Mountaintop Chess Club in Windham

WINDHAM - Contemplating her opening gambit, Nina the Cat joins her kindly keeper Stephen Bendernagel (who, of course, has to move all the pieces) for a frisky game of chess. 

WINDHAM - It doesn’t have to run in the family, a point adoringly proven by the wife of Stephen Bendernagel, but if you love chess or wish to discover if maybe you do, kindred spirits are awaiting in Windham.

Bendernagel is the founder of the Mountaintop Chess Club and moderator for a bi-monthly, computer Zoom chess conglomeration.

“Do you enjoy playing chess, but don't have anyone to play with,” he asks in a recently flyer created to spread the news.

“Would you like to meet and connect with fellow players who live nearby?

Would you like to improve your game and have access to more frequent play? Do you enjoy the convenience of playing on your computer?”

If the answer to any or all of those queries is “yes,” then Bendernagel is your guy, which is true for his wife too, at least mostly.

In fairness, he became smitten with chess in the early 1970’s, long before he met the woman who would become his better half.

He was fourteen at the time. “I was one of those kids who, when everybody else was out playing baseball, I was sitting in front of the TV, watching Bobby Fisher and Boris Spassky,” Bendernagel says.

Fisher, a chess prodigy, defeated Spassky to claim the world championship and inspire an American passion for the game that has since withered.

It has not perished, however, and Bendernagel is hoping the chess club and its twice-monthly gatherings will rejuvenate that enthusiasm.

“I actually started the club three years ago,” he says. “I am also on the local Chamber of Commerce and at one meeting, someone suggested the town should have a chess club.

“I said I already had one. Nobody on the Chamber knew about it, so they asked why I wasn’t getting the word out,” Bendernagel says.

This is him doing that, inviting anyone of any age or skill-level to take part in the every-other-Tuesday online games and professional instruction by Marty Sobin at Jersey Chess, also tapping into Lichess.org.

“Marty is an amazing player and teacher,” Bendernagel says. “He doesn’t over-complicate the game. It’s very easy to benefit from his expertise. 

“We spend maybe forty-five minutes to an hour doing chess puzzles, then break out and play games for an hour or so, or sometimes we just brainstorm over the best moves.

“It would be nice to meet live, of course, but that doesn’t work if only one person shows up. The thing about doing this on Zoom is you can play chess with anybody, anywhere,” Bendernagel says.

“Our goal is to grow the club so we could meet and eventually play against other clubs. We aren’t in this to make money. We want to keep the club going and play a lot of chess.”

The game of hopelessly trapping your opponent’s king has been around since the 7th Century, predicting movement of pieces in advance, establishing chess as an intensely mental exercise.

“You can play this game for sixty years and think you have mastered something and find out you haven’t,” Bendernagel says.

“It’s a wonderful game that is a great discipline, a good discipline for kids to learn. I realize this is a niche interest. We’re trying to fill the ranks.

“When my wife Ronnie and I retired eight years ago (him from banking, her from operations management at Kennedy Airport), we moved to Windham permanently,” Bendernagel says.

“We’ve been able to leave stressful jobs and return to things we love. For Ronnie, it’s working at a knitting shop. For me it’s books, golf and chess. 

“She likes golf,” Bendernagel says, laughing, “but the only thing I can get her to say about chess is she doesn’t hate it,”

If you can’t fathom that feeling, the next Mountaintop Chess Club get together is April 15 at 7 p.m. Call 516-359-4026 or email mountaintopchess@gmail.com for more information.