Sharpen your end game at North Olmsted’s House of Chess
By Charles Cassady
Insights
Published Jan. 9, 2008

The death of controversial chess legend Bobby Fischer has brought back a lot of memories for aficionados of  “the game of kings,” as chess is known. During the 1970s, Fischer’s faceoffs against the Soviet chess champion Boris Spasky were like a nonviolent sideshow to the Cold War, and followed as avidly by millions as the Super Bowl. Many took up the game thanks to the publicity.

Whence will come the next generation of chess champions? An unusual chess club in an unexpected location may have an idea. You can go Searching For Bobby Fischer - or just an opponent of your own for the night - at the House of Chess, ensconced in Westfield Great Northern Mall.

The House of Chess opened in August 2005 - in the storefront of a former Foot Locker. Now moved to slightly cozier, “clubbier” confines in the mall, closer to the J.C. Penney, near Victoria’s Secret and across from a Starbucks coffee kiosk, the place gets some double-takes from mall-strollers used to seeing the same store names over and over again.

“It’s almost comical…All the time I’m here people walk along and say ‘Oh, House of Chess, House of Chess,’” said manager Larry Rust. “Sometimes they come in and look around because it’s a bit unusual.”

Unusual and unique. This is an open daily chess store, teaching/tournament space, study area and chess club, located in suburbia amidst the fast-food shacks and department stores. It’s the only House of Chess going, said Rust, who helped start the business in association with Alex Shabalov of Pittsburgh. A Pittsburgh House of Chess is a back-burner project for the duo.

While many private chess societies meet cloistered behind oaken doors and in after-school activities clubs, the House of Chess remains mall-visible and open to visitors seven days a week, during regular mall hours, Monday through Saturday from 10 a.m. to 9 p.m. and Sunday from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. “We’re basically a window into what the chess world is,” said Rust.

Though casual walk-ins are welcome, it is a club. “What we do is we start at $60 a year for individuals and $50 a year for kids and military,” said Rust. Higher VIP memberships also grant deep discounts and game-participation fees and complimentary lessons by  Shabalov.

In conversation you address him as ‘Grandmaster Shabalov,’ which is way cool when you think about it; not even LeBron James gets that. Shabalov, born in Latvia and taught the game by grandmasters in the former USSR, is one of the world’s top-ranked professional chess players. A U.S. chess champion in 1993, 2000, 2003 and 2007, Grandmaster Shabalov was most recently in Khanty-Mansiysk in Russia, taking part in a tournament under F.I.D.E., the international chess federation (www.fide.com).

“They had around 128 people playing,” said Rust.

Grandmaster Shabalov visits the House of Chess routinely between his far-flung matches, and tonight at 6:30 p.m., he will lecture about the game. Newcomers are welcome free of charge for the first few visits, said Rust.

Then you can consider membership, if you want to increase your chess moxie and read up on the Sicilian Opening or the Luzhin Defense via the library of chess videos, software and books. “We’ve got books on Bobby Fischer,” said Rust, “His victory in the 1972 match, which was the really legitimate one, and his later rematch in 1992 in the former Yugoslavia.”

While cities such as Reykjavik, Moscow, Istanbul and Dresden seem to possess a romantic chess-champion vibe, don’t count Cleveland as a minor pawn in the sport. Rust said that the Cleveland Public Library possesses a collection of chess literature under a bequest from lawyer John Griswold White, who died in 1928. The John G. White collection started at 12,000 volumes and continues to grow. “Their collection is so extensive,” said Rust. “Years ago I had the opportunity to search through it, and it was just huge. Shelves and shelves and shelves.”

Mark your calendars for an upcoming date at the House of Chess. On Feb. 24 there arefour-way round-robin chess tournaments, with $60 prizes to the winners. It’s open to non-members (for a $25 fee) as well as to members, with registration starting at 11 a.m. and the matches from noon to 2:30 p.m.

For more information about the House of Chess in North Olmsted, call (440) 979-1133 or go online to www.thehouseofchess.com.