India Today – October 08, 2018

6 INDIA TODAY KOLKATA ✦ OCTOBER 2018

I

F YOU WANT a quintessential
Kolkata experience, explore the
Gariahat Chess Club. Started as
a motley group of chess enthusiasts
playing under the Gariahat lyover,

was registered as the Gariahat Chess
Club in 2006. Their makeshift
premises have been given a facelift
with an initiative from Kolkata Police,
PC Chandra and the architects from
Anjan Ukil Square Consortium.
“Beautiication of a city is never

complete without its people. We

need urban spaces to sit, chat, loiter

and play,” says Shubhrajit G Mitra

of Square, one of the architects who

designed the space. From 2007,

when the club had just three chess

boards balanced on railings, to now

where there are sleek, curved lamp

posts, 13 tables and 26 stools for

players, it has been a long journey

for the club and its members. The

surroundings are still the same

and deliberately so. It is still one

of busiest crossings in the city with

the pre-puja shopping crowd add-

ing to the din. It is still an outdoor

event and the only “breeze” is the

exhaust fumes of cars passing by. But

the chess club with its chess players

spanning all age groups and back-

grounds, continues to attract chess

lovers. It is open to all and one can

just hang out there after a shopping

spree and sip on some tea.

Check Mates

GARIHAT CHESS CLUB

AT Gariahat Chess Club, under the flyover.

A chess game

in progress as

enthusiasts

watch on

Photographs by NILANJAN KARMAKAR

cover story