Chess Club members play during a meeting in Building 2, room 11.
The new school year brings new students, classes, and clubs.
The Chess Club is new this year to DMACC. Andy Langager, journalism instructor, started the club and is the adviser.
“We’re actually a pre-club right now, we still have to ratify a constitution and elect officers. Now is a great time for people to get involved,” Langager said.
Langager started playing chess with his father as a child. When he was in high school, he and his friends would go to Perkins late at night to play, even though, as Langager said, he “didn’t know what he was doing.”
Two years ago, Langager started to try to improve his chess game using the app “Chess With Friends” and learning strategies from YouTube videos.
He now plays regularly on the website Lichess.org, but started the club to find other people interested in the game.
“We’re welcome to players of every skill level, even people just learning the game for the first time,” Langager said.
His favorite player is Magnus Carlsen, of Norway. Carlsen is the current world champion and highest rated player with a rank of 2,882.
Langager said his favorite piece is the knight.
The club meets Wednesdays at 12:15 p.m., Building 2 room 11.
Langager says his goal includes growing the club enough to run a tournament with prizes.
Marie Watana and Ayaka Mochizuki are two international students from Japan, and this is their first time playing chess.
They came to the club to learn the game, and from watching them, one can tellthey learn very quickly.
They say that chess is more rare in Japan, but there’s a Japanese version of Chess called Shogi.
Ayaka likes the king and Marie likes bishop.
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