BROOKINGS — A father and son’s love of chess has led to a new local group. Gabe Lowe and his son Waylon are co-founders of the Brookings Chess Club — which will feature free weekly matches starting this Wednesday.

“My family moved to Brookings in June of 2024,” Lowe said. “My son Waylon is a junior at Brookings High School, and he’s an extremely avid chess player. Chess is basically his life. When we got here, we were having a little trouble finding a chess community.”

He said they discovered some local groups, but Waylon was hoping to find an internationally sanctioned club.

“All chess is fun, but we were hoping to get a USCF rated club,” Lowe said. “It’s the United States Chess Federation. Internationally, the governing body of chess is FIDE … Then each country has its own federation — ours is the USCF. It governs the official rules of chess and also tracks each member’s chess rating.”

Results of rated games are submitted online, and computer software calculates a player’s rating. Those ratings are used to pair-up future competitors.

“If you haven’t played chess a lot, you’re going to be paired with others who haven’t played,” Lowe said. “It’s not like you’re going to get paired against a champion, because that’s not fun for either player.”

The Brookings Chess Club was officially sanctioned last November. Since that time, they’ve held three monthly tournaments.

“It’s all ages and all skill levels,” Lowe said. “We’ve had a 6-year old all the way up to a 78-year old. That’s the range we’ve seen so far. The 6-year old — his dad brought him because he loved chess. He came in and had a blast.”

The free weekly matches will take place Wednesdays at 6 p.m. at Wooden Legs starting March 12. 

“There’s no cost to join the Brookings Chess Club,” Lowe said. “But you do have to be a member of the USCF. You go online, and it takes about 5 minutes to join. For kids, it’s like $15 a year. For youth — which I think goes to 24 years old — it’s about $20 a year. Then for adults, it’s closer to $40. So there is that initial cost of joining the USCF, but we don’t take any of that money for the Brookings Chess Club.”

He said they welcome spectators.

“Chess is a little different from football. You’ve got to be quiet for the players,” Lowe said. “You can still clap and stuff after the games, but we ask that you have your cell phone turned off for the monthly tournaments. For the weekly games at the tavern, I’m sure it’ll be loud in the background anyway — so that’s OK. But yeah, some people really enjoy watching chess. It’s probably an acquired taste.”

He said Waylon — who started playing at age 12 — has already learned a lot.

“Not only has he become a better player, but he’s become better with communicating, with sportsmanship and with interacting with others,” Lowe said. “You can play chess online. There’s lots of opportunities. But playing on an actual physical board with an opponent helps you with interactions with other people — both how to win and how to lose.”

Waylon also plays for the Brookings High School Esports team and recently took home the 3rd place chess trophy at the State Esports Tournament.

“I’ve never won yet (playing against Waylon),” Lowe said. “But you’ve got to keep playing, right? Maybe someday he’ll make a mistake. It hasn’t happened yet, though. I’m probably about 0-400 right now.”

He said chess isn’t about winning — it’s about learning to plan ahead.

“It’s problem-solving in real time and looking many moves ahead. I think that translates to other parts of  life,” Lowe said. “It’s for every age. It’s for every background. Even if you’ve never played before, there’s still going to be other people there who’ve never played before. We’re going to learn together. You won’t regret it, because chess is a game that will stick with you for your entire life.”

Contact Jay Roe at jroe@brookingsregister.com.