The laughter and loud talking can be heard down the hall upstairs at the Millburn Public Library. At times there's even cheering.

The children inside the small room are playing games, but it may be a surprise what game has brought such enthusiasm. It's the weekly chess class sponsored by the Friends of the Millburn Library.

Each Saturday afternoon, children ages 4 through 16 gather in the small meeting room at the library to play chess. In addition to the classes, the friends also sponsor two chess tournaments per year.

There's only one weekend classes are not held in order to accomodate for those who want to compete in the U.S. Amateur Team Tournament. Seventeen Millburn-Short Hills children and 16 adults will head to the Hilton Hotel in Parsippany for the annual competition this weekend.

Michael Wojcio, who teaches the class with Scott Massey, said chess can help children develop a number of skills including coordination and vocabulary.

"It depends how serious they are about it," he said of how much chess can help a child.

But what is gone from chess, he said, is a stigma that it's uncool or "for nerds."

"It brings socialization," he said of the game. "I have more friendships through chess than anything else."

One of Millburn's U.S. Amateur Team Tournament teams won last year in their category and two of its members—Andy Chen, 8, and Shivani Shanmugadas, 10—will compete again this weekend.

Shanmugadas, while concentrating on a game, said she finds the game fun and it has helped her make friends. The friends are part of why she comes back each week, she said.

Her mother signed her up for a chess class when she was in kindergarten, she said, and she was an instant fan.

In addiiton to playing every week at the chess class, she said, she plays 30 minutes per day.

Shanmugadas' younger sister, Sindu, 8, also attends the weekly chess classes and plays with the advanced students. The younger Shanmugadas said, though, she has never beaten her older sister except the one time she let her.

Steven Cohen, 13, said he love math and that's what lead to his love for chess. His love for horses also helped because of the knight piece, he said.

"It's fun and good for the brain," he said. "I've made a lot of friends here. We like to laugh together."