by Charles L. Reynolds

One of the oldest and most prestigious chess clubs in America may be new to Davis Square, but already it’s reaching out to Somerville residents.

“There’s a much greater chance that people will see the sign out in the window and come in,” explained Boylston Chess Club (BCC) president Paul M. MacIntyre. “We do much better here than we did in the YWCA, where we were happy for many years.”

When YWCA on Clarendon Street remodeled recently, the club scrambled to find new digs, and almost wound up in Dedham. This disaster was averted when two special members intervened.

Larry Christiansen’s wife, Natasha, is a very important force in the club, and was integral in keeping the club in greater Boston, said MacIntyre. Christiansen is BCC’s third-highest rated player and a three-time United States Champion. His wife also has a very high rating.

“It was difficult to find another spot,” said MacIntyre, a chess master and the recent first prize winner of the 2004 New York State Open. “But we’re very happy we landed in Somerville. It was a perfect fit.”

What makes Davis Square so attractive to the BCC, located at 240 Elm St., MacIntyre said, is its sense of community and distinct character. “We’re a community-based club that wants everyone to get along and be happy and play chess,” he said. “We’re just trying to do more community outreach.”

Perhaps its most generous gesture to the city is the club’s chess-in-schools program, developed in part by Shelby Lyman, nephew of Harry Lyman, the club’s longstanding benefactor who passed away in 1999. With the younger Lyman’s help, the BCC has been able to send qualified teachers to local schools on a regular basis to conduct after-school chess programs, at no cost to the schools. In the past, the club has sent instructors to schools in Roxbury and Swampscott, and loaned equipment to the Williams School in Charlestown.

“But the one we’re doing right now is right here in Somerville, over at the JFK Middle School up by Porter Square,” said MacIntyre. At JFK Middle School, mothers had spoken together and all their kids wanted to play, MacIntyre said, but they didn’t have a teacher.

The programs seem to be popular—and working. “Kids who gravitate to chess can’t take their eyes off it and get sucked right in, and that’s where they really can apply themselves to it. As they concentrate at it and they learn how to study, they learn how to interact. It’s a polite game. It’s a game where you have to sit still, be quiet,” he said. “It’s a game where you learn that thinking can pay off.”

But chess also involves competition, something else that attracts youngsters. “One of the most important things that chess shares with sports is that it builds character,” MacIntyre explained. “And how do you build character? You learn to deal with losing. Chess offers that, as do all the other sports. It’s not about getting really good at it and becoming a pro and making money. It’s about learning to play together, to win and lose together. We rise above the losing and we don’t gloat when we win. It’s playing the game that counts.”

Because of the success of the chess-in-schools program, MacIntyre said the BCC is on the lookout for more schools where the club can start similar programs, in Somerville especially.

The club is also interested in offering advanced lessons. “Other chess clubs, after- school activities that are already set up—we want to walk into those and provide a higher level of teaching, free-of-charge,” he said.

Another very important way the BCC involves itself in young players’ lives, he said, is through scholastic tournaments. “Every month we have scholastic events which are very popular with the kids.” They are divided into different age groups and skill levels, he said.

“And the parents can come. Davis Square, Somerville, is a wonderful place for the parents to bop out to some really nice restaurants or have a look around some curious shops. Parking is available on those Sundays when we have those events. There’s plenty of on-street parking.” MacIntyre suggests that interested out-of-towners seeking directions should visit the club’s Web site at http://world.std.com/~boylston.

BCC’s Web site bursts with information, pictures, links, a biography of benefactor Harry Lyman and even a program that animates members’ games.

Both the club’s Web site and the Davis Square location are new by the BCC’s standards, which span 85 years. The club was established in 1919, MacIntyre said, and was in Chinatown at the Young Men’s Christian Union, almost at the corner of Tremont and Bolyston streets

“With that building, they had chess going on there for many years before 1919. They just called it ‘The Little Room at the Top of the Stairs,’ and in that little room at the top of the stairs, one of the greatest players in the history of American chess got his start,” MacIntyre said.

That chess great, MacIntrye said, was a Somerville native who worked at Filene’s department store named Harry Nelson Pillsbury.

“He was proficient at many games: checkers and cards. But he really made his big splash on the chess scene in 1895 when he went over to Hastings, England, and played in a tournament with all the greatest players of the world there, and he came in first. So that was a big feather in Boston’s cap.”

MacIntyre said the BCC ranks high with other clubs around the country. “We’re not as well-endowed as some of the organizations. San Francisco’s got a very well-endowed organization that has its own place in a building that seems to be on a firm financial footing.

“But we have a longer history,” he said. “And we have a great spirit that keeps us alive. At the current time we don’t have a sponsor, but our membership keeps us going, and the tournaments that we run keep us going. So that says a lot. We really have more of a populist club. And, as I said, we were the birth place—although we weren’t fully established yet—of Harry Nelson Pillsbury.”

MacIntyre said people come from Maine, Vermont and New Hampshire for the numerous events at the club.
“If you look at all the events-run tournaments in Massachusetts, we probably run close to half of them in the whole state. Most people, if they get one together every month, they’re really lucky. We’re running three a week,” he said.

Those three events are the Monday night long-time control tournaments, the Tuesday night blitz tournament, and the Thursday night Swiss.

Blitz is a variation of chess where each side has five minutes for the entire game, MacIntyre said. “You have to be ready for some really rough-and-tumble chess action there. Illegal moves lose right away. So leave your king in check for a move, and you’re gone. And even if you have a huge advantage, if you’ve wasted your time, then you’re going to lose on the clock. It’s a bit more down and dirty. It’s a different skill set, definitely.”

Swiss tournaments begin the first Thursday of each month, with registration starting at 6:30 P.M., and take place over four weeks.

In addition to the weeknight tournaments, the club often hosts weekend events, with longer, two-day events at a rate of about four hours a game, MacIntyre said. “We play four games. And we have many one-day events where we play about two hours a game, or a little bit less or a little bit more.”

Another popular event is what is known as the Members’ Hours, even though it’s open to the general public. “Our Tuesday and Thursday Members’ Hours program—it’s kind of deceptively named because it’s actually more of an open house—from two to six in the afternoon has been attracting people who are not members, but interested in the club,” MacIntyre said. “Some will become members, some will just enjoy the facilities that the club offers on those afternoons.”

Despite the crazy schedule, MacIntyre seems enthused about his job as president of the BCC. Membership is on the rise, the club is applying for a 501-C3 tax status so it can become a charitable foundation, and a high school senior from Roxbury recently completed a month long independent study there, MacIntyre said.

“I think chess is growing. Chess is being more appreciated for what it is, which is a great game that can teach us a lot about truth and justice.” But, he said, “Being a modern person, I’m leery of definitions.”
Yet, if MacIntyre and the BCC are quite sure of anything, it’s the new facility.

“We love Davis. We love the location. It’s really central. It’s great for the suburbs out west, and it’s great for Boston itself and the north. We have a little trouble with the south getting up, but I think they’ll manage.”
(The Boylston Street Chess Club is located at 240 Elm St., Suite B9 in Davis Square. For more information call 617-629-3933 or visit http://world.std.com/~boylston.)