Thinking how to make an opponent uncomfortable

Chess enthusiasts gather for tournament in Scranton
BY BORYS KRAWCZENIUK (STAFF WRITER)
Published: September 20, 2010

In a ballroom lit by two glittering chandeliers, an occasional throat-clearing or cough, tap on a timer or scribbling of a move on a pad could be heard amid the dull hum of the hotel’s ventilation system.

Otherwise, it was quieter than a church, maybe quieter than a church mouse, even as kings and queens sent pawns and bishops and knights into battle.

This was the Church of Chess, a local tournament centered on the game that has been played for more than 500 years around the world.

The two-day revival meeting was organized by the Carbondale Area Chess Club at the Clarion Hotel on Meadow Avenue in Scranton.

As eyes concentrated on multiple two-colored, 64-square boards covered with armies of black and white, chins rested on hands woven together. Fingers adjusted eyeglasses or brushed noses. Occasionally, a player frowned with worry or guile, or solemnly lifted his piece to knock away an opponent’s.

“You can hear a pin drop when everybody’s thinking,” said Bernie Sporko of Carbondale, the 48-year-old leader. The machinist at General Dynamics started the club about four years ago, hoping to popularize a game that once commanded the nation’s attention.

Thinking how to make an opponent uncomfortable.

That was something the late world chess champion Bobby Fischer said of the game, according to Karl Dehmelt, 53, a software manager from Durham Twp. in upper Bucks County. Mr. Dehmelt is rated a master player, and considered the finest at this tournament.

“Fischer said it best,” Mr. Dehmelt said as he stopped to chat between moves. “He said he liked to see his opponents squirm.”

“Don’t we all?” a player walking by interrupted.

“All chess players like to see that, and sometimes you end up being the one who’s squirming,” Mr. Dehmelt said. “I played the 10-year-old yesterday, and I have to say I was completely intimidated. I mean, he’s up to here on me,” he said, leveling his hand at his chest. “You can have kids play adults, and the adults are afraid of the kids. Seriously, what other games do you find that?”

The 10-year-old would be Alex Crump of New York City, who played here Saturday only and is seen as one of the country’s top up-and-coming players.

Here is the full article.