Saxonburg Chess Club to hold first tournament Aug. 19
SAXONBURG — By day, 13-year-old Oliver Siemer has spent the summer working on his neighbor’s snake farm, cleaning out cages. But on Thursday afternoons, he’s been busy organizing the brand-new Saxonburg Chess Club to bring the game closer to Butler County’s most enthusiastic chess masters.
On Saturday, Aug. 19, the club — now a year old — will hold its first competitive tournament at the South Butler Community Library in Saxonburg. The tournament is open to players from kindergarten through 12th grade.
Oliver, who founded the club along with his father, Jason, first caught onto chess while cooped up inside during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic in late 2020.
“I think my mom bought me a book in December 2020 about chess, and I was interested,” Oliver said. “I asked for more books and then I learned to play online, and then it basically just took off from there.”
Jason Siemer, who runs the cabinetmaking shop Deadwood Custom in Jefferson Township, is an occasional player himself and taught Oliver how to play. Since then, Oliver has taken to chess like a duck to water, usually playing the game online for an hour a day.
Oliver and Jason worked together to found the Saxonburg Chess Club due to the difficulty and hassle of driving south to Pittsburgh to play “over the board” — meaning, face-to-face against other players.
“They have the Pittsburgh Chess Club, and I’ve played there, but it’s a long drive and there wasn't really anything in this area where I could come and play,” Oliver said. “I like playing over the board with people.”
Each Thursday, members of the club meet at the South Butler Community Library in Saxonburg for friendly competition. The club has grown steadily in its first year of existence, and there is no age limit for participation.
“Usually, we have about 20 players every night, but we have like a wide range of players … maybe 40 different people who have come in here before,” Oliver said.
This past Thursday, at least 13 showed up, playing on eight regular-sized boards and one giant-sized board. Saxonburg residents may have already seen the giant-sized chess board in action, as it has been taken to this year’s monthly Mingle on Main events to promote the club.
In the middle of Thursday’s meet, Oliver, who carries an Elo rating of 1506, used the giant board to teach the rest of the club important chess techniques. An Elo rating is based on an algorithm used to rank players in some competitive games.
“It’s so everybody can see the board at once instead of all standing around one board,” Oliver said.
The tournament will be divided into two sections — one for players with an Elo rating of 750 or higher, and one for those with a rating below 750 (higher is better). There is a cap of 36 slots available, and according to Oliver, “about a dozen” have been filled at the moment.
Anyone can sign up for the tournament by going to gpchess.com. However, all players must have a membership with the United States Chess Federation to participate. There will be an entry fee of $40.
