A flyover for a roof, Rs 10 to play: Inside Kolkata's 20-year-old chess club

A man sits with his hand clasped over his mouth, eyes fixed on a chessboard that has seen decades of moves. He is deep in thought, calculating not just his next move but every possible consequence that could follow. Just then, a chaiwala walks in and offers him a steaming cup of ‘lebu chaa’ (lemon tea).Wait. Before you scroll back to check if you’ve actually landed on a story about a chess club, don’t worry. You’re exactly where you’re supposed to be.At the Gariahat Chess Club in Kolkata, the game comes with a soundtrack of honking cars, rumbling buses and the constant rush of the crowd. There are no quiet, carpeted halls or clocks lined up neatly on polished tables. The roof here is a towering flyover, built in 2002. The walls, in a way, are the traffic itself. The Gariahat Chess Club is situated under a flyover along a four-point crossing. (Photo: Abhijit Saha) And yet, sit down on one of the concrete benches lined with cool black tiles, place a chessboard in front of you, and something curious happens. The chaos does not disappear, instead a peculiar pocket of stillness envelops you. The traffic becomes a distant hum, the harsh lights soften, and for a while, the 64 squares demand your complete attention. Here, a game of chess unfolds in the middle of a chaotic four-point crossing in the heart of South Kolkata, one move at a time.THE FIRST MOVEThe story of this unique club began in the mid-1980s when a few chess enthusiasts gathered at the Golpark market area to play the mind sport every evening. After the construction of the Gariahat flyover in the early 2000s, the small group decided to occupy a sliver of the divider and set up their chessboards to continue the club. As years passed, members started flocking to the spot to learn, observe and participate. And guess what? The motto of the club has always been to let people find some calm amid the chaos. The gatherings continued. More players joined. Slowly, almost without anyone deciding that this would become a proper club, the group grew. By 2006, the Gariahat Chess Club had taken shape as an organised space for chess lovers. A glimpse of the club in 2016 when railings were not put up along the club premises. (Photo: Gariahat Chess Club) One of the people who became closely associated with that journey was Gora Basu, who served as the club's president for years. Basu passed away last year. Since then, secretary Abhijit Saha has been at the helm, keeping the club’s boards busy and its calendar ticking.That means organising events and, increasingly, getting younger players through the door. The founders of Gariahat Chess Club, Gora Basu and Abhijit Saha. (Photo: Abhijit Saha) "We try to organise as many events around the year and encourage young talent, I have always told the parents that practising the game in person is much better than playing on the computer," Saha told India Today Digital in an exclusive chat. "International Arbitrator Debasish Basu has presided over multiple tournaments that took place in the premises of our unique chess club,” he proudly added. A tournament organised by the club under the flyover. (Photo: Gariahat Chess Club) A ROOF OF CONCRETELook up and there is a flyover.Look around and there are wide streets lined with makeshift stores, busy shoppers and a lot of haggling.The chessboards sit amidst it all on concrete benches. Buses rumble past, cars squeeze through the junction and pedestrians move around the players. The sound of traffic never really disappears.But, neither do the games.The club's unusual setting has become so familiar to its regulars that the flyover barely registers any more. What began as a place where a few people gathered to play has now acquired a physical identity of its own. Love chess? Walk in this club for free and play! (Photo: Abhijit Saha) In 2018, with the help of Kolkata Police, railings were installed around the sides of the club. The space got a facelift and became easier to recognise, but its essential character stayed intact.The boards remained under the flyover and so did the players.COME IN, TAKE A SEATYou can walk into the Gariahat Chess Club with a few rupees in your pocket and a basic knowledge of chess. Or with no money at all, if it is your first visit.A yearly membership costs Rs 500, while the daily price for a game is Rs 10. First-timers can simply sit down, pick an opponent and play.Nearly 100 plus chess lovers now call the club their own. The money collected from memberships goes back into the place, buying new boards and keeping the little patch beneath the flyover clean.“I come here almost every Tuesday and Thursday. It feels like a kind of gym for my brain and I can step away from doomscrolling through Instagram reels for a bit,” said 22-year-old IT employee Sampurna Biswas. You can play for free with any opponent at this unique chess club in Kolkata. (Photo: Abhijit Saha) But the real draw is what can happen once you sit down in front of one of those boards.Saha says he tries to help players move from casual games to actual tournaments. "I try to offer as much assistance to chess enthusiasts and help them in getting into tournaments," he said.And every once in a while, a player who walks in looking for a game can find himself sitting across the board from someone he has only ever watched on a screen.WHEN THE GRANDMASTERS CAMEThere is a certain thrill in sitting down at a chessboard and realising that the person across from you has played on the world's biggest stages. At this chess club, that possibility has occasionally been very real.In 2018, Grandmaster Wesley So walked into the club and played games with its members. He signed autographs, posed for selfies and, for a while, became another player at the boards beneath the flyover. The following year brought Grandmasters Ding Liren and Hikaru Nakamura. The two played a friendly game against each other before taking on some of the club's players. International Master Sagar Shah has also visited and played against a chess enthusiast at the club.Then came another memorable afternoon in 2019. During a meet-and-greet for Tata Steel Chess India, Women's Grandmaster Tania Sachdev sat across from Grandmaster Dibyendu Barua for a game at Gariahat. These were not games played behind the closed doors of an elite academy. They happened in a club that anyone can walk into, where traffic moves overhead, and regular players occupy the same boards day after day.And Barua's association with the club goes beyond that one game."He has helped us immensely to keep the spirit of the game alive and has been actively involved in developing the club. He has graced many events as well, including our first big tournament in 2006," Saha admitted.That is perhaps the most enticing thing about Gariahat Chess Club. You do not need an invitation to see where the game is happening. You can walk beneath the flyover, find a board, sit down and play. And while you are there, you are playing in the very same space where some of chess's biggest names have sat before you.THE GAME GOES ONA player pauses, studies the pieces and reaches across the board. A few feet away, the city surges on.Perhaps that is the thread running through the club's entire story. It began with a few people gathering here in the mid-1980s, slowly grew into a larger community and took shape as a proper club in 2002. The faces have changed, the number of players has grown and grandmasters have come and gone, but the boards have remained where they were.So has the flyover. Chess enthusiasts deep in thought at a game. (Photo: Abhijit Saha) Now, Abhijit Saha wants to keep that story moving by bringing more young players into the fold. He hopes to organise events throughout the year, encourage young talent and help chess enthusiasts find their way into tournaments."We plan to organise an all-Bengal tournament in 2027 and invite all the chess lovers to participate and show interest in this sport," Saha said. ONE LAST MOVEFour decades after a few chess lovers first gathered here, the Gariahat Chess Club still has the same simple invitation: pull up a chair and play.There is traffic overhead, a cup of ‘lebu chaa’ nearby and, somewhere on the board, a move that could change everything.The flyover may bring noise, but the chessboards bring a pause.And at Gariahat, there is always room for one more player.- Ends