Compendium
Capablanca Chess Club have made nearly 10 years since its
foundation and introduction into the London
Chess League in September 1997 until the present date that is December
2006. Its essence roots go back to some so formed friendships that run a little
far away and shared something in common such as a passion for the beautiful
game of Chess.
Further back from 1997 a group of Colombian
friends used to meet regularly together at home of one of them who as host had
to procure food, music and of course material to play chess while the guests
brought bottles of wine and beer and bits of other things to spice the
atmosphere up.
Therefore there it was this boy named Luis who
used to dine at the restaurant La Piragua and through chatting once to its by
then owner named Carlos in regards of chess, Luis learned of such a group of
Chess enthusiasts.
However Luis was already a member of a London
Chess club called Metropolitan for 5-6 years. Nevertheless he started to join those
informal ‘chess’ meetings until it was his turn to be the host of such popular
meetings so he delighted his guests with pasties as Chilean food.
A time got past by, so from that group of four
members (Polo, Roberto, Henry & Ruperto) and then five with Luis, others
followed to join those evening ‘chess’ meetings where sometimes the number of
eight or ten players took part.
Once upon a time one of those ‘chess’ meetings
lasted from a late Friday until the early hours of Sunday.
From that moment on, the idea of forming a
proper club of chess popped out. The
owner of the restaurant Carlos and his associate Roberto, now the only legal
owner, got in touch with the Latin News to organize a ‘chess’ tournament in
order to draw the interest and attention within the Latin Community from as
many chess enthusiasts as possible to be part of such an exciting project.
Both Restaurant co-owners Carlos-Roberto and
the ‘Noticias’ News Editor Alberto Rojas took charge of the logistic to
organize such a first tournament.
In doing so they have to find
premises, sponsors and chess material.
The premises were the already known restaurant ‘La piragua’ and the
other one less known ‘El Rincon Quiteño’.
The money raised for prizes from the kind sponsors and the fees
collected from the participants exceeded the amount of £1,200! The Chess
material was lent by way of an well known organizer named Adam Raoof for
English Tournaments through ‘Metropolitan Chess Club’ where Luis was still a member.
This tournament was divided in two stages: 1.
an elimination to 5 games through the Swiss System split in a number of groups
where the ones with most wins would be made to play against each other later
on. 2. a one versus each of the
classified out of eight. The tournament
had to be decided by the top four strongest players whose scores were ½ point
difference after six games were played.
This gave way to play further. A
man named Alberto Rojas came first of that reduced group of players and consequently
he would be the outright champion.
Sadly there were problems after the
eight names to go onto the next stage were known. Such as the refusal by one of the players to
play against a chess player because he did not have white pieces or just simply
because he had to play against a female player. That was never quite understood
by the organization so the player abandoned his place. Let’s not mention that such a female player
named Sonia beat on another occasion another player in a tournament that took
place at ‘El Rancho’ and the beaten player was not quite happy by the fact of
being beaten by a female colleague.
Two months later the 3rd classified
player, a Colombian named Hernan M Aristizabal would be brutally murdered, his
body found in a empty woodland North of London. This player had been a host of
the popular ‘chess’ meetings in two different occasions. The Home Office had
granted him political asylum given the danger weighed on him. Nobody will ever know the reasons or troubles
of such a competitive player.
It is thought that the publicity and pictures
taken from the participants could have been the flash point for the culprits to
act. Not sooner these dark news came to
light, the project of forming a chess club were at a low point but against all
everybody agreed on doing it after long talks with all the interested people in
spite of many gone awol in fear of being questioned by the police
regarding perhaps to their legality to stay.
These ones left their houses
suddenly. The Ecuadorian
Community was this way quite affected by some police enquiries where some
illegal residents were found when their passport were not up-to-date.
During the month of September 1997 everything
was on the table for the new conceived club Capablanca could play in the London
League. The name was due to the genial
Cuban chess Grand Master and Word Champion Jose Raul Capablanca as one of the
best chess players all time around. The
team was not anyone, it had potential as it was reckoned later on.
The first match of the Division 6th
within the London Chess league took place in a pub sited at West of London. The
result was a comprehensible WIN. All
five Colombian players won their respective games while the other three members
of the team, Sonia (
The 2nd LatinAmerican Chess
Tournament took place in August 1998.
New faces turned up. A new member
from
The promising club did well to keep themselves
alive half the table in the 5th Division of the London Chess League
the year of 1998-9.
October 1999 was the farewell of Luis from
There we have to say that the club from its
creation up to date, year after year is constantly experimenting with the
incoming and outgoing of good players not only from Latin America
but also from other nationalities such as Ukraine, Denmark, Nigeria, Spain and
of course England. We hope this cycle
does not end there but gets even stronger.
Our enthusiasm continues where we left once
more by way of organizing tournaments year in year out in the premises most visited by members of
the Latin Community. Theses are the
places that can draw new members into the team.
Let’s not forget also that without the due support donned by some
reputable Latin managers we would not be where we are now.
Good is to remember and thanks giving to all
those who sometime have opened their doors to have a party, bring their family
together, invite their best friends who happen to be most club chess members
and by the way to organize a mini chess tournament as the king moment of our
experiences.
It’s hoped the club keeps fighting and gets as
far as it can to make this humble club ‘proud’ throughout its existence within
the Latin Community.