The Chess Forum

“We are en route to vanishing,” Imad Khachan said at his Chess Forum store in Greenwich Village this past Wednesday night.

He was surrounded by hundreds of new and antique chess sets with themes like Lord of the Rings and The Simpsons as well as the Civil War and endangered species, all displayed in mahogany cases. Classical music played in the background, and a worn jewel-toned oriental carpet lay on the floor. A few men were gathered in a small room off the back watching a duo play a match.

“We are negotiating our existence with the Internet everyday. … Immediacy is our last advantage," Mr. Khachan said. “I was expecting them to finish us off by 2000, but that hasn’t happened yet. Now it’s a struggle for the very existence of our soul. We’ll see how the future plays out.”

Mr. Khachan had just finished selling a portable chess set to a mother for her 6-year-old son’s tournament the following day.

During their 20-minute conversation, he explained the pros and cons of the various Internet chess programs to her—one is like reading a medical text book, another teaches you how to apply what you’ve read—and spoke philosophically about how chess teaches young men how to “lose and shake hands with their opponent."

“If we all started at a young age, the world would be a better place,” he told the mother.

Mr. Khachan has yet to shake hands with his former boss, the owner of the Chess Shop, across Thompson Street.  read more »