A New Chess Club Wants Camarillo to Pull Up a Chair

Chess has been around for centuries. Kings have played it. Farmers have played it. Grandmothers and kids have played it. Every kind of person has, at some point, found their way to a chessboard.

And yet a lot of people still think chess is only for geniuses.

Anthony Allonardo would like to do something about that. This Saturday, he's launching a Camarillo chess club at Zander's Game House in Old Town, open to all ages and all skill levels. The only requirement is showing up.

"Hands down the biggest misconception is that chess is played only by geniuses," Allonardo says. "Chess has been played for hundreds of years by all kinds of people all over the world. You do not have to be a genius to play chess."

He should know. He learned the game as a kid from the instruction manual that came with the board, played his dad, who "relentlessly dominated every game for years," and then dropped chess for a decade. In 2024 he picked it back up. He started playing a couple of games a day online on Lichess and Chess.com, and he started noticing something.

"As you progress," he says, "it almost becomes a completely new game. You start to see it very differently. That's why I keep coming back."

That, he says, is the case for picking chess back up as an adult, even if you only ever knew the rules. The game keeps revealing itself. There is always something new to learn. And the entry fee isn't genius. It's patience.

Patience, Allonardo says, is what chess teaches you that nothing else really does. The patience to learn how the pieces move. The patience to lose a lot of games before you start winning any. The patience, during a game, to wait for the right moment to make a move rather than rushing in.

"Knowing when to make a strike against your opponent's position, and when to sit back a few moves to improve your own first," he says, is most of the game.

It's also a game where mixed skill levels and mixed ages work better than you might think. The strongest players have something to teach a beginner. The beginner is going to lose more than they win. That, Allonardo says, is the point.

"Playing against players more skilled than you is the only way to get better."

"Anyone can learn to play at any age," he says.

There has never been more access to chess. Anyone with a phone can be matched against an opponent of similar skill within seconds. Lichess is free. Chess.com is free. You can play puzzles, study openings, watch grandmasters on YouTube, all of it from your couch.

So why bother showing up somewhere on a Saturday morning to play a stranger across a wooden board?

"Playing over-the-board is a very different experience than playing online," Allonardo says. "You can see your opponent's reactions to your moves, and they can see yours. It adds a layer of depth to the game that you can't get online. Plus it is an opportunity to network with members of your community, meet someone new that lives nearby, and engage with your neighbors."

That last part is most of why he's starting the club. He lived in LA County for a while and attended events with the LA Chess club, where players came from all over and ages mixed. Some brought snacks. Some traded books. Some climbed the ladder in tournament-style play. He wants to recreate that here in Ventura County.

The first meetup is intentionally loose. Casual games. Conversation about what attendees want the club to become. A chance to shape it from the start. His pitch to the curious but hesitant is the simplest part of the whole thing.

First meetup: Saturday, May 30, 10 a.m. to noon
Location: Zander’s Game House in Old Town Camarillo
Who it’s for: All ages and all skill levels
RSVP: Encouraged, but not required
More info: camarillochess.com