I had played during the 60's and 70's with school chums but left it behind for music and other teen interests as well as moving on to adult life with family, work, bills etc. I had never belonged to a chess club before but I joined a local one in our town when I retired. I thought it would be like the images we see in movies where the players gather in a room and play quietly, concentrate on the game and remain respectful of each other and the other players in the room. It's nothing like that at all. Lot's of cross-talk. Lots of self appointed aficionados who rarely if ever play a game but wander around from table to table and "coach" other players' moves as they're about to make them. Granted, it's a club for enthusiasts to improve their play, but I find it rude when no one has asked for their comments, and it spoils the game for the two players at the board. As I reach for a bishop and the guy standing over us utters (with a wince) "Are ya sure ya wanna do that?" Well great..... now if I do or don't execute the move, and do or don't win the game, neither I nor my opponent will ever know who truly won or lost because we've been "coached" by a third party. It's a two player game, not a team sport. This has happened repeatedly. We're there to play chess, not have a chess lesson. The moves are recorded during play and variations could be discussed later with said gurus. But I found it unacceptable during the actual play and it seemed to be an ongoing problem depsite objections from myself and a number of others.
Another issue is the fact that most people seem unable to remain attentive to anything for longer than 20-30 seconds without having to look at their phone (or having them go off ringing). One guy I played against got all p****d off because I wouldn't tell him where I had just moved during my turn. He didn't record the game moves on paper and when he finished each of his moves he would scroll through crap on his phone while waiting for me, and then look back at the board and ask where I had moved. When I refused to tell him he got choked.
I stuck around for about a year during which time I noticed most people were not showing up very often. I found out a few of them were meeting elsewhere at various coffee shops and park benches and I've had a couple of these guys over to the house for informal games on the back patio. More enjoyable by far. The chess "club" scene was not what I had expected at all. It's their club and I don't think it should change or be run the way I like it, but it's not for me thanks.
So many things (and people's behaviours) are not the way they used to be, that it's starting to feel a little weird now. Ya know?
That club needs the “ex-Marine with a sense of justice” as an arbiter! Or at least Miss Manners. The middle schoolers I helped coach all had phones and strong and vocal opinions, but they behaved well during Chess Club.
Very nice.
