One board. Sixty-four little black and white squares. Thirty-two pieces, half of them white, half of them black.
What is this, you ask?
Chess. Some call it nerdy, some call it confusing, and a select few in history even call it their life. But at the Weber County Library's Chess Club, which meets every Wednesday in Ogden, chess is just fun.
The 20 to 30 kids who come every week or so love the game. You can tell by the way they smile as they walk through the door, by the way the atmosphere is friendly and carefree, and by the way everyone plays with good sportsmanship.
The man in charge of all this, coordinator Zandro Santiago, has been running the successful club for about nine years now. Under his supervision, the Weber County Library System now has another club that meets Thursdays at the Pleasant Valley branch in Washington Terrace. Both clubs are split up into three levels of players -- elite, advanced and beginner.
The elites are usually teenagers and they help to teach and help other kids as well as set up and clean up. They are the strongest players in the club who help the coordinator. The majority of members are in the advanced group, a group who can play fairly well and may range from 18 years old to as young as 5. The beginners are starting players who still need help learning how to play and move.
"There are about 12 teenagers in a given day, maybe 18 teens if they all came together," Santiago says.
When asked why chess appeals to teens, or even just people in general, he explains, "Well, it doesn't. It appeals to thinkers, people who want a challenge, who want to think. Chess challenges teens to think differently and to apply logic."
