A chess club has been formed for all interested players in Hay River.
The move was made at an organizational meeting on July 29.
The driving force behind the new club is Richard Skelhorn, who said his two young sons became interested in chess because of an extracurricular chess club at Ecole Boreale.
"So what we thought was it would be great to have more of a permanent Hay River Chess Club open to all ages, not just school age but people who may be adults or high schoolers or whatever," said Skelhorn, who credits Finno Celestin, a classroom assistant at Ecole Boreale, for launching the extracurricular chess club, which also included students from Princess Alexandra School.
"So the kids became interested because of what he did," Skelhorn said. "He did a lot of work and he got a lot of kids interested in chess."
Yellowknife has a chess club, where Skelhorn played when he was in the capital city for work.
"So I figured it would be great for Hay River to have something like that," he said.
Seven or eight people showed up for the first meeting of the Hay River Chess Club on July 29 at NWT Centennial Library.
"That was the first day," said Skelhorn. "So we invited everybody out to come chat about it, kind of the expectations, what everybody wanted to see."
The organizer would like to have a core group of maybe a dozen young people in the club to learn more about chess.
However, he stressed the club would also welcome adults and players of all skill levels.
"Chess has nothing to do with age," he noted. "You've got grandmasters as young as 12 and 13 years old."
One of the first members of the club is Skelhorn's eight-year-old son Avery Skelhorn, who said he is glad that a club has been formed.
Asked what he likes about chess, Avery responded, "That you're actually thinking in a game."
Avery and his 10-year-old brother Michael played starting chess about a year ago.
"If they're interested in chess, I'll support them as far as they want to go," said Skelhorn, adding that is ultimately up to them.
His support to his own children has included arranging for lessons over Skype with Tiger Lilov, a national master in Bulgaria.
Skelhorn said Lilov has also agreed to do presentations to the Hay River Chess Club.
In addition, the organizer is aiming to take players to a chess tournament in Edmonton in February or March.
"We want to take the whole club down," he said. "It's really good for them to be exposed to a tournament, regardless of how they do."
Two more of the first members of the Hay River Chess Club are 11-year-old Grayson Groenewegen and his nine-year-old brother Hunter Groenewegen, who both started playing the game at five.
Grayson said he is looking forward to learning more about chess at the club.
His brother Hunter has his sights particularly set on one aspect of chess.
"I'm hoping to learn more openings," he said.
Skelhorn explained that chess has much to offer to young players, including experience on how to concentrate, make decisions and be accountable for their actions.
"And being sportsmanlike when you win or you lose, because either one is going to happen," he said. "It's great to start that young because I think a lot of kids these days don't learn how to lose very often."
All children should be involved in chess, he added. "I think every kid should learn from a young age how to think."
Skelhorn also personally enjoys playing chess.
"I guess ultimately for me it's about the kids, but I enjoy just sitting down and being mentally challenged," he said, describing the game as a battle of minds. "It's competitive and it's fun."
During August, the Hay River Chess Club will meet from 3:30 p.m. to 5 p.m. every Sunday at NWT Centennial Library, but that time might change after August.