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A new club on campus is allowing students the opportunity to enjoy the many benefits of chess in a laid-back and social setting. The Script had the pleasure of talking to the leaders of the club: Takunda Madziwa, Jack Matrella and Bradley Sagiya.
The Chess Club is one of the newest clubs here at St. Scholastica. According to Matrella, the club started “just last semester, not long before Christmas.” At this point the club “wasn’t yet all established,” stated Sagiya. “We were learning the ropes of how everything works on the way.”
Before the club was formed, Madziwa, Matrella and Sagiya would often get together and play chess. “In some sense, we had this small group of friends that were constantly playing with each other,” Sagiya recalled. “The idea came up of ‘why don’t we actually create a community of this?' We could create an environment where everyone feels welcome to come and play.”
It did not take long for the trio to discover that a lot of the students here have an interest in chess. “We weren’t sure if there were going to be people that were interested in the Chess Club,” Madziwa mentioned. “Now we know that there is quite a big interest. There are a lot of people on campus who actually play chess.”
The formation of the club was a big achievement. “I would say that just us being here is an accomplishment,” Sagiya sair “Initially it was just an idea, and actually seeing that idea materialize was like ‘wow, we are actually doing this.’”
The group is looking forward to what the future of this club could hold. “We have been looking into perhaps registering the club with the Minnesota State Chess or U.S. Chess,” Sagiya explained. “It would be great to have a team of our best chess players going out and representing the school at competitions.”
Although the club is fairly new, the team has been able to create a vision of what they want the club to look like. “Once or twice a month, just meet together and play,” Matrella described as the basic plan for the club. “We are also going to host an end of the semester tournament,” Sagiya added. “People will sign up, and we will send them all the details so that they can come and compete; there will be prizes for everyone.”
Playing chess has been a positive thing for the people in this club. “It’s a great stress reliever,” Matrella assured. “Even though it adds a bit of stress in the moment, it is very hard to play chess if you are not only focused on chess, so it’s a really good distraction.”
The Chess Club wants all students to be able to experience the benefits of playing chess. In regard to those interested in joining the club, Madziwa emphasized that the club is beginner-friendly. “I would say just show up,” he suggested. “Even if you don’t know how to play, we’ll teach you. It just takes baby steps to play chess.” Most importantly, he advises students to “come out and have fun.”
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