Chess weekends for pleasure

It’s a well-established ritual to spend ANZAC Day in Melbourne for the traditional grudge match between the Essendon and Collingwood football clubs.

But this year I’m heading to Melbourne for a slightly lesser known tradition: the Melbourne Chess Club ANZAC Day Weekender.

Chess organisers love a long weekend. It allows them to adopt longer time controls for a less rigorous playing schedule, which in turn occasionally means the games can count for FIDE (the world chess federation) ratings.

It also, theoretically, should allow chess players travelling from far and wide to combine the tournament with a holiday – although given the usually remote (or, in the case of Parramatta, plainly unappealing) venue, this rarely materialises.

However, this weekend’s tournament ticks all the right boxes. Three days in the newly renovated MCC in Melbourne’s Fitzroy, a stone’s throw from indie Brunswick Street and trendy Lygon Street, and a short tram ride into the heart of the city. Restaurants, cafes, bars, street markets and parks surround the venue, which itself has a genial, rustic feel (and importantly, as opposed to three years ago, no longer smells of cat urine).

Moreover, the club itself is always littered with coffee-house blitz players who are always up for a quick game, and the lounge area usually has the footy on for players to wander out and watch in between moves. The only thing missing from this chess enthusiasts’ utopia is a licensed bar on the premises, but the plethora of funky outlets in the near vicinity amply compensate for this liquid omission.

If you’re in Melbourne this ANZAC weekend, come down and check it out: 66 Leicester St, Fitzroy. Dave’s tips for things to do in the chic surroundings of Brunswick St (because I’m soo cool) include:

• The ironically named Bimbo’s for cheap pizza and beer, and music you’re guaranteed not to have heard before;
• The Black Cat Bar/Café for coffee in ‘the soul of Brunswick St’, complete with a nursery-like surrounding (used to be a favourite of The Cat Empire);
• The Night Cat on Johnston St for funky dancing and late-night salsa;
• Dangerfield’s for alternative clothing guaranteed to make Canberra public servants blush; and
• Polyester Books for underground literature – “the world’s freakiest bookstore”, as they maintain. If the clothes cause Governmental blushing, the books will probably trigger some sort of anaphylactic shock.

Or just come along for a look-sy at some traditional club chess by some of Australia’s most notable chess personalities, including: the reigning World Under-12 champion, Bobby Cheng; the charmingly enigmatic, pseudo-Australian life-coach, Erik Teichmann; and yours truly. Hey, at least the footy will be showing in the lounge.