Courtesy of The Chess Club and Scholastic Center of Saint Louis
Ever the die-hard sports city, St. Louis is gearing up to host a nationwide sporting event—and we’re not referring to the one at Busch Stadium this July. All-stars of a different stripe will travel from across the country to match wits at the CWE’s Chess Club and Scholastic Center of Saint Louis May 7 to 17.
The reason? The 2009 U.S. Chess Championship.
“This is the Super Bowl of chess,” explains Tony Rich, executive director of the state-of-the-art chess center.
Among the 24 elite players playing for the $35,000 prize: Hikaru Nakamura, a 21-year-old ranked No. 2 in the U.S. who’s nearly unmatched in “blitz chess”—games timed to last only a few minutes. Then there’s prodigy Ray Robson, a 14-year-old “who has catapulted himself into the uppermost level of chess,” says Rich. Finally, there’s St. Louis’ own Charles Lawton, a 56-year-old manufacturing engineer and the city’s top-rated player.
Lawton says that at this uppermost stratum of competition, “A typical game is just 30 to 35 moves, because at this level people realize when they’re going to lose well in advance, and resign.
“Bobby Fischer used to say he liked to play chess because he liked to see people’s egos crack,” adds Lawton. “If you look at the expression on the other guy’s face, you can see when he’s in trouble… And in this tournament, anybody can beat you—including a 14-year-old.”
[Sidebar]
A Knight Out
Didn’t make the cut for the U.S. Chess Championship? No worries. Outside of the Chess Club and Scholastic Center, online play and senior centers aren’t your only options for a game. Several local coffeehouses and bars—and even a dairy—keep boards you can use upon request.
Meshuggah Cafe
(6269 Delmar, 314-726-5662)
MoKaBe’s
(3606 Arsenal, 314-865-2009, mokabes.com)
Oberweis Dairy
(4590 Telegraph, 314-416-9600, oberweisdairy.com)
The Royale
(3132 S. Kingshighway, 314-772-3600, theroyale.com)
Soulard Coffee Garden
(910 Geyer, 314-241-1464, soulardcoffeegarden.blogspot.com)
Saint Louis Bread Co.
(6630 Delmar, 314-721-7995, panerabread.com)
[Sidebar]
Check It Out...
If you can see the humorous side of the übercompetitive world of chess (and we certainly hope you can), you’ll relish “Checkmates,” a mock trailer on YouTube starring St. Louis native Ellie Kemper as a prissy chess savant who falls for a renegade checkers player. The short plays on films like Save the Last Dance and Step Up, where opposites attract in overly dramatic scenarios—practically inviting parodies like this one. (Spoiler: The video ends in a showdown at the “National Chess Finals.”) Look for Kemper, a former Late Show With David Letterman intern, to appear on The Office this fall.
