Charlottetown chess club's pandemic gambit pays off with surge in interest

This was the year Lilith Metcalfe got really into chess.

"I was working a job and I got a knee injury, so suddenly I had an excess of time where I was just stuck on the couch or bed," she said. "And so I just started playing chess and I picked it up and I played like, I don't know, thousands of games over the past six months or so."

But none of those games were played on anactual chessboard. In fact, she'd never played a serious game on a physical board until a couple of weeks ago, when the Charlottetown-UPEI Chess Club met for the first time in about a year and a half.

Like many other sporting communities, the club suspended all in-person meetings due to COVID-19.

But it didn't completely shut down, and instead found a new life online amid a surge in interest into the ancientgame of kings.

"I know a lot of chess sets are getting sold in stores from what I hear, so I think that there's just been a general upsurge [in interest]," said Fred McKim, the club's secretary and president of Chess P.E.I.

"And when you think about it, a lot of the other activities, the more physical activities that people try and do, if you can't do them in person, well, you just can't do them. So chess is one of the things ... you can do online, which you can't with an actualphysical sport."

Early on in the pandemic, McKim started organizing a "virtual chess club," hosting events and tournaments through a chess website for people in the Maritimes.

"That has gradually grown, so that we have players really from all over Canada playing," he said.

Open game

The club got a lot of new players over the pandemic. But it is only now that it started meeting again that some of the newbies are actually getting to socializewith other members.

"Last week there were a couple of people that play on my online event," McKim said. "I was able to say 'hey, so-and-so here's so-and-so. You guys have probably played 50 games in the last six months but, you know, you've never met each other.'"

Metcalfe is one of the new people. She started participating in the club's online events around June.

It was about a year after the success of the Netflix mini-series The Queen's Gambit brought chess into the mainstream.

"I think Queen's Gambit was actually what sparked my interest," she said. "Queen's Gambit came out and I started playing every day."

The show tells the story of Beth Harmon, an orphan chess prodigy who eventually becomes a world-class player.

McKim said Metcalfe is not the only person who was inspired by the show to begin playing.

"The Queen's Gambit series on Netflix generated a lot of interest when that was on last year, and was one of the reasons that the online chess took off," he said.

"What we're finding is that every tournament we're having now, maybe one third of the players have never played in an actual official over-the-board tournament before."

'In the moment'

Metcalfesaid she found playing over an actual chessboard was quite different from playing on a computer.

"It's very different online. Like, you don't see your opponent," Metcalfe said. "They're not a person, they're just playing chess. There's no social aspect to it, you just play your moves.

"Then when you're playing over the board, you're really in the moment, you know that the person's there. There's a lot more. It could be stressful, for sure."

But Metcalfe said those looking to play recreational can also find it very relaxing.

"It is a good way to spend time, if that's what you're looking for. [It] encouragessome patience and level-headedness," she said. "You can't go into a chess game and get all angry that you made a mistake. You just have to analyze the board without any emotions involved."

The Charlottetown club is open to all Islanders. People of all ages participate in its events.

It meets weekly and hosts tournaments every couple of months. McKim said online events will continue along with its in-person meetings.

You can't go into a chess game and get all angry that you made a mistake. You just have to analyze the board without any emotions involved.Lilith Metcalfe

An open tournament will be held in Charlottetown this December.

Metcalfe, who's never played on an over-the-board tournament before, said she's eager to participate in a competition.

But she'll have to get used to playing in-person with other people.

"I can tell you for sure that I'll be nervous when I do," she said.