Chess in Austin, TX
January 17, 2011 2:24 AM Subscribe
Where in Austin, TX do people hang out and PLAY CHESS?
In Wash.,D.C. there is a place called DuPont Circle (a park with a fountain) where there are 9 or more concrete chess tables. If it's not a miserable day, there are many, many people playing chess. It is a great chess scene.
Is there any place like that in Austin like that, indoor or outdoor?
Where and when in Austin do chess people congregate reliably?
In Wash.,D.C. there is a place called DuPont Circle (a park with a fountain) where there are 9 or more concrete chess tables. If it's not a miserable day, there are many, many people playing chess. It is a great chess scene.
Is there any place like that in Austin like that, indoor or outdoor?
Where and when in Austin do chess people congregate reliably?
Great Hall Games. They're a long established store with a massive array of games from traditional ones like chess to imports like mahjong and go to German board games. Chess nights are on Wednesdays. I've never been but go nights and the weekend boardgames have pretty good turnouts. The owners are wonderful people. Drop by, say hi and start playing!
They used to be in Dobie Mall so it could be the tournament mentioned by Metasyntactic was in their food court near the store. No idea whether if people still meet there.
posted by vilandra at 8:08 AM on January 17, 2011
They used to be in Dobie Mall so it could be the tournament mentioned by Metasyntactic was in their food court near the store. No idea whether if people still meet there.
posted by vilandra at 8:08 AM on January 17, 2011
ask the folks at Epoch coffee shop, maybe. People play chess there. It's probably not as reliable a venue as you're looking for, but they may have some leads.
posted by aka burlap at 8:22 AM on January 17, 2011
posted by aka burlap at 8:22 AM on January 17, 2011
Uhh...my house. Me and four of my friends play chess at the least once a week, often more. There are occasional satellite players that show up sometimes as well.
It's always awesome to play with new people. If I had to guess, based solely on some familiarity with internet ratings (not tournament ratings), we fluctuate widlly (read: drunkely) between 1000-1500. But we can give a fight to anyone. We are sort of a misfit chess club. We take the games seriously, but the in between is not serious. Cocksure chess where winning is a big deal makes us feel uncomfortable. If I want to play in a tournament, I will play in a tournament. If it's for fun, it's going to be fun or else I'm getting pissed.
We drink, we smoke, we smoke, we hang out, enjoy conversation and chess and talkin about chess. We play long form chess, speed chess anywhere from 15-5 or whatever, we play bughouse a lot, and sometimes even Double Chess, which I invented. Double-size board, double amount of pieces. Still working out starting positions.
Anyway. If you reply here, or send me a pm or whatever. If you're not into imbibing I, at least, would be down for playing some games in a more sober setting if your preference dictates. I just like to play. I don't know how good I am, but I work at it every day.
Anyone else reading this who is in Austin and plays chess, come on down. More the merrier. New Austin chess club, hell.
(No one will read this, huh.)
posted by TheRedArmy at 10:43 AM on January 18, 2011
It's always awesome to play with new people. If I had to guess, based solely on some familiarity with internet ratings (not tournament ratings), we fluctuate widlly (read: drunkely) between 1000-1500. But we can give a fight to anyone. We are sort of a misfit chess club. We take the games seriously, but the in between is not serious. Cocksure chess where winning is a big deal makes us feel uncomfortable. If I want to play in a tournament, I will play in a tournament. If it's for fun, it's going to be fun or else I'm getting pissed.
We drink, we smoke, we smoke, we hang out, enjoy conversation and chess and talkin about chess. We play long form chess, speed chess anywhere from 15-5 or whatever, we play bughouse a lot, and sometimes even Double Chess, which I invented. Double-size board, double amount of pieces. Still working out starting positions.
Anyway. If you reply here, or send me a pm or whatever. If you're not into imbibing I, at least, would be down for playing some games in a more sober setting if your preference dictates. I just like to play. I don't know how good I am, but I work at it every day.
Anyone else reading this who is in Austin and plays chess, come on down. More the merrier. New Austin chess club, hell.
(No one will read this, huh.)
posted by TheRedArmy at 10:43 AM on January 18, 2011
A couple of other resources for woodpushing around Austin:
http://www.austinchessclub.com/
- good place to get humbled unless you are a pretty good player. I haven't been there for quite a while but it's something
http://www.meetup.com/AustinMusicSquare/
-I've been meaning to go to one of these meetups. It's in south Austin and seems quite a bit more casual than Austin Chess Club
Also, if the Dobie tournaments are still running, it was always a good place to network and find other players and spots for games in the past.
Last time I checked Epoch, it seemed that Wednesdays and Sundays were the best nights for chess.
Plus there's TheRedArmy's house. ;)
posted by screamingnotlaughing at 12:28 AM on February 5, 2011
http://www.austinchessclub.com/
- good place to get humbled unless you are a pretty good player. I haven't been there for quite a while but it's something
http://www.meetup.com/AustinMusicSquare/
-I've been meaning to go to one of these meetups. It's in south Austin and seems quite a bit more casual than Austin Chess Club
Also, if the Dobie tournaments are still running, it was always a good place to network and find other players and spots for games in the past.
Last time I checked Epoch, it seemed that Wednesdays and Sundays were the best nights for chess.
Plus there's TheRedArmy's house. ;)
posted by screamingnotlaughing at 12:28 AM on February 5, 2011
This thread is closed to new comments.
Check your mail - I've sent you contact info for somebody who is active in the austin chess scene, and who might know where the current hangouts are.
posted by Metasyntactic at 4:08 AM on January 17, 2011