The Josephy Center for Arts and Culture hosts a weekly chess club every Monday from 3:30-5:30 p.m. at the center, 403 N. Main St. in Joseph.

At the height of the “Queen’s Gambit” craze on Netflix, I was drawn into the world of chess. I watched video after video. I learned the names of famous players such as Paul Morphy, Alexander Alekhine and Anatoly Karpov. I watched their famous games played out on a smartphone. It was near the end of 2020, and a long, long pandemic year.

Chess, a game that you could play online and not feel as if you’re wasting your time, or being unproductive, seemed like a perfect suitor to the hours spent at home due to pandemic closures.

To be sure, I had very little understanding of the game when I first started. The last time I played chess was in high school, over a decade ago, with my former science teacher Steven Finacle — the price for admission into that match with him was your soul, he would joke. I accepted. I lost my soul.

I didn’t know what an opening was, what a pin, x-ray or fork meant. Stalemates when I was out for blood were common. Analysis of recent games I had played showed a smattering of blunders, inaccuracies or missed wins. Lichess, a free chess app, was a great tool for learning. In a few months, after obsessively studying openings, tactics and using the free puzzles, I had climbed back up to an ELO rating of 1500 on Lichess.

I sent a rematch offer to my former science teacher. He accepted, but we haven’t yet set a date for the showdown.

— Alex Wittwer, multimedia journalist, The Observer