Nxe5 Bxe5.
James McLaren was in trouble.
“Never underestimate the power of the pawn,” Adrianna Durand had warned him minutes before. “One time I got someone in checkmate with just a rook and a pawn — nothing else. Rook, pawn and king was all I had on the board. They had two bishops, a knight and a rook … and I won. I don’t even know how it happened.”
So McLaren tried desperately to safeguard his king, having just lost his second bishop.
Kxb3 Nd2+ Kb4 h5 Ka3 h6 Kb4 Qb7 Ka3 h7 Ka2 h8=Q.
“I can’t even get to the corner because the corner’s not safe,” he said, before resigning like a gentleman.
This interaction is typical of the type of courteous sportsmanship taught at sessions of the Wild Knights Chess Club at the Athol Public Library. Athol resident David Price started the club for all school-aged children in January 2014, and it meets every Thursday in the library’s teen space, from 3:30 to 5 p.m. Though attendance fluctuates, Price is the volunteer advisor, and 73-year-old Clint Eklund serves as a volunteer coach.
“I enjoy teaching the kids,” said Price, 53. “I believe that it helps to teach kids about consequences of actions. You know, every move has a countermove. It helps to develop their ability to recognize consequence of action, and I think that’s a very handy thing to have in life.”
Revered as a game of strategy and majesty, chess has been a hobby, profession and obsession for millions of people for roughly 1,300 years. Though sometimes considered an activity for intellectual elitists, it is enjoyed by all walks of life, and computers have for decades been programmed to play the game. Chess is often a favorite of the math-savvy, as there are 121 million possible positions after a game’s first three moves.
The pieces are assigned relative numerical point values to help players prioritize and strategize, though games are not won or lost by score. The eight pawns represent one point each, the two knights (pieces shaped like horse heads) and two bishops are worth three points each, rooks (castle towers) are five points, and the queen is worth nine. The king is essentially priceless, because the game is over when it is trapped.
Emily French, 9, has been playing chess for about a year, learning from her dad and her brother, Ben, who also attends the Wild Knights Chess Club.
“It’s just addictive. I like playing it because it’s a nice game,” Emily said during a recent club meeting, adding that the queen is her favorite piece because it’s the most powerful and, “because she can move in all sorts of directions.”
Two broken bones in her left wrist, protected by a bright pink cast signed by friends and fellow Wild Knights, couldn’t stop her from playing chess with Price, who helpfully coached Emily through the game and gave her pointers.
In chess, the white pieces move first and, under United States Chess Federation rules, the player with the black pieces gets to pick which side of the board the chess clock goes on. During timed games, the hand a player uses to move a piece must also be used to push the button on the chess clock to start the opponent’s time. But Price allowed Emily, who was playing white, to keep the clock on her right, considering her temporary “handicap.”
Ben French, 14, learned to play from his dad, and enjoys getting better with practice. When asked why he attends the Wild Knights Chess Club, he responded, “So I can try to beat this guy,” pointing to 12-year-old Logan Kearney, who has been attending Wild Knights for three and a half years. French also said he is home-schooled and the club is a chance for him to socialize.
“He’s Ben French, but he’s been American his whole life,” Price said, pun intended.
“Oh, like I haven’t heard that before,” Ben quipped.
Ben agreed to take home and read a 2014 copy of Chess Life magazine. On the cover is Norwegian player Magnus Carlsen, a grandmaster and world champion.
Eventually, four kids agreed to a game of double bughouse, a chess variant consisting of a pair of chessboards and two two-person teams. One teammate plays white, while the other plays black. Price explained this is a game in which regular chess rules apply, but once a player has captured a piece, he or she passes it to their teammate, who keeps it in reserve and has the option of putting it on his or her board.
Library technician Anne Cutler-Russo, who oversees the teen space, had to on a few occasions come over to the rambunctious youngsters and gently ask them to use their indoor voices. This inevitability is partially what birthed the Mild Knights Chess Club, an adult extension of the Wild Knights.
“We provide an opportunity for quiet chess enthusiasts to engage in friendly competition,” the club’s website reads. The club, which meets in the library from 5 to 7 p.m. every Tuesday, is open to adults of all skill levels interested in participating. Like the Wild Knights, meetings are free and there are no attendance obligations or commitments.
Price said he started the Mild Knights roughly a year and a half after its juvenile counterpart began.
The meetings are conducted by a member of the “Royal Guard,” which consists of Price, Eklund and Rick Guillemette, 55. The club’s director, a position subject to change at any time, pending a motion and vote by other members of the Royal Guard, is responsible for assuring all meetings are attended by at least one Royal Guard member and that supplies and space will be available at the library. Price is the current director.
“Mature, responsible youth may attend by invitation only. Recommendations for invitation may be submitted by any adult participant of the Mild Knights, but must be approved by a member of the Royal Guard,” the website reads. “Participants are expected to conduct themselves in a manner appropriate for the public setting within the Athol Public Library. They are to display good sportsmanship and courteous behavior at all times.”
Price learned to play chess as a child, when his older brother was preparing for a tournament. He said the Mild Knights is a chance to play challenging chess in a more subdued atmosphere.
“I love working through the logic,” Price said during a game. “I happen to be a fairly competitive person by nature. It’s not all about winning. … I want to work hard and try to do good at whatever I do, I think.”
Price said chess is similar to football or baseball in that all are centered around developing a strategy and striking at the perfect moment.
“Your best moves in a chess game are the ones that represent both offense and defense,” he said.
Eklund said he has been playing chess for 40 years, and is still a student of the game. He also said he loves seeing the young players grow and evolve through the Wild Knights program.
“My grandson, Holden, when he came in and played, didn’t really know how to play the pieces at all. A couple of times I showed him at the house, but when he came here and started playing other kids his age, that’s when he really got it together and, now, he can play a good game of chess,” Eklund said. “Once in a while a student will beat us — we’ll let down our guard or whatever — and that makes us happy when that happens.”
Visit https://wildknights.jimdo.com/ or call the library at 978-249-9515 for more information on both chess clubs.