Chess in the real world

Partly based on a comment by Margriet, I finally got up the gumption to go into the real world for some chess today. Every Saturday the Borders Chess Club meets from 2-6PM in nearby Cary, North Carolina. I played a couple of games. In the first I didn't play well at all: I jittery and made a lot of blunders. The second was much more competitive, though still a loss. (If you came by the blog to visit, Spencer, hi and thanks for the games!) Overall I liked the atmosphere a lot: very low key and the people were quite friendly and helpful. The club attracts people with a wide variety of playing skills, not just a bunch of experts who will just smoke me every week. I take one day a week off from the Divine Tragedy, and may start making it Saturdays!

Also, at another book store every Thursday night a local chess guru gives a lecture where he walks the audience through a famous game! I have been once (showed up late, so missed most of the lecture), and it was great: I love hearing (as opposed to just reading) good players explain moves, especially basic elements of positional play. After the lecture, people pair off into games of chess. I hope to squeeze this into my schedule as much as possible.

I now see potential I hadn't thought of before when I decided to start playing chess three months ago: there is a global network of people, so that no matter what city I move to, there will surely be a group of folks I can hook up with to play chess, and more importantly, with which to fraternize.

Also, I have added the Kenilworth Chess Club to my sidebar: they have a great site, with many useful links (even annotated links to all the blogs of the Knights Errant!).