Chess club looks to expand, break stereotypes

The IU Chess Club is looking to revamp itself after what several members call years of disorganization and lagging attendance.

“This is our chance to re-brand our image,” sophomore and member Emily Boone said. “We have the talent. We just didn’t have organization.”

Junior Ari Terjanian, a club member since 2008, said the top goal of the organization is to increase its size to 100 members, centered around a core group of club members and supplemented by people comfortable to come out and have fun playing chess.

One way club members say they hope to improve the attendance rate is by offering one-on-one clinics for beginners, taught by experienced chess club members.

The club had it’s first call-out meeting for the fall semester Wednesday at their usual meeting location — the Indiana Memorial Union outside the bowling alley. The club meets regularly at 7 p.m. Wednesdays and Sundays.

While the IU Chess Club has flown under the radar, they’ve still been busy.

The club went toe-to-toe against the University of Michigan, Purdue University and Notre Dame at a University of Michigan tournament last spring and left with first place.

“We definitely want more matches with Big Ten schools,” Terjanian said.

Another long-term goal is to have a large-scale human chess match with Purdue.

In addition to the club’s competitive aspirations during the last several years, the club has been teaching children in elementary schools how to play chess, and plans are in motion to extend their social outreach to nursing homes.

“Age doesn’t matter,” junior and club member Grant Redfield said. “Chess is played by everyone from 90 year olds to kindergartners. It transcends gender and age.”

The members agreed that intimidation and misconceptions about the type of people who play chess are factors that keep most people away from the club. Terjanian said fighting stereotypes is a big obstacle.

“Chess club is the most diverse club on campus, I don’t care what anyone else says,” Terjanian said. “If you like meeting all sorts of people of all different races and genders, want to have fun and want to be intellectually stimulated, then come out to chess club.”