Chess with Friends

Walk into the Commons cafeteria at noon and people are eating and having conversations. At the same time, chess matches are being played, as well as other card games in adjacent tables.

Two games of chess are being played next to each other. Shoulder to shoulder, each player offers smiles and conversation to their opponents. A seemingly competitive game of chess on the surface turns out to be a bunch of friends laughing together and playing games.

 One of the two games plays with traditional black-and-white pieces and the other plays with bright blue and yellow pieces, for school spirit of course.

Each move on these chess matches are completely defining; they’re all very careful with their moves. They have a common pursuit in defeating each other, but they’re all here to have fun.

Travis Peterson, the club president, is among the pair of games and he is absolutely having his way with his opponent.

 Peterson has been the student rep for the chess club since February 2018, but the club itself has been in existence since the fall term in 2015.

 He looks up, laughs and smiles with his counterpart.

“It’s okay,” Peterson said with a sincere smile.

Playing chess with your friends is what the club is all about. In fact, at the end of the term the club intends to give away a free chess set for any person who drops by the chess club meeting and plays a game of chess and signs a raffle ticket. Not just any chess set though, but a four-player one!

A four-player chess set is like a traditional one but with an additional three rows of eight cells on all four sides of the chess set. Players can play free-for-all matches or have teams of two and each side of the board has different color pieces.

For more about how to get involved with the chess club at Linn-Benton, contact Travis Peterson via e-mail. The chess club meets Tuesdays and Thursdays in the Commons cafeteria from 10 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. and 2:30 to 4:30 p.m. “The idea was that we were going to give away a regular one, but we thought why give away a regular chess set when you can give away a four-player chess set, so you can play with your friends,” Peterson said.