Finalized just this month by Student Life, the St. Edward’s University Chess Club will bring a new addition to the roster of casually competitive events on campus.

“Just 10 people showed up for the introductory meeting—people who had been playing for fun with their own boards on the weekends. They talked about bringing their friends out next time,” sophomore Jack Sanders said, founder of the club. He expects 15 to 20 people to show up at the first official meetings, which start in early November.

“Of all the special interest groups, every university has a chess club. We should be no different,” Sanders said.

His actions have set the stage for the club’s development. Interested beginners are invited to come and learn the rules of the game, and the meetings will provide networking among the campus’ avid players. Part of the chess club’s agenda is to eventually develop a team that travels and competes.

“I am in no way the leader of the club,” Sanders said. “If people want to go in that direction, that is what we will decide, but it will all depend on the level of our players.”

As a game that stresses critical thinking over physical prowess, the development of players’ skill would depend on self-attentive strategy rather than a regiment of body conditioning.

As for the development of their skills, Timur Gareer, a chess grandmaster, has recently moved to the Austin area and is seeking to recruit students. The club is working on inviting him to campus to play against its members.

“I think chess is a mental sport as opposed to a physical one,” Sanders said. “It takes a tremendous amount of mental dexterity to not break down at some point in a game. The amount of mental stress it puts on the brain is comparable to the physical stress an athlete encounters on the field. It’s literally warfare on a board.”

One of their goals is to join the St. Edward’s Chess Club to the registry of the Austin Chess Club, a parent organization that, in the future, could bring expo days or chess lectures to the campus.

Prospective students are encouraged to look for flyers in the next week for details on the club’s first meeting.