years of knocking pawns and gambling queens, Evanston’s community chess club is nowhere near its endgame.

The Evanston Chess Club meets weekly in the Levy Senior Center between 6:30 and 9 p.m. on Wednesdays. What began in 2007 as two friends’ way of playing in-person, adult chess has now become the weekly ritual of a quaint circle of locals, friends made into competitors both on and off the board.

Though the club began as a free recreational group, it has adopted a $65 membership fee in its post-lockdown era. This small financial hurdle, however, has not hurt the club’s attendance, as the chess club remains what club founder Maret Thorpe called “the only opportunity in town” for adults to play chess. 

Thorpe said that though she learned as a child how to move the chess pieces, it wasn’t until adulthood that the game truly clicked for her.

“There’s people teaching you how to make the moves,” Thorpe said. “And then there’s really understanding the point of the game.”

Thorpe, who has led Evanston Chess Club meetings since its inception, said her passion and interest for the game has only grown. Thorpe has years of experience playing chess, from teaching her own children to even playing in U.S. Chess Federation tournaments. 

Still, many of the club members now surpass her own skill level, she said.

Of the highly skilled players who attend club meetings, perhaps the most skilled is Rob Sax. Sax, who said he has played chess for over 50 years, has had an Expert-level ranking since the 1980s. Expert is the third-highest level that a U.S.-based player can have, behind only the National Master and Grandmaster levels. The latter includes only approximately 2,100 players in the entire world, recognized by the International Chess Federation.

Sax, an accountant by day and chess wizard by night, credits the club’s longevity to the easy and meaningful benefits of playing chess in person rather than over the computer.

“I like the camaraderie,” Sax said. “Being on a computer, you don’t really know who you’re playing. But here, you get faces, you get to say hi to people. It’s more of a social outlet as well as an opportunity to play chess with a bunch of different players of a bunch of different playing strengths.” 

Even players who may be more comfortable playing chess online note the difference between computer and “over-the-board” chess.

Online chess allows players from across the world to meet on opposing ends of the checkers. However, the social interaction granted by the club, many members said, is irreplaceable.

One such player is club member Jeffrey Friedman, who learned chess as a child but returned to the game around six years ago. He said he is more used to the informal, impersonal nature of playing against strangers online. 

Still, Friedman emphasized the fierce competitiveness that can arise, calling in-person chess “more of a battle” than online games. He said he credits that social element as a factor that keeps him returning to Evanston Chess Club’s community.

Evanston’s lone adult chess club, having endured the membership lows brought on by the pandemic and the membership highs brought on by chess-centered Netflix miniseries “The Queen’s Gambit,” shows no signs of stopping now. 

“It doesn’t matter how good you are, you’ll find someone who you can play that will be a good match for you,” Sax said. “I enjoy that.”

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