20 MB - University of Toronto Magazine

New&NotableCheckmate!The Hart House Chess Club makes some strategic movesat the Pan American tournamentWalter Chan (left) andStuart Brammall in Hart HousePHOTOGRAPHY: NEIL PRIME COOTEHart House Reading Roomone blustery January afternoon,INtheStuart Brammall and WalterChan are making plans for war. The secretaryand treasurer, respectively, of theHart House Chess Club sit at a worncard table ordering their plastic troopsacross a dog-eared paper chessboard thatreads “Scarborough Chess Club 1960.”Chan moves his chess pieces with aflourish, slapping them on the boardwithout caring whether they’re centred;Brammall’s moves are slower and moredeliberate. “This is one of the oldestclubs at Uof T,” says Chan, who’s in hisfinal year of chemistry, “and it’s definitelythe highest profile chess club at aCanadian university.”It is also one of the most successful:one Hart House team (which includedChan) took the top international spot atthe Pan American Intercollegiate ChessTournament in Miami in December;the club’s second team (which includedBrammall) came in third.Meeting from 4 to 10 p.m. every16 UNIVERSITY OF TORONTO MAGAZINE / SPRING 2008Friday, the club attracts around 20 playersa week. But on tournament nights,like this one, more show up to competefor prizes and, more importantly, braggingrights. Though chess clubs have alongstanding reputation as being hometo the obnoxiously brainy, the sociallyawkward or the eerily silent (sometimesall three), only braininess is in evidencetoday. Players talk animatedly, distracteach other with trash talk (“chess playerslove trash-talking!” exclaims Chan) andcluster around other tables, watching.“It’s like mental war for a lot of people,”says Chan.“Yeah, it’s kind of good to get youraggression out,” says Brammall, who’s inhis second year of an English degree.“It’s war, but in a non-violent manner,”says Chan.“We’re all passive-aggressive, I guess,”says Brammall.The chess club’s golden age at U of Twas in the 1980s; since then some playershave drifted to the Internet, wherethey can play online against opponentsfrom around the world. And HartHouse is less able to vie internationallysince a few American universities startedoffering chess scholarships in the 1990s.“We can’t really compete with themanymore,” says Chan. “They’ll get randomgrandmasters from Poland orCosta Rica – just recruit them to playand compete for them.”Still, the club offers more than justthe opportunity to play once a week.For a $15 annual fee (available to Uof Tstudents and Hart House senior members,and one of the cheapest places toplay in Toronto), members can hear lecturesby returning alumni and get thechance to travel to tournaments. Butthe camaraderie is what keeps peoplecoming back. “You can’t really talkabout world-class players and competitionsand stuff like that anywhere else,”says Brammall. He laughs. “You’ll beostracized very quickly if you start talkingabout top-level chess – anywherebut the chess club.”– Graham F. Scott