Students looking for a mental challenge in the form of a game now have an outlet with Chess Club.

Chess Club meetings are held in room 906, next to the boys locker room, during both sessions of Falcon 50, every other Wednesday.

Their next meeting will be held on Nov. 8.

Chess is a board game between two players who take turns trying to checkmate the other’s king using 16 pieces: a king, a queen, two rooks, two knights, two bishops and eight pawns, on an 8 x 8 grid board.

According to the club’s sponsor, Helen Hardgree, a person can develop thinking skills by playing chess. “Chess is a game that improves focus, patience, critical thinking and it creates opportunity,” Hardgree stated.

Multiple studies compiled by Online College Courses provide evidence that chess develops thinking skills by increasing IQ, exercising both sides of the brain, increasing creativity, improving problem-solving skills and improving memory.

Anyone who desires to learn chess can join the Chess Club as it is always accepting new members with no prior experience with chess being necessary to be accepted into the club.

The 23 current members have varying degrees of experience, with one of the members having played in a competition.

Dylan Stewart, a member of the Chess Club, stated that he joined the club with some experience with chess, which he defined as a hard version of checkers, to have fun while learning more information and tricks about chess.

He likes the opportunity to play with different people of different skill levels that the club provides.

To get a feel for the club, students are encouraged to attend a meeting.

But the club is not just for chess players.

The club also provides board games, like the Game of Life, for people looking for those types of games.

Students are allowed to bring their lunch during Falcon 50 and play with other members.

It also is not mandatory for the students to stay for the entirety of the meeting. The club is currently not involved in any competitions, but it is actively searching for competitions to be involved in.

The club also owns a four-player chess board, a variation of chess that is played between four players.

It could be played as two teams of two in which allied players help each other in both defense and offense, ending when both players of one team are checkmated.

It could also be played as singles where each player could attack any of the other three players, ending when one player remains.