If you like chess or are just interested in learning how to play, you may have considered joining a chess club.
There are lots of great reasons to join a chess club, which we'll get to shortly, but there are also a small number of downsides.
The biggest downside to joining a chess club is the cost, but as you'll soon see, most chess clubs don't really charge their members that much.
Let's take a look at how much it costs to play chess, how much you can expect to pay for joining a chess club, and whether all of this is worth it to play the world's most popular board game.
Why You Should Play Chess
Before we even think about the cost of chess, it's probably worth considering whether or not you should even play chess.
Fortunately, there are plenty of good reasons to start playing chess. For one, it's a lot of fun and once you start learning how to play chess, you'll see why the game has such an enduring popularity all over the world.
Secondly, chess is great for your brain and your overall mental well-being. Chess is basically exercise for your brain and studies have shown that it can improve cognitive skills.
Teaching children to play chess has been proven to improve kids' problem-solving skills and help them to do better in both maths and reading tests.
For older players, chess has also been shown to prevent Alzheimer's and dementia by keeping your brain active.
Chess is also best played in real life and can be an enjoyable social activity as much as it is a workout for the mind.
Is Chess an Expensive Hobby?
As you can see, chess is definitely a hobby that comes with a lot of benefits, but like most other hobbies, chess isn't free.
The good thing is that chess can be quite an affordable hobby to get started with and while you can easily spend a lot of money on chess if you really want to, you don't have to play the game.
How Much Does Playing Chess Online Cost?
One of the quickest and easiest ways to get started with playing chess is by going online. There are websites like chess.com and chesskid.com you can use to start playing and the best thing about both of these websites is that they're free.
The chess.com website does have premium features like coaching that you can choose to pay for, but it costs absolutely nothing to sign up and start playing matches against other people online.
There are even lessons and exercises to teach you how to play, though you will have to pay if you want an unlimited number of exercises and lessons each day.
The chesskid.com website is just the chess.com website but with a few things changed to make it more kid-friendly. Much like its parent site, chesskid.com is also free so it won't cost you anything to start learning how to play chess online.
How Much Does a Chess Set Cost?
If you're the kind of person that prefers the real thing, then maybe you mightn't see the appeal in playing chess online, but it should be noted that even the world's best players regularly play chess matches online as well as over the board (OTB).
You can buy chess sets for relatively little money and a basic set won't cost you more than $20. If you look at second-hand sets, you may find something even cheaper if you're really on a budget.
The cheapest chess sets tend to be very basic or even tiny magnetic travel chess sets. You can find these for between $10 and $20, but unless you're planning on regularly playing on flights or buses, then you should probably just invest in a decent basic set.
How Much Does a Decent Chess Set Cost?
As with any hobby, there's a market for those willing to spend. In the world of chess, there are some wonderfully ornate chess sets out there and for those with the budget, you can spend as much as you want.
What counts as "decent" is obviously subjective, but we think that upwards of $50 can get you a nice chess set that's suitable for beginners. After all, there's no point in spending a small fortune on a hobby that you're not even sure you like yet.
You can always get a nicer chess set once you've been playing for a while and have worked out whether or not you really like chess, which we think you will.
How Much Do Chess Clubs Cost?
For most chess players, there'll come a time when playing casually at home or online won't be enough and they'll consider joining a chess club.
Before we get onto joining a chess club and the reasons behind joining them, we'll take a quick look at how much you can expect to join one.
As with a lot of other things, there's no single price for chess clubs so all we can do is give you an average across the country.
For example, the Newcastle District Chess Association costs $50 to join: $40 for the membership and a $10 joining fee. The Sydney Chess Club, on the other hand, charges an annual membership of $25.
The Canberra Chess Club charges $25 a year for adults and $12.50 for juniors and from what we've seen, between $25 and $50 a year is quite common for membership to a chess club.
Some chess clubs, such as the Melbourne Chess Club, can be attended without membership and it's also quite common for clubs to charge an annual membership plus a small fee (usually a few dollars) each time you attend.
As you can see, in comparison to a lot of other hobbies, joining a chess club remains quite affordable, even if you choose to attend every week.
Why You Should Join a Chess Club
Seeing how cheap membership to a chess club is, you might think that they're not worth it, but there are lots of excellent reasons to become a member of a chess club and regularly attend.
Playing Chess in a Chess Club
One of the best reasons to join a chess club is the most obvious one: to play chess. By being a member of a chess club, you'll regularly be able to meet with other chess players and play chess matches.
The biggest chess clubs tend to have players of varying levels so you'll easily be able to find somebody to play against.
Improve Your Chess Game with Others
Chess club members also look regularly to improve their game and help their fellow club members to improve.
In chess, you can learn a lot more from a loss than a victory so even when you lose, you'll have an opportunity to improve and you'll find that most clubs cultivate a positive environment where players can learn and enjoy their chess.
Meet New People and Players
Chess clubs are also social. Chess clubs are a great place to meet people from all kinds of backgrounds. After all, chess is hugely accessible, played internationally, and doesn't cost a lot of money to get into.
At a chess club, you'll be able to meet people with a shared love of chess. However, when it's time to play a match, things might be a bit more serious and you may want to keep the chatting to a minimum.
Are Chess Clubs Worth the Cost?
For us, most chess clubs are definitely worth the cost because of all the benefits they can offer to chess players.
That said, they mightn't be worth it if you have to travel a long way to get to them or if they meet at times that don't work with your schedule.
If you can find a local chess club that doesn't cost much to join and is easy to get to, then we really think it's worth considering joining and improving your chess game.
How Do You Join a Chess Club?
Every club's different and some clubs can be easily joined by paying the membership and showing up.
Other clubs require their members to have a certain level and to apply to become a member before they can start paying their membership fees and attending.
If you can find a club that you're interested in, get in touch with the club, ask what the requirements are, and then apply to join if you meet them. You'll find most chess clubs want new members and will be happy to help you do what you need to do to meet the requirements if they have them.
You can always work with a private chess tutor, too, if you don't meet the requirements for the chess club you want to join!
Enjoyed this article? Leave a rating!
Loading...
