On the last Sunday of every month, rain or shine, the Oregon City Chess Club provides a welcoming place for people to play and learn the game by offering free drop-in play at the Oregon City library in the community room.
Founded in 1976, the club has continued its mission of sharing a love of chess with the community by offering weekly opportunities for in-person play.
“We've had our ups and downs, but we've continued consistently,” said club member Carl Koontz. “We still have one of the original founding members who shows up fairly regularly.”
The group offers competitive games for people who show up to drop-in events, which see a wide range of age groups represented from young to old. The events attract a lot of beginners who get expert advice from some of the ranked, or formerly ranked, chess players in the club.
“We’re just trying to popularize chess, and we're trying to have fun playing the game and also help people get better,” Koontz said.
Club member Anthony Gross has been coming to these chess club events for a few years, preferring in-person games to online play.
“It's better than just playing online,” Gross said. “I think it helps to develop critical thinking. It can help kids with their math, I think, pattern recognition - just, being able to make structure in their mind and trying to achieve and achieve a structure through a series of steps.”
Community interest in the chess club spiked a little after the release of the miniseries “Queen’s Gambit,” released on Netflix in 2020, and the rise in popularity of online chess sites like Chess.com.
“It's just a nice opportunity to get out and play live. I think it's very different playing over the board as opposed to playing online. You can get more feedback,” Koontz said. “We'll give them more pointers here than they would get online.”
Eli Dollinger, who has been involved with the club for over a year, enjoys teaching younger folks to play. But his favorite thing about the club? “No jerks.”
“That helps a lot because you don't like to play when the other person is not nice … no one here is good enough to hit some top professional level. This is just relaxed and fun,” Dollinger said.
Oregon City Chess Club offers weekly events for those interested in in-person socialization and competitive chess play, from beginner to advanced. Drop-in chess club events take place the last Sunday of every month at the Oregon City library. Other Sundays, the club meets at the Pioneer Community Center, just a block away, in the wagon room.
“You can only get there from the outside. You can't get to it from the main floor. People come and look for us and they can't find us because you can't get in to us except from the corner entrance,” Koontz said.
For more information about the club and its events, visit the website: https://www.nwchess.com/clubs/oregon_city.html
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