Touch Move: Mortals Welcome

Its storefront home on North Ashland Avenue is small and nondescript, but from the moment it opened six months ago, the Touch Move Chess Center gave Chicago something it hadn’t had for a long time: a chess club that’s open more than one day a week.

Touch Move is the brainchild of International Master Angelo Young, and its mission, he says, is to “revitalize the chess club scene in Chicago through club tournaments, scholastic and adult training sessions, hosting small international chess tournaments . . . and providing a quality environment for chess socialization through friendly play.”

And he adds, “The Touch Move Chess Center cares about bringing chess to everyone and most importantly making chess fun!”

Almost immediately after it opened the center became a mecca for the top players in town. (A nice article in the Chicago News-Star certainly didn't hurt. Hat tip: Lamarr) A casual glance at recent crosstables reveals that habitues include masters Albert Chow and Aleksandar Stamnov and expert Isaac Braswell.

Sevan Muradian of the North American Chess Association—he’s Mr. FIDE in this neck of the woods—has made Touch Move the venue of choice for international tournaments of IMs, GMs, and those seeking to earn norms for those titles.

Fine for the masters, experts, and Class A players, you say, but what about us patzers?

As it turns out there’s a place at the table for us, too. The center is hosting a series of tournaments on Saturdays—June 2, 9, and 16—with a “U1400” section—for players whose chess rating is under 1400. Angelo is also interested in holding chess lectures if there’s enough interest, so if you are interested in lectures, please let him know.

For details on the upcoming tournaments go to the center’s Web site or the Illinois Chess Association calendar.

New York has the Marshall, San Francisco the Mechanics Institute, and Boston the Boylston Chess Club. Can the Touch Move Chess Center grow to take its place in this pantheon of great urban chess clubs? Here’s wishing it the best.

Looptopia!

Chess at Chicago’s all-night party

Some people, I'm sure you realize, think chess players are generally nuts. So what would they say about the folks who showed up at the Chicago Cultural Center in the middle of the night a week ago to push the pieces around while the rest of the world was asleep?

Well, for starters, let’s be honest: not everyone was at home in bed on the night of May 11-12. In fact, thousands roamed the streets of downtown Chicago that evening in search of fun, during Looptopia, “America’s first dusk-to-dawn cultural and artistic spectacle showcasing the vibrancy and excitement of Chicago’s historic Loop neighborhood through musical and theatrical performances . . .” etc., etc.

Isaac with his prize

I’ll spare you the rest of the ad copy so we can get to the point, which is that unbeknownst to many, chess was actually a big part of the highly publicized all-night soiree. Scores of chess players came through the Cultural Center over the course of the night, either to join the 2:00 AM blitz tournament or just play a friendly game.

“Everyone had a great time,” reports Sheila Heiser of Renaissance Knights, authors of the midnight madness. “We had 40 boards out and we were packed all night! When we had to pack up to go some players could have played on for many more hours.” Sheila’s group works frequently with the City to incorporate chess into special events and was tapped to organize play for Looptopia.

Thirty-one players took part in the five-round blitz tournament. The winner was Chicago chess veteran Isaac Braswell, who recently earned an Expert rating. The final standings:

Isaac Braswell 4.5
Mslalm Campbell 4.0
Claude Barnes 3.5
Gabriel Gaster 3.5
Ramon Jones 3.5

The first three winners won a Saitek computer and clock. The others got chess books, and a number of medals were awarded as well. The tournament was free to enter.

“The only entry fee was to set up the chess pieces when done playing,” said Sheila.

Of course, even that can be a challenge at four in the morning.

(More photos here.)

All photos courtesy of Renaissance Knights