Rooks, knights, queens and kings all take their places on the boards of the Starkville Chess Club at Dave’s Dark Horse Tavern on Tuesday nights.
“One thing I like about our chess club is there are people of all levels,” said James Redd, founder of the Starkville Chess Club.
The club has members of a variety of skill levels who come and compete, some keep getting better and some come every once in awhile, he said.
“If you set a time to meet, then they will know people will be there when they want to play,” Redd said.
The club meeting is set for 6 p.m., but people are typically there and playing closer to 7 p.m., he said.
A majority of the people who come to the chess club are affiliated in some way with Mississippi State University, Redd said.
“I don’t normally go to the bar, so this gets me out, which is probably different than other people who go to the bar but don’t play chess,” senior physics major Barry Youngblood said.
He said he has been going to chess club since it started, and had only played 20 to 40 games in his life before the club.
“It’s sport like any other. Practicing is a requisite for getting better,” Youngblood said.
With the club meeting at a bar, he said the best games are normally played earlier in the night.
“We don’t think of chess as a pretentious game like some people [do]. It’s very much a social activity,” Redd said.
The members play chess, drink and eat food from Dave’s, he said.
“Some people get so locked into games and people start watching. The waitresses at the Dark Horse are so afraid to interrupt our games,” Redd said.
As the games are going, suggestions and opinions from spectators are welcome, he said.
“We talk with each other. We’re not like, ‘Hey, you can’t take back that move.’ We want to see the best game played,” Redd said.
Redd said he sets up tournaments when enough people show up, he said.
“[Attendance] has been pretty steady. I don’t think we’ve had less than four [people], he said.
Sometimes the members put in a dollar each to buy a pitcher of beer for the winner and the loser of tournaments to share,” he said.
The club started this May at the now closed bar Polliwogs to allow people who like to play chess an opportunity to meet with others interested in the game, Redd said.
“Eventually we moved to Dave’s because we like [the] bar a lot better,” he said.
Owner of the Tavern Dave Hood said he did not approach Redd to bring the club to Dave’s, but he was pleased to hear about it from his staff.
“Not only does it show the eclectic side of Dave’s, everyone knows that chess players aren’t stupid,” Hood said. “They’re sending a strong indicator that frequenting the Tavern is an intelligent choice by proxy.”
The members of the club not only increase pizza, wings and beverage sales, they also stick around for the karaoke that follows on Tuesday nights, he said.
“The rest of the crew enjoy their patronage because they’re all pleasant customers and bring a little different feel to the place on Tuesday evenings,” Hood said.
The club has six chess boards to provide to the people who come out to play, Redd said.
It is not an exclusive club and there is no membership fee, he said.
“Everybody says chess is the ultimate game. I like it because its a quiet, thinking game,” Redd said.
The Starkville Chess Club meets on Tuesdays in the back of Dave’s Dark Horse Tavern at 6 p.m.
For more information about the Starkville Chess Club, e-mail James Redd at [email protected].