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Ian MacLellan works in food service, but his real passion is chess. So when the Penny University Coffeehouse opened at 410A Old Santa Fe Trail, near his job at Rio Chama, he cozied up to owner Amarite Khalsa to arrange a chess tournament on Sunday, Oct. 3, that starts at 9 am and has a $20 entry fee. Khalsa says she hopes to open the new business to a latte art contest next.
What is it about chess and coffee that go together?
I think that, from my perspective at least, it's been something that's been going on for centuries in coffee houses. It has its roots in history. Chess is a very old game. It is associated with the Silk Road or the spice trade. It was brought from probably India sometime around 1,000 years back by the traders along the roads that lead from Asia to Indo-Europe and Africa. The Moors were the ones who probably brought it to Spain, and the Turks brought the coffee when they invaded Europe...so that is what got Europe galvanized, in a sense of having all these little coffee houses where you could go and discuss ideas, and there were obviously people looking for leisure activities, and one of those would have been games. Chess really had a special place among aristocracy and royalty. And I suppose, historically, many nations' fates were decided on a game of chess rather than a battle.
But the event that you're organizing is going to be lower-brow?
Depending on what the turnout is; the coffee house is asking the players to bring the chess timer and their boards. They have four tables they are dedicating to the event outside under the portal, and we expect great weather, and if we get eight players, we will have an event. I expect to see some serious-minded players that are looking to win. We are going to give 100 percent of the entry fee out in the form of prizes.
Is chess still gaining new fans?
I think what you are seeing in chess right now is it's mostly anonymously done on the Internet. That is really where the field of play kind of resides. Eventually the pendulum will swing back, and we will start to see a lot more public events where it is face-to-face. The only problem is that in large tournaments, there is now the unfortunate aspect of cheating. That's done on a smartphone or device that can access what's known as a chess engine, a simple device that shows…the very, very best moves. So in big tournaments where there is prize money, that is big, and that has hurt public chess, and the same can be said about online chess. It is really rampant with cheaters.
Santa Fe Reporter