Fifteen-year-old Simon McGlenn makes the first move to the center of the chessboard with a white pawn.

Hans Mazur, 14, counterplays with a black pawn.

A digital timer set for five minutes sits in between the players. McGlenn and Mazur have to be quick.

Each move takes mere seconds before the players reach out and slap the timer to stop it signaling the end of their play.

In this game of chess, there isn’t time for arduous thinking.

At about three minutes, McGlenn stands up and scans the board.

With just seconds left Mazur checks McGlenn but runs out of time. McGlenn wins with four seconds to spare.

A couple of other chess games are going on around them this January night at The Red Caboose in downtown Whitefish. McGlenn and Mazur get up for some frozen yogurt, but don’t waste much time before returning to the chessboard. They sneak spoonfuls of frozen yogurt between moves.

The Red Caboose is the new location for McGlenn’s and Mazur’s chess club. They are extending an invitation to other players of all levels and ages to drop in for games from 7 to 8 p.m. Tuesdays and Thursdays.

The casual atmosphere quells any thoughts that chess is reserved for prodigies and high IQs. Both McGlenn and Mazur said people who want to learn shouldn’t be intimidated. For Mazur, success in chess means practice.

“Eighty percent of chess is practice,” Mazur said.

McGlenn and Mazur started their first chess club in middle school but they aren’t sure what sparked their common interest.

“This one summer we started playing chess and Hans is a genius, he’s very smart, and we played 30 games and he won all of them but the last one,” McGlenn said.

Chess can be addicting once a player learns how each chess piece moves and the world of strategy opens up.

“There’s so much more to the game,” McGlenn said.

The Whitefish High School freshmen also play chess during lunch two days a week, but they both wanted to branch outside the school to draw more players.

So how do they tell if they are improving their game?

“If you just beat people — just depending on who you beat,” Mazur said.

Next to McGlenn and Mazur, 9-year-old Neil Bernat finishes a game of chess with McGlenn’s dad. Chess was a natural progression for Bernat, an avid checkers player.

“I like it because you have to think. There’s a strategy to it,” Bernat said.

If there are enough regular chess players, McGlenn said he would like to organize a tournament or assemble a team to compete in a sanctioned tournament in Missoula.

“We definitely want to do that. And take all the last places,” McGlenn joked.

“I think we could take all the last places,” Mazur says, nodding in agreement.

Reporter Hilary Matheson may be reached at 758-4431 or by email at [email protected].