Each week reporter Jeff Darge searches campus for a new club to join.
In fourth grade, I was in my school's chess club. The best I managed to do was place second-to-last because one kid never showed up to take his award. I made bad players look good and good players look phenomenal. It was then that I decided chess was not for me.
I still hold out some hope that I will someday be all right at chess. After all, being bad is the first step to being good.
That's why I decided to come out of retirement for one night and join Chess Club at ASU for one of its meetings.
I met the club in its usual dwelling, outside of the Memorial Union's Taco Bell. They weren't hard to miss. Something about the two rows of people facing each other with chess boards in between them screamed "chess club."
I played my first match against club treasurer and economics freshman Jarod Coulter, who has been playing chess for 14 years. He's also a chess teacher. Not surprisingly, this would end up being my first lost match of the night.
But losing didn't matter, nor did winning. What mattered was learning. For the first time in years, I played a game of chess and learned something about the game.
"A lot of us in the officer positions have teaching experience, which I think is really relevant in having the club because we're not just for top-tier level players," Coulter said. "I'd like to build up a community around just the love of the game in general."
Coulter would go on to tell me the level you start at doesn't matter, and one of the club's appeals is watching you progress at the game.
"It's a good measure for you as an individual as you progress in growth and learning, and also those skills tend to carry over into school," Coulter said.
My night with Chess Club at ASU carried on, and I proceeded to lose every match I played. This comes as no surprise, as this was my first day with the club, and I'm almost certain that I am a special case of bad-at-chess. I could be beaten by most beginners, so losing wasn't a big deal.
One might think that after losing match after match, I was champing at the bit to finish the meeting, but one would have thought wrong. Chess is an almost insurmountable challenge for me. Watching players who know what they're doing is actually very exciting. It was inspiring. Sure, I may be bad at chess now, but if I stick with it, maybe I could play as well as these players.
Club president and political science senior Charvic German told me that this was exactly the mentality that I needed to progress.
"A favorite quote of mine from a famous Grand Master, which is the highest tier of a chess player, would be everybody started off as a beginner at some point," German said. "What you put in (is) what you get out, so just go for it and if you like it and you have a passion for it, you'll get better."
German went on to tell me that chess can become more than just a board game.
"Chess has been a big part of my life for a lot of reasons," German said. "Over the last eight years all of my personal growth has been chess motivated. I just want people to know that it's something that exceeds just a board game. It's helped me grow all these years, so I'm very thankful for that."
Those interested in giving chess a shot and trying their best to beat my record of zero wins should go to one of the club's meetings on Thursday nights from 5 to 9 p.m. at the MU Taco Bell. Also check the club's OrgSync page for any club updates.
Related links:
Jack of all clubs: Parkour club
Jack of all Clubs: Swing Devils
Reach the reporter at jdarge@asu.edu or follow @jeffdarge on Twitter.
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