Outside the School Street Elementary School on a Wednesday evening, it’s dark — it gets dark early in January — and huddling in one’s winter coat is an automatic reaction when walking down the sidewalk between the piles of snow.

But inside the bright, warm library, a group of eager students fought the winter weather and quickly spreading influenza to compete in their favorite game of wits: chess.

Each week, they take lessons from Bradford resident Dr. Robert Ferguson and other volunteers before competing, while the Bradford Businessmen’s Chess Tournament players compete in the cafeteria.

Earlier that day, at noon, the Bradford Bridge Club held its weekly competition at the Bradford Area Public Library.

Bridge, known to be a particularly complex card game, brings people from all over the region to Bradford, even in the winter. For these players, learning the game has been rewarding, offering a joy that inspires them to keep making the trip.

The players of both bridge and chess know the joy of focusing on a problem and figuring it out. Both games are hailed for their cognitive benefits.

The Bradford Bridge Club, a member of the American Contract Bridge League (ACBL), meets at noon every Wednesday at the Bradford Area Public Library.

“Bridge is a great game,” said member C.B. Goodrich, who travels from Roulette to play in Bradford. “It’s really good for your mind,” he said, noting the positive effect it has for people concerned about Alzheimer’s disease or dementia.

Bridge club member Maxine Davis agrees.

“Games, especially bridge, are very good for mental acuity and keeping the brain working well into older age,” she said.

Davis referred to an article that appear in March 2015 in AARP magazine, which states that “Bridge’s intricacies make it particularly appealing for those who want to sharpen acuity with mental gymnastics.” It referred to multiple studies that indicated the cognitive and social benefits of the complex card game can delay the start of cognitive decline.

Davis described the type of bridge played in Bradford.

“We play duplicate bridge, which is pre-dealt hands that pass around through all the tables of people who play alternate tables,” she said. “The boards alternate tables, so everyone plays the same hands.”

Scoring, Davis said, is based on which partnership does the best.

“We typically play 27 or 28 hands in an afternoon.”

In a time when people are constantly connected to the world through various mobile devices, the bridge game offers players a respite from whatever takes their attention from the here and now. Their focus is on the game and their fellow players.

In fact, participants are “requested to turn off their phone as soon as the game starts,” said Davis.

She noted those same devices can connect people to ACBL-sanctioned games through the Bridge Base Online website, where players can sharpen their skills between live bridge games.

The bridge group has been meeting longer than any of the current members can remember.

Nancy Gleason, who is one of the members who has been with the club the longest, has come a long way as a player since she started in the 1970s.

“When I started, nobody wanted to play with me because I was a newcomer,” Gleason said. Determined, Gleason did not let aggressive players discourage her when she started.

“I thought, they’re not going to scare me away.”

She is now a ruby life master — perhaps the only one in Bradford — who hopes to someday get enough points to become a gold life master.

Gleason is happy to have newcomers stop in to learn more about the group.

“Stop at noon, sit and watch to see what we’re doing,” she invited. “If you start playing bridge, you’re hooked.”

Some players have a bit of a trek to attend the games in Bradford.

Carol McKee, who comes from Salamanca, N.Y., said her partner travels from Warren. Others travel from as far as Randolph, N.Y., and Jamestown, N.Y., to compete.

Bradford is also known for its chess playing.

Ferguson explained, “Bradford is famous for the landmark chess studies done here, and there is not a week goes by that folks from around the world still contact me with questions about my research or how to conduct theirs.”

Research conducted by Ferguson in Bradford Area School District in the late 1970s to the early 1980s indicated that chess increases critical and creative thinking.

He noted, “I spent more than seven years studying the education benefits of chess for kids, and I assisted in the first meta-analysis of chess studies.”

Ferguson has brought that knowledge to his chess classes.

“Just as an example of our kids’ talent; last school year, I ran a tournament at the Olean High School,” he said. “All of the other schools brought high school players. Our elementary kids won the top eight places!”

Ferguson talked about his background in sharing his love of the game.

“Starting in the 1960s, I started a number of chess clubs for both scholastic players and adults,” he said. “When I moved to Bradford in 1978, there was already an adult club meeting at the YMCA, but there was no organized club for kids. I started the scholastic program in the fall of 1978 as a part of the gifted program.”

The scholastic program started meeting at Bradford Area High School, then began traveling to other schools in Pennsylvania and New York to compete against other chess players. Excited about the success of the high school players, Ferguson began including some elementary children.

“Unfortunately (or fortunately), even our elementary students usually crushed their opponents, and the other high school students found it distasteful to lose to elementary children — some as young as second grade,” he said. “After a few years, the traveling chess league was dismantled.”

Ferguson works with several volunteers in the community, as well as partnering businesses, to make the current chess group successful.

“The idea for the Bradford Businessmen’s Chess League was the brainstorm of Ron Buchheit, one of the club’s long-term coaches,” said Ferguson. “The area businesses have been extremely supportive.”

He said the league used to be “almost entirely scholastic players,” but it has since merged with a local adult league.

Other volunteers coaches are Larry Causer, who has volunteered for years, and Mike Jones, a Bradford chess student and expert. Tamara Ferguson and Greg Henry occasionally volunteer as coaches, too.

Ferguson agreed that the competition months — November through February — were chosen largely to give participants something to do during the cold winter months.

“We tried to allow time for the kids to finish midget league football, and we stopped before the spring soccer program,” said Ferguson. “Today, there are a lot more activities vying for the kids’ attention, so our attendance has decreased. At one time, we had over 100 students participating in the scholastic program, but this year we only have 47 players.”

Registration for the annual chess league competition is held each fall. People can learn more about the league by contacting Ferguson at dr_ferguson@hotmail.com.

The bridge club is always open to new membership, according to Davis.

For people who are new to the game, Davis will be holding classes this spring, probably sometime in late March to early April. The time and date will be announced at a later date.

“It’s not a game they can learn quickly,” said Davis. “It takes some instruction.” The best way to learn, she said, is to “just play, play, play.”

While people are welcome to stop by the library on Wednesdays, Davis invited people to contact the club beforehand, as member Trudy Gulnac helps to match interested new players with a partner.

Anyone interested in joining the bridge game can leave a message at the library at 362-6527. Anyone interested in signing up for the spring class can reach Davis at 778-5207.