Chess in the Community
Murrysville Community Library
Although I stopped playing competitive chess around 7th grade, my chess life was far from over. Chess was something that my father, both of my sisters and I had enjoyed for many years, and had talent for; letting it go completely seemed unfair. Since we didn't have time to continue playing actively, my father, my elder sister, and I together formed a Chess Club at the Murrysville Community Library during the summer right before entering 9th grade.
Our club was scheduled to hold meetings every Monday (more or less), and with a little help from the library we were able to get a regular class of about 6 children every week. I had never had any real teaching experience before this, and naturally I was nervous about coaching chess at first. However, after a month or so, I was looking forward to Monday evenings at the library. Not only did I brush up on my chess, but I learned how to teach by seeing the game through the eyes of a less experienced player. As a club, we also helped conduct library tournaments for the community, and gave the kids pointers on what tournaments to look into. Unfortunately, as my older sister and I left Murrysville to go to college, the chess club died away. Even still, as a national level chess player, it feels good to have passed on some of my knowledge to the youth before leaving the game.
