Are there chess clubs that still have friendly members that want to have fun playing chess? I ask this question in all seriousness and curiosity. The clubs near me only seem interested in running some rated tournament at each meeting week after week. If you don't want to play or stand around watching then good-bye. At the risk of being called a dinosaur or worse what happened to playing chess for fun at a club? How about welcoming new people, talking to old friends, swapping ideas and learning from each other? Just what I want to do after 8 hours of work is play Joe Blowhard in a rated game for a few points. If he wins he played the perfect game. If I win it is because I was just lucky. Then there is that club member with the expert rating. You know the one that will not talk to anyone with a lower rating than his. This is why I joined a chess club? I am hoping to travel and visit as many chess club as I can when I retire in a few years. I might even write a blog about the experience the good, bad and indifferent clubs that I have seen. I miss my chess club friends from a long time ago. Dr. David Shaw, Dudley Johnson and Al Reesman have the boards, clocks and ice cold Bud ready for me. I will be joining you sooner than later. Thank-you for the wonderful memories, life lessons and some great games of chess.
