I've always wondered how the Marshall Chess Club has managed to survive the real estate market in NYC. The last private, members-only club in New York, Marshall has its home at 23 W. 10th Street between 5th and 6th Ave. in the Village. This block is one of the nicest in the city; one survey rated it as the most romantic block in Manhattan. The club was incorporated by Frank Marshall in 1922 and has been headquartered at the current location since 1931. Marshall was born in New York in 1877 and was a Grand Master of the game. He held the title of US chess champion for nearly 30 years. The club has seen many great players, including legends like Bobby Fischer and is currently home for chess prodigy Hikaru Nakamura, the youngest American player to become a Grand Master. Some see him as Fischer's heir and our next hope for world champion. The club's secret? They own the building and offset costs with rental income from the apartments above. They occupy the first two floors - the photo is their rear garden...
Monday, November 20, 2006
Marshall Chess Club
I've always wondered how the Marshall Chess Club has managed to survive the real estate market in NYC. The last private, members-only club in New York, Marshall has its home at 23 W. 10th Street between 5th and 6th Ave. in the Village. This block is one of the nicest in the city; one survey rated it as the most romantic block in Manhattan. The club was incorporated by Frank Marshall in 1922 and has been headquartered at the current location since 1931. Marshall was born in New York in 1877 and was a Grand Master of the game. He held the title of US chess champion for nearly 30 years. The club has seen many great players, including legends like Bobby Fischer and is currently home for chess prodigy Hikaru Nakamura, the youngest American player to become a Grand Master. Some see him as Fischer's heir and our next hope for world champion. The club's secret? They own the building and offset costs with rental income from the apartments above. They occupy the first two floors - the photo is their rear garden...
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12 comments:
Lovely picture - I love that the chessboard is out there, whatever the weather, and whether or not anyone is wanting to play.
Jackie-
And what an amazing luxury to have a garden like that in Manhattan to play chess in.
Brian
A wonderful photo to depict fall!
Kate;
'Twas a perfect autumn scene, wasn't it?
Brian
Just the way a chess club should look.
Ruth-
It is the way a chess club should look. BTW, I forgot to mention my bias. I used to play chess quite a bit in High School and was on the chess team. However, we were not that good by today's standards. We had little sense of the outside chess world. Now, with media and internet access, a player can really measure oneself against others, play online etc.
Brian
What a wonderful wonderful shot, it is so spirited. Your comments give it additional depth, which is exactly what we want to get. I love the rainy pavement, the leaves glued everywhere, the idea that such a club survives in NYC, your personal memories attached to playing chess. Absolutely brilliant!
oooo...
so lovely photo!!
so lovely tables!!
so lovely leaves!!
great shot!!
luv it!
jing from shanghai
....thx for leaving comments for shanghai.
It didn't occur to me until re-looking at this photo how like chess pieces the tables and chairs are on the "board" of patio tiles. :)
Ruth;
One could certainly see it that way. There are a lot of grids in NYC.
Brian
Brian, yesterday I was reading Daniel Pinchbeck's new book (2012: The Return of Quetzalcoatl) and on p. 24 he writes:
"As some kind of internal reaction to this submersion in slickness, in the new and the now, I also became obsessed with chess and played in weekend tournaments at the Marshall Chess Club on Tenth Street, its paneled chambers smelling of stale pipe smoke and male sweat, draining my brain in losing contests with weird Russian adolescents, sporting taped-up glasses and misbuttoned plaid shirts, who melted down my defenses, drop by drop, over four or five hours. Life almost seemed a kind of chess problem . . ."
woww..amazing for chess player
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