Have you ever joined any chess clubs before?

Philippines
October 19, 2012 3:27am CST
When I was young, I used to be involved with chess a lot because I was very talented with it. I remember at the age of 13, I placed second place in a tournament where everyone are adult except me and another 17 year old boy. After that, I was supported by my father to join several other tournaments and later on was visiting some clubs in the Philippines to have chess friends and enjoy the sports with them. I had some good memories as I had opportunities to play with some of the best players in the Philippines and many of them are Grandmasters now! I used to enjoy the moment when I beat them once in a while, but I knew somehow chess won't be my career in life because find chess more of a hobby than a career. How about you, can you share some of your experiences being in a chess club?
4 responses
@ardoy0731 (7308)
• Philippines
19 Oct 12
I know how to play chess but not that good. Just know the moves of each piece but dont not good in strategy or moves. I used to play dama hehe. Some of my relatives like to play chess but I am more on scrabble. Maybe I need more patience to be good on it and beat some opponents.
1 person likes this
@varier (5685)
• Indonesia
19 Oct 12
That's right. Thing that you need to do is just play a lot more chess games. People said, "Practice makes perfect"
1 person likes this
• Philippines
20 Oct 12
I agree that lots of practice is one of the keys to improvement in chess or in any sports. That is why one key to being good in one sport is having the passion for that sport, because that is the only way you could give more time and effort to master that craft and get to greater heights.
@varier (5685)
• Indonesia
20 Oct 12
Just skill is surely not enough. You'll need to give great efforts as well..
1 person likes this
@varier (5685)
• Indonesia
19 Oct 12
I used to won a lot over my friends in the past. And I've participated on several few chess competition but never managed to reach the top. I never joined any chess clubs, except one on the college that I joined few years ago. Yet I am not really being active there Now I just play online chess occasionally.
1 person likes this
• Philippines
20 Oct 12
In my case, I used to be highly active in tournaments online and offline when I was younger so that is how I got to the level I am now and become an online chess coach. When I play online before in ICC where there are a lot of titled players like grandmaster, beating one of these grandmasters sometimes is really a great high but now I'm in a point that I could beat them quite regularly but I would say if you add up the wins and losses against these titled players, they would still have a big edge of wins over me.
@varier (5685)
• Indonesia
20 Oct 12
That could be easily understood, since they play chess regularly, and they take chess into the higher level: as their career. Why don't you take chess as your career as well? I found lots of people who love to turn their hobby as their career as they're loving it..
1 person likes this
• Philippines
24 Oct 12
I agree with your observation, but I am almost 50 years old and I really have other plans instead of that. It could have been possible if I decided to pursue it as a career about 20 years ago but now I didn't have the dedication and the passion for chess like I used to have. I'm just happy to earn extra income from it for being a chess coach online.
@subhojit10 (7375)
• India
19 Oct 12
Thanks a ton for posting this discussion. Glad to know that u are such a talented chess player and i wish u great luck for your future tournaments. Of course when u play a sport u need a coach who will guide u regarding the nuances of the game and help u make an expert of the game. Chess clubs are very much crucial in this regard to fine tune your skills. I have never been to any chess clubs. What say?
1 person likes this
• Philippines
19 Oct 12
Tons of welcome, subjojit. I agree that coaches could help a lot in improving the student's chess talents, and I am proud to say that I am currently an online chess coach/teacher for those who wanted to learn chess from beginner to intermediate. I used to have a lot of students in chess, but when I got into English lessons online I focused more on that and have neglected my chess lessons. Now I'm planning to go back to giving chess lessons online and would be willing to start with a lower fee than what I ask before which was $8 an hour. I now use a free site which is chess.com, but before I used a paid site called ICC or Internet Chess Club. Anyway, for now I don't join chess clubs anymore neither do I join chess tournaments too. I can see you're from India and I know Viswanathan Anand is from India. Is he still the world champion and have you met him? He used to live in our country the Philippines and studied here. I think he knows a little of Tagalog which is our native language.
@romzee (937)
• Philippines
23 Oct 12
I love to play chess and I am much active during my youth. I beat all my friends and usually go places just to find worthy opponents. Tried some tournament, but never been in chess club. Those were the days when I enjoy playing chess even for a whole day nonstop. Now I sometimes play chess against computer when I'm bored and try occasionally online chess. Cheers! Happy Mylotting...
1 person likes this
• Philippines
24 Oct 12
Yes, I think for most people chess becomes an exciting sports in their younger days and later on is put in the sideline and was seldom played, except if you become a professional chess player. When I was young, being in a club makes playing more interesting and you have a lot of opportunities to play different types of players with different styles. This is where your natural talent develops as you develop ways and means to win whatever styles of play you face.
@romzee (937)
• Philippines
26 Oct 12
Agree. Chess game is not only mentally exhausting but physically draining especially during a very competitive match game. Also during our younger years we have more spare time to play the game unlike now we have tighter time schedule to follow.