As every year at this time I am sentenced to hard labor day time in South Central IL (not LA), I decided I would make a break for it this year and drive the hour to St. Louis and check out the chess club that has gotten so much pub. That and I really did not want to see one more meal that was fried, pork, or fried pork. So I drove down.
First, the neighborhood is exceptionally cool. Right off of the Wash U campus, the homes are beautiful and brick, there are tons of outdoor cafes, and stores, and coffee shops, not to mention a Vodka bar just around the corner for the Russian GMs that want to stop by.
You walk in, and it has the feel of a nice apartment building or downtown office as you come to the granite countered kiosk and are greeted. The floors are a dark hardwood, everything else is themed black and white. The place is immaculate, and they must have made the plasma TV salesman happy as there are like 15-20 of them in the place.
There are three levels to the club, the basement has a library full of chess books and magazines, as well as about 20 boards, all with chairs with the STLCC logo etched into the back of them. The main floor has about 8 boards, and is for informal play. There are also the plasma sets showing Diana Thater's video artwork. The upper level has about another 20 boards, and is the tournament hall.
Right now they have about 250 members, and are looking for a resident GM to give lessons as well as play and work there. Tournaments are weekly, and we will see both the US Championship and Women's championship there next year.
It really is too bad that we don't see more places like this in other cities. The one question I did not get answered is what will happen to the vibrant club at the St. Louis Bread Company? Will this new club kill it?
My next blog will likely be on Wednesday during the Chicago Blaze-San Francisco Mechanics USCL match. Tune in at 7:30 to watch.
Glenn
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Sounds like an awesome chess club! It seems like it rivals the Manhattan or Marshall chess clubs in NY. Are those two clubs still around? USCF or someone should do a story on the top 20 chess clubs in the nation. Then you can make a complex google map combining these with restaurants featured on Diners, Drive-Ins, and Dives. That would have the makings of a great culinary/chess road trip.
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