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| Alexei Gulyayev |
| Meet new mates: chess | Chess is more than just a game in Russia. If you want to buy a chess set here, a good place to look is a sporting goods shop. Schools around the city educate future champions. But where to go if you just want to find a few opponents?
Below are some of your choices, where the players tend to be enthusiastic and friendly. They’ll be happy to see a new face, and welcome foreigners.
Be warned, however, these games are not for beginners, or “chainiki” in Russian chess slang. Some of the city’s best players attend and many have ELOs above 2,000. (An ELO is a chess rating. If you just know how to move the pieces you’re probably about 500. The chess club members in secondary school might have been about 1,500. A Grand Master usually has a rating above 2,500.)
If you’re unsure whether you’ve got what it takes, feel free to stop in and check out the action before you play, to get a sense of the level. It’s amazing just to watch.
The Mikhail Botvinnik Central Chess Club
At this club, named after the first Soviet world chess champion, Moscow’s best players compete in large, beautiful rooms. There are hardwood floors, high ceilings and big windows. The pastel-colored walls are framed by a white relief of cherubim. Each room has about 12 tables and three boards a table. There are tournaments every Sunday. Registration is at 11am and the eight-round tournaments start at noon. The entrance fee is 50, 100, or 200 rubles depending on what prize you’re shooting for. You can win up to 3,000 rubles. The tournaments follow the Swiss System, which, in short, means you are paired with fellow winners or losers as you win or lose. It’s not a knockout system. Each player is given 15 minutes.
Oktyabrsky Chess Club
With 26 boards in a basement, the space is a little cramped here, but comfortable once you get seated. Tournaments, also in the Swiss system, are held Wednesday and Thursday evenings at 7pm, and on Saturdays and Sundays at 1pm. Registration begins an hour before the games. This is another place with high-caliber players. If it’s your first time out, it would be best for you to go on a Sunday when players with an ELO of more than 2,200 aren’t allowed to compete. It’s 75 rubles to play, or 150 rubles if you want to play for prizes. There are 11 rounds, but these games are really quick. Each player gets just five minutes per game, except on Wednesdays when it’s 10 minutes per player.
Chess Club in Bauman Park
This club is in a simple building, but games are played outside when weather permits. To find the club, enter the park from Staraya Basmannaya Ulitsa, go straight ahead for about 100 meters, and you will find the club on your right. Tournaments are held on Wednesdays, Thursdays and Fridays from 4pm to 8pm, and on weekends from 3pm to 7pm. On a normal summer’s day, you are likely to find 10 old men sitting around boards in the shade. There is no fee to play. These guys are strong players, but the atmosphere here is more relaxed than at the other clubs — it’s “coffee-house” style, like in New York’s Central Park. If you ask nicely, you might even get someone to play a slower game and teach you a little.
Chess Club in Bauman Park
Staraya Basmannaya Ul., Bauman Park (M. Krasniye Vorota / Baumanskaya)
Oktyabrsky Chess Club
35 Ul. Bolshaya Yakimanka (M. Oktyabrskaya)
238-8824,
The Mikhail Botvinnik Central Chess Club
14 Gogolevsky Bulvar (M. Kropotkinskaya)
291-8627/4429,
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