It’s that game that we’ve all played at least once.

Sometimes it’s over in a few simple moves and sometimes it lasts for hours. It’s a battle of intelligence and trying to be thinking ahead of your competitor.

It is the age old game of chess.

Those of us who don’t play chess much would consider it far from popular.

But a little research shows there are clubs all over Melbourne, from Box Hill to Frankston, offering daily games for a variety of skill levels.

The Melbourne Chess Club has been opening daily since 1866 and is the oldest continually operating chess club in the Southern Hemisphere.

Every day you’ll find members of the club playing both casual and competitive games at their clubhouse in Fitzroy, just off Brunswick St.

upstart’s Matthew Dixon spoke to the club’s Ben Frayle about the joy of chess.

[yframe url=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lQBoxZe0FbA&feature=player_embedded]

Matthew Dixon is a final-year Bachelor of Journalism student at La Trobe University and is part of upstart’s editorial team.  From next week, he’ll be working as a journalist for the Kalgoorlie Miner.  You can follow him on Twitter: @matthewdixon23