“You can’t depend on luck,” says Demon Rogers, founder of the newly launched Fayetteville Chess Society and proponent of intentional self-improvement through mastery of the game. Since August, he’s been bringing local chess enthusiasts together to hone their skills and learn from each other. Only a recent enthusiast himself, he sees community as a catalyst for growth.
“It’s something where you can only grow and get better at it with practice,” he explained, “It engages your critical thinking skills, but I think the biggest thing is community; if your friend is playing chess, you’re more likely to be playing chess.”
He says the tone of their gatherings is “friendly competition,” and the accountability keeps players moving forward and developing their strategy.
Introduced to chess in high school, Rogers failed to see “the opportunity in playing it more and mainly saw the fun in it.” Years passed before his interest renewed. Then, after moving from St. Louis to Fayetteville, he started looking for potential hobbies.
Chess again crossed his radar. He started taking the game seriously in 2021, spending time studying and even connecting with a local club before deploying to Germany that same year. While in Germany, he played in the 2025 International Chess Federation Tournament as the only American competitor.
“Prague is amazing and that tournament is amazing,” Rogers shared. He marveled at the experience of playing beside people from many different countries. While he won his first few games, his performance ultimately declined the further he progressed, and he didn’t feel at the top of his game. He subsequently withdrew.
“It was a good experience,’ he shared, “I wouldn’t change anything about it. You take those losses and it’s something to learn from.”
After his deployment, he returned to Fayetteville, more motivated than ever to build a community surrounding continued growth.
“That's why I created the club,” he explained. “It's for my own self-interest, but for everybody in the community, because I know they want this too, to keep you accountable. It’s kind of a solitude discipline, until you go and play. A lot of studying and stuff like that happens behind closed doors. But, I figured that if I want to get better, I need to play; I need to connect with people so I can get better, and so they can get better.”
He says the club has the advantage of being local, unlike several other popular clubs in nearby cities that require 1-3 hours of travel for Fayetteville residents.
So far, their largest gathering has brought 17 individuals together. Ages span from six-year-olds to retirees, and Rogers says age doesn’t necessarily correlate with experience. He says the diversity keeps the game lively.
“That’s the cool thing about chess; I wouldn’t say age range doesn’t matter, but it matters less. You know, it’s really just about the time you put into it. And so, some of the kids come in and they are competition for some of the adults, or even some of the retired people.”
Since gaining more momentum within the community, several schools have inquired about group instruction for their students from club members, services that Rogers said they’re working towards offering. While their current emphasis is casual competition for new and experienced players, they hope to offer formal instruction in the future after they improve the group’s internal structure and identify quality instructors.
“We want to have a few internal iterations before we offer that so that we can provide people the best experience we can,” said Rogers.
Current offerings at the club include “Casual Tuesday Game Play” every week, and FCS Saturday Classical, which Rogers says typically takes place 2 to 3 Saturdays a month. A US Chess affiliate, memberships at the club cost $33 annually and include a variety of registration credits and discounts, eligibility to play in the Fayetteville Chess Society Championship, access to the Classical/Regular USCF-rated Over the Board Tournaments and access to all weekly meetups.
The club now meets at Harry Hosier United Methodist Church at 6201 Milford Road, after having met in various recreational centers since August. Rogers said they met with incredible support from business owners, recreational centers, and now Harry Hosier United Methodist Church as they were finding a location to settle in.
“They kind of just took us in and said, ‘Make it your own,’” Rogers said of the church. “It’s just amazing being in Fayetteville because everybody is so supportive of what we’re trying to do.”
Rogers says he hopes the club will be a place where participants can grow, talk, and share ideas as both beginners and advanced players.
“Chess, at its core, isn't just about competing with somebody, it’s about building your understanding of how the world works, because there's some bleed over from chess to the world,” he shared. “If you can sit down and have almost what you’d call a ‘civil battle,’ and still get back up and learn from said battle, you can come back again. And I think that just gives people an outlet to grow and work their minds.”
While Rogers doesn’t know where his military career will take him next, he hopes to leave a mark in Fayetteville that will continue beyond his stay.
“I want people to feel like ‘I live in Fayetteville and Fayetteville is a good place to play chess,’” he said. “I want to know that the chess community in Fayetteville will always have a home.”

(Photos courtesy of the Fayetteville Chess Society)