urbanSTL

Maryland Medical Group sells building to Sinquefield



s unknown whether the building would be used to expand Sinquefield’s Chess Club and Scholastic Center of Saint Louis, which is located across the street at 4657 Maryland Ave. Sinquefield founded the nonprofit Chess Club in July 2008 and has since grown its membership to more than 500.



The success of the startup helped create a major coup in championship chess — the center was tapped to host the 2010 U.S. Chess Championship, to be held April 23 to May 6. The club also hosted the 2009 championship and is slated to host the 2009 U.S. Women’s Championship in October.



Some speculation on the building’s use has centered on a possible home for Sinquefield’s library of the chess legend Bobby Fischer, who died in 2008.



The library includes Fisher’s notebooks he used to prepare for the 1972 World Championship match with Boris Spassky. Sinquefield and his wife Jeanne paid $61,000 this summer to acquire the library.





http://stlouis.bizjournals.com/stlouis/ ... tory8.html

Based on the sign in the window of the old pharmacy on Maryland, they're aiming for a Fall 2011 opening date for the Chess Hall of Fame/Museum/whatever it is they're doing there.

Anyone have more info on what we can expect?

Personally, I think that each and every Chess Club should be specially taxed to the tune of $42 million to provide income to the city in which each resides.

World Chess Hall of Fame to have it's grand opening tomorrow: link

Why are Muslims forbidden to play chess?
http://thewalrus.ca/chess-v-allah/

Good question. I'm still trying to understand why men and women don't compete as equals in chess.

framer wrote:Good question. I'm still trying to understand why men and women don't compete as equals in chess.

Oh that's because women have smaller brains.

I really miss Lesters

Maybe it's the bishops. Couldn't they just replace the names of bishops, knights, kings, queents, etc. with other terms? Or change the rules slighly for asymmetric warfare with a few gray pieces.

St. Louis is once again home to the World's Largest Chess Piece. Some jerks in Belgium stole our title in 2014, but King Rex commissioned a bigger one to regain the title. I think we can all sleep a little easier now.

http://www.stltoday.com/news/local/chec ... 4b677.html

In the spirit of St. Louis being the "Chess Capital of the World" I've always thought it would be a really cool city project to place giant statues of chess pieces in significant locations around town. Like the birthday cakes but permanent. If utilized correctly it could become a really cool placemaking tool.

^That's actually not a bad idea.

^Just make sure it's a solid position or someone well checkmate us forthwith.

I'd been thinking on the idea of the Rex Tower in the shape of a king. Just in case someone builds a bigger piece.

GoHarvOrGoHome wrote: ↑

Apr 14, 2018

In the spirit of St. Louis being the "Chess Capital of the World" I've always thought it would be a really cool city project to place giant statues of chess pieces in significant locations around town. Like the birthday cakes but permanent. If utilized correctly it could become a really cool placemaking tool.

I'd rather have chess boards or even the jumbo chess sets, maybe personalized for each neighborhood. Would have to implement some sort of safety device though, make sure the pieces aren't stolen.

I would really like St. Louis to just embrace chess culture in general. It would give a great and classy identity to the region.

Chess tables in some of our underutilized parks and plazas would bring sustained activity. I would start with one of those Gateway Mall parks around the war memorial. Currently the parks are really only used by homeless folks, but the tables would give them something to do. Another great place for some permanent tables would be the fountain plaza at the intersection of Pershing and Clara.

Example:


I would also like to see small businesses embrace chess culture. I know Oberweis has a lot of tables that I ALWAYS would play in my youth whenever we got ice cream. Coffee shops, ice cream parlors, and bars would all benefit from some chess tables. I have a vision of walking down Euclid on a pleasant weekend afternoon, going past people playing chess in the outdoor seating in front of cafes and pubs while sipping espresso or craft beer.

stlhistory wrote: ↑

Apr 15, 2018

^If the pieces are really big and made of concrete, nobody is stealing them. I'm thinking a 30-foot-tall concrete bishop in the middle of an intersection. Forget about Slay Balls and Schoemehl Pots, let's get Rex Pieces as the new traffic calming devices.

I was thinking actual playable pieces, or at least tables like GoHarv posted. Something like this:



Could be customized by neighborhood/theme.

Don't forget about the Chess Pocket Park in Old North! I actually see it get used about half the time I'm up there. Although usually someone brings their own vinyl chessboard.

Does anyone know what happened to the old chess piece? Hopefully it wasn't scrapped, would be nice to see it somewhere else in the city. Maybe Old North??

aprice wrote: ↑

Apr 19, 2018

Don't forget about the Chess Pocket Park in Old North! I actually see it get used about half the time I'm up there. Although usually someone brings their own vinyl chessboard.

The Old North St. Louis/St. Louis Place Chess Club does tournaments on Saturday mornings there and classes on Wednesday evenings. When the weather isn't great they meet inside at Old North Provisions (2720 N 14th). They're open to anyone from anywhere. People of ages from 3 on up play regularly. The tables get good use other times if the weather is nice.

ummm is it just me or are "closing" and "moving" two different things? 

Yeah, the title of this thread is a bit dramatic.