Which One Of These Does Your Chess Club Have

Discover the main characters found in every chess club in the land!

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August 28, 2026 1:15pm EDT

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Dear -,

Sometimes it seems that every club has the same cast of players and enthusiasts. Let’s put the theory to the test. Have a look over my list of classic club characters and see how many sound familiar.

The Kid Prodigy

The first chess game I ever played at a club was against a boy who could not have been older than eleven. He hung a piece early on, so I was feeling pretty confident. Too confident, as it turns out, because he checkmated me about 20 moves later.

Some kids have a natural gift. And, usually, there’s at least one of them at your local chess club proving they can beat players thrice their age. If you see an absent-minded child kicking their legs in front of a chess set, challenge them at your own risk.

Chess prodigies are very real. Credits: Michal Vrba/Unsplash

The Opening Theorist

Some people love chess but love memorization even more. They’ll play 25 moves into the Sicilian without a second thought, and you’ll be fighting for your life to get an equal middlegame. And then, when the memory bank runs out, they panic and hang mate on the back rank.

Truthfully, it’s not usually as dramatic as this. But the opening-obsessed player is a classic chess club figure.

The Blitz Junkie

The button smasher, the blunderer, the sub-second mover. For some people, a weekly visit to the chess club is an oasis in a desert of online blitz. They bring with them some questionable habits, including rushing through their moves regardless of time control and occasionally reaching for a phantom computer mouse. They are masters of speed chess but hit-or-miss in longer games.

The strategy against this particular breed? Don’t try to match their pace. Take your time. You'll win because they go mad from impatience.

The Wandering Teacher

This character is rarely seated, often bearded, wandering between boards with a thoughtful expression. Their role is to acquire students and to offer advice, sometimes welcome, sometimes not.

Truthfully, these chess club veterans often have plenty of valuable tips and advice. If you’re looking for a free chess coach, head down to your local club and wait to be spotted by a wandering teacher. They’ll talk your ear off and hopefully give you some good advice.

A wandering teacher ready to give his review. Credits: Julia Vivcharyk/Unsplash

The Chess Historian

Did you know Fischer played this opening against Tal in the 1959 Candidates?

This is the sort of thing the chess historian may say from the other side of the board. They can tell you what Magnus Carlsen had for breakfast yesterday or the date the Queen chess piece first appeared. If you play against this character, you can expect your game to be narrated with a whole range of interesting factoids from the annals of chess history.

The trick against them is to keep them focused on their history lesson while you win the game.

The Maverick Newcomer

This individual has just arrived and is desperate to dazzle over the board. They will play outlandish gambit openings of their own creation. They have keen eyes for tactics and sacrifices, willing to give up half their material in the hope of a half-calculated checkmate. Their heroes are the greats of romantic chess, and they’re desperate to have their own Immortal Game.

To play against mavericks, slow and steady often wins the race. Careful calculations and positional chess often win out against wild sacrifices and romantic openings.

The checkmate from Adolf Anderssen’s Immortal Game: every maverick’s dream.

What Type Are You?

These are some of the lovable characters that seem to pop up again and again. There’s a good chance one or more of these sounded familiar. Maybe one of them even sounded a bit like you. If not, what do you think your type would be?

One of the things that makes chess clubs great is the range of people you get to meet. There’s plenty more characters out there. See if you can name a new type at your next visit.

Wishing you great games this week,
The US Chess Sales Team