The participants in these battles represent every age group from young and old and it is done over an eight-by-eight square grid.

This is the New Ulm Chess Club. The club was first launched in December and meets at 6 p.m. Tuesdays in the library. Chess Club is open to all ages and experience levels.

The library’s programming & technology service librarian LeRoy Harris helped form the club. Harris is a longtime supporter of board games. He has brought many board game groups to the library. With the Chess Club, it was a chance to bring together players of one of the world’s most famous games.

“Chess is the most played game around the world,” said Harris. “There are a lot of young people getting into the game.”

The New Ulm Public Library provides multiple chess board for the New Ulm Chess Club meetings, as well as timers.

Research has shown that chess has many educational benefits. Harris said the game is great for teaching sequential thinking and spacial, logical thinking.

Harris began playing chess at a young age. He learned from his dad but played with his grandfather a lot and is one of his best memories of his granddad.

His grandfather had a standing bet that if anyone could beat him at chess, he would give them $50. Harris said he never got the $50 but whenever he plays the game, he remembers his grandpa.

The New Ulm Chess Club usually has three to four players attending for the night. Everyone is able to play two to three games.

Bruce Taylor is a regular attendee of the Chess Club and a veteran player.

“I remember the Fischer/Spassky match,” Taylor said, referring to the 1972 World Chess Championship competition between Bobby Fischer and Boris Spassky. The match was between a citizen of the United States and the Soviet Union during the height of the Cold War between the United States and the Soviet Union.

It brought new interest into the game and left an impression on players like Taylor.

During the recent meeting of the chess club, Taylor talks about a recent visit to the World Chess Hall of Fame in St. Louis, MO.

The World Chess Hall of Fame has an exhibit on the famous 1972 match. The exhibit is set to be replaced with an exhibit centered on T.S. Elliot’s poem “The Wastelands” which features chess references.

Taylor now has likely forgotten more about the game of chess than most people will ever know. In addition to playing the game during club meetings, Taylor takes time to mentor newcomers to the game.

One of the members he tutors is 11-year-old Phoneix Lovell. Lovell learned to play chess three years ago but only started playing regularly a few months ago.

“I like the logic of it,” Lovell said. “I was playing checkers but it was too easy.”

Lovell encouraged anyone with an interest in the game to join the club.

“If you are inexperienced, that’s okay!” he said. “We can teach you.”

At the end of the club meeting, the members will go online and practice chess problem-solving. The pieces are set up in a predetermined formation and a player must find out how to achieve checkmate within a certain number of moves.

Occasionally the club will play speed chess. The library provides chess stop clocks. In speed chess, players have a limited time to make a move. This creates a rushed play style.

The common variations of speed chess are “blitz” and “bullet” chess. Blitz time controls allow 5 minutes per player. Bullet time controls are any time faster than three minutes per player.

Taylor said he is a fan of using a clock with chess because the game ends quicker and the players can ultimately play more games.

Asked what the secret is to becoming a better chess player, Taylor said it’s just a matter of practice. He compared it to a musician practicing an instrument. The more a player practices, the better they will perform.

The library is not the only New Ulm organization promoting chess. The New Ulm Park and Recreation Department has a large chess that is available for rent in German Park. In front of the park’s amphitheater is a large eight-by-eight chess board. The Parks department owns a set of large chess pieces that can be rented for use on this board. The pieces must be reserved in advance.

It is an exciting time for chess players. The World Chess Championship is currently taking place between Ian Nepomniachtchi and Ding Liren in Astana, Kazakhstan. The two are competing in the best of 14 games to determine the next World Champion. The seventh game was played on April 18. The tournament is expected to conclude on April 30.