Evie Janis

Benilde-St.Margaret’s Chess club differentiates from Chess team.

The Benilde-St. Margaret’s Chess Club is a group of students who meet twice a week to play chess, and to help each other improve chess playing skills. It is more social than competitive, and BSM students find that it is a fun way to make new friends and intellectually stimulate players in one activity. However, the BSM Chess Team is a whole different activity than the chess club. The chess team is more competitive and they compete in tournaments often.

For someone who is new to chess, the chess club may be more up your alley because of the openness and welcoming atmosphere that it provides. This group strives to make chess fun by playing friendly, non-competitive games and having the club be more of a social gathering than high-pressure games. Even if students are looking for a fun social group to hang out with after school twice a week, the chess club could be the perfect place. “It had been really just a time to build a community around something that we all enjoy doing,” former adviser Tanner Stevens said.

This year, the chess team was newly approved at BSM with 3 members. They play competitively in tournaments, typically at Southdale Mall. They usually participate in mini-tournaments on Mondays and monthly competitions on Tuesdays. If you are an experienced chess player or maybe looking to improve your skills, the chess team is for you! The environment is very welcoming to new members. “[New Chess Players] are literally like a newborn cat. They’re just getting accustomed to the world that they’re in. I am like an ancient one that knows everything and I’m pretty fast, but to them, they were just born a day ago,” sophomore captain John Blomer said.

While the chess team and chess club have similar concepts, they are both very different activities. The chess club meets on Mondays and Wednesdays in Profe Paulson’s room after school to socialize and play low-pressure games. The chess team meets more often in an attempt to improve players to the best of their capabilities. “I’m trying to make the team competitive because there is a club that’s for fun…I want this to be serious,” Blomer said.

John Blomer has been playing chess competitively since he was in sixth grade and is a big contributor to the start-up of the chess team. He figured it would be better to create a chess team to make games more competitive. Blomer is already planning what next year will look like for his team. “ [Right now] it’s just sort of quiet and people are playing chess while I’m giving lessons to individuals. That’s what the first year is. Next year, I’m going to be giving actual lesson plans,” Blomer said.

The chess club is looking to start up next year in the fall in hopes of recruiting more students, instead of beginning in the spring as they did this year. Anyone can join the chess club, whether you are in Junior high or Senior high. Paulson is attempting to spread the word about the chess club in hopes of recruiting new members. “So usually if I had people come in, I would facilitate games. We’d play games, we’d teach rules, we’d maybe play some games, etc,” Paulson said.