The Club Interviews - Episode 1: TheAuthorOfChickens
Welcome to my new series of blogs, "The Club Interviews"! This is an exclusive Chess.com interview where we chat with some of the most standout members in the Chess.com Clubs community. Get a glimpse into their journey, social interactions, and what it takes to thrive within the vibrant chess clubs and discussions on the platform. I will be referring our guest, @TheAuthorOfChickens, by "Author" to avoid confusion. So without further delay, lets dive right in!
Deflection: Welcome to our first episode, featuring @TheAuthorOfChickens! So, Author, how are you doing today?
Author: Pretty good. How about you?
Deflection: Im doing well. Let's start by asking you a question! What's your story about finding Chess.com Clubs?
Author: I actually don't remember that well. I know I joined one of the American chess clubs but then ended up leaving it at some point. I legit do not remember how I found any of the other clubs.
Deflection: Well, that's not a good start. What do you find so interesting about clubs? Have you met some nice people there?
Author: Absolutely. There's the super admin team of CVC ( @Caleb341, @F1-24, @Jared, @Qoiuoiuoiuoiu), who are all nice and helpful. As well as @Deflection (he's not paying me to say this) and @Scemer. As for what I find interesting, I dunno. Maybe it's just the notes and the random waves of craziness that can start just because someone said "Hi". And the events as well.
Deflection: Thats great! I didn't pay you to say that fr- well, I agree with what you find interesting about clubs. Since we focus mainly on Clubs here, what are your favorite clubs and why?
Author: Well, there are only two active clubs that have the purpose of being for social that I'm currently in (not counting the one I own, Author's Flock), so I guess I'll say what I like about those! Chess.com vs. ChessKid is pretty active and has a lot of forum games. They've hosted 4 (soon to be 5) games of Hurt/Heal. They also have a bazillion VCs and dailies. The club is a fun place to chat (: Deflect To Victory is probably more active than CVC. They host lots of membership and club giveaways. It's just fun to chat in as well!
Deflection: Excellent choices! I approve. A general question, what are some of your hobbies?
Author: I like to read, write, watch Top Gun (dw that's not the only movie I watch), play Chaturaji, and I don't really want to say anything else for privacy reasons.
Deflection: Interesting hobbies you got there! Author, how long have you been in clubs? Since you've been here, what changes have you seen during your time here?
Author: I joined in September of 2023, and I joined my first club not long after that. I joined CVC sometime in 2023 and it's had a lot of changes to it's staff. At one point only Caleb was SA, there were periods with no admins, they've been through so many coordinators, and probably a lot more I haven't mentioned. If you're talking about just the site in general, I've also seen a lot of changes. The profile and settings UI have changed, I've seen clubs get ban attacked and rebuild (Paladins of Chess), some of my friends have left or gotten banned for reasons IDK why. They also changed the support system to some AI chatbot.
Deflection: Thats very meticulous. Thanks for explaining in detail! Do you hope to run a successful club in the future or are you content with your current club (Author's Flock) right now?
Author: I hope to successfully run Author's Flock. It's only got just over 50 members rn, and TBH I'd rather have the notes and forums be active than have a bazillion members in it.
Deflection: Thats nice. What's your experience with owning clubs and who has helped you along the way with your clubs?
Author: I've attempted to own multiple clubs in the past but they never really worked out. Maybe I got tired of them, maybe I got tired of trying to make them be active, maybe they just weren't the clubs for me own. As for who's helped me, I don't really know. I've definitely had admins in my clubs who helped and I might've picked up a few things from CVC and how it's run whether I know I picked them up or not.
Deflection: Would you like to shoutout any blogs/clubs/people and if so what/who are they?
Author: I would like to shoutout @TheVortexOfChess, @carlsen, @Deflection, @Scemer, @TerminalNZ, @Jehtt, @Penguincrosby, and the staff team of CVC for being good friends! I also shoutout @Jehtt's blog for giving me a laugh!
Deflection: Alright, good blog. Well, I think that's a wrap. How's your experience with this interview today? Want to say anything to the audience?
Author: It was good! I'm excited for the blog (: Remember to eat food, breathe, watch Top Gun, and that Deflection didn't pay me to say anything. Bye everyone!
Deflection: Lol! Pleasure having you here with us today. Remember to slay all day, in every way!! Stay tuned for future episodes! ❤
Well, that's it for today. Let me know what you think about this new series of mine in the comments section! (Too short frfr-) And if you want to be interviewed, ask in comments 
