The Montreal Chess Club

[Hugh Brodie]

As Larry requested, here is a brief history of the Montreal Chess Club.

The Montreal Chess Club was founded in 1844. Not much is known about it during most of the 1800's (I will keep looking!), but it soon became THE chess club in Montreal throughout the first half of the 20th century.

The Montreal city directories of the times don't show an address for the MCC before the 1880's, so I suspect they either met at a private residence or club. First listed address was on Phillips Square.

The Thomas Workman trophy was donated in 1890 to the winner of the club championship.

In 1908, the Westmount and Montreal chess clubs merged to form the Westmount Chess Club, which began meeting in Victoria Hall in Westmount. A fire on March 8, 1924 forced it to move back to Montreal, and subsequently changed its name back to "Montreal Chess Club". After sharing quarters with the Nationale club, it found a new address at 745 Ste-Catherine W, suite 26 (this would probably have been on the current site of Place Montreal Trust).

On May 1, 1927, the club moved to 1410 Guy, suites 26 and 27. The building still stands at the northwest corner of Guy and Ste-Catherine - a Toronto-Dominion bank on the ground floor, and offices upstairs where the club would have been located.

In October 1935, the club moved to 1173 Drummond, sharing quarters with the Harmonia CC. This building was demolished to make way for the Le Centre Sheraton in the mid-1970's.

In 1937 or 1938, the club moved to 460 Sherbrooke E.

In 1939, the club moved to 259 St-Jacques, #39.

In 1942, the club moved to 840 Cherrier (at St-Hubert - the "Palestre Nationale"). The building is still there - it is a community centre.

In November 1944, the club celebrated its 100th anniversary with a 10-board match against Quebec (winning 6-4), and a banquet at the Plaza Hotel.

In the late 1940's, or maybe 1950, the club moved to 901 Ste-Catherine W.

Sometime between 1951 and 1955, the club moved to 470 Ste-Catherine W.

During the 1955-1965 period, it became a well-known haunt for high-stakes chess players. During most of this time, it was located in a restaurant on Ste-Catherine St., which was closed in the evenings and on weekends except for the chess players. Ignas Zalys claimed to have won "thousands" playing chess there.

It died in the late 1960's, and was revived briefly in 1972 and 1979, but to no avail.

In May, 2000, the "Chess Specialist" moved from 1365 St. Catherine E. to the Chess and Math quarters on the 4th floor at 3423 St. Denis. It then became known as the "Montreal Chess Club".

[Ken MacDonald]

The Montreal Chess Club

During the 1955-1965 period, it became a well-known haunt for high-stakes chess players. During most of this time, it was located in a restaurant on Ste-Catherine St., which was closed in the evenings and on weekends except for the chess players. Ignas Zalys claimed to have won "thousands" playing chess there.

I recall playing in a Montreal Chess Club Championship around the mid-1960s upstairs from an A&W Restaurant. But, that would not have been closed those times except for chess players? Anyone else recall that location? That was on Ste. Catherine Street West.

How good OR bad is my memory?

[Larry Bevand]

Re: The Montreal Chess Club

As Larry requested, here is a brief history of the Montreal Chess Club.

The Montreal Chess Club was founded in 1844. Not much is known about it during most of the 1800's (I will keep looking!), but it soon became THE chess club in Montreal throughout the first half of the 20th century.

The Montreal city directories of the times don't show an address for the MCC before the 1880's, so I suspect they either met at a private residence or club. First listed address was on Phillips Square.

The Thomas Workman trophy was donated in 1890 to the winner of the club championship.

In 1908, the Westmount and Montreal chess clubs merged to form the Westmount Chess Club, which began meeting in Victoria Hall in Westmount. A fire on March 8, 1924 forced it to move back to Montreal, and subsequently changed its name back to "Montreal Chess Club". After sharing quarters with the Nationale club, it found a new address at 745 Ste-Catherine W, suite 26 (this would probably have been on the current site of Place Montreal Trust).

On May 1, 1927, the club moved to 1410 Guy, suites 26 and 27. The building still stands at the northwest corner of Guy and Ste-Catherine - a Toronto-Dominion bank on the ground floor, and offices upstairs where the club would have been located.

In October 1935, the club moved to 1173 Drummond, sharing quarters with the Harmonia CC. This building was demolished to make way for the Le Centre Sheraton in the mid-1970's.

In 1937 or 1938, the club moved to 460 Sherbrooke E.

In 1939, the club moved to 259 St-Jacques, #39.

In 1942, the club moved to 840 Cherrier (at St-Hubert - the "Palestre Nationale"). The building is still there - it is a community centre.

In November 1944, the club celebrated its 100th anniversary with a 10-board match against Quebec (winning 6-4), and a banquet at the Plaza Hotel.

In the late 1940's, or maybe 1950, the club moved to 901 Ste-Catherine W.

Sometime between 1951 and 1955, the club moved to 470 Ste-Catherine W.

During the 1955-1965 period, it became a well-known haunt for high-stakes chess players. During most of this time, it was located in a restaurant on Ste-Catherine St., which was closed in the evenings and on weekends except for the chess players. Ignas Zalys claimed to have won "thousands" playing chess there.

It died in the late 1960's, and was revived briefly in 1972 and 1979, but to no avail.

In May, 2000, the "Chess Specialist" moved from 1365 St. Catherine E. to the Chess and Math quarters on the 4th floor at 3423 St. Denis. It then became known as the "Montreal Chess Club".

WOW! Thanks!

Zalys was a class act!

I played him many decades ago and I had the pleasure of chatting with him on many occasions. He respected what I was doing and he contributed his collection of chess books to the CMA at a very small price. He had some gems in his collection...

Well now I will take a little trip over to 840 Cherrier...who knows :).

Larry

[Hugh Brodie]

Re: The Mpntreal Chess Club

840 Cherrier was also the place that Frank Marshall gave his then-record 156 board simul on Jan. 7, 1922. (it lasted 8 hours).

http://goo.gl/maps/tZpCI

[Hugh Brodie]

Re: The Montreal Chess Club

Many other chess clubs came and went over the years in Montreal. More recent ones included the En Passant Chess Club (1926 to about 1959 - started by Maurice Fox) at 251 St. Viateur W. (listed in the Lovell's directory as "De Luxe Cigars and Stationery")- then to 240 Laurier W. (listed as "L.Schacter - so it was probably a private residence) in the mid-1950's.

The Metropolitain Chess Club (mid-1950's-1972) was originally called the Boulevard CC (started by chess column editor and TD Moe Moss) located on St. Joseph Blvd; renamed the Cosmopolitan CC in September 1964; renamed the Metropolitan CC (located at 201 Rachel E.) a month later. It shared quarters with the Vanderbilt bridge club at 3626 Mountain in 1970-71 before a splinter group formed a chess club at the Chateau Bridge club at 7370 Cote St. Luc Road. That lasted from September 1971 until sometime in 1972. (I attended it rarely at the Rachel and Mountain locations, but the CSL location was within walking distance from where I lived, so I went there fairly often).

The Alekhine CC (1969-1979) was formed by the late Arthur Langlois in conjunction with the Quebec-USSR Cultural Society. The first location was in the Show Mart (Palais de Commerce) - 1600 Berri, suite 3124. The building has since been demolished and replaced by a huge library. You could take the stairs to the third floor - or the human operator-run elevator (thus it wasn't always available). Many rooms on the third floor were used by musicians to practice (not rock bands). It was a long, narrow room seating about 30-40 people -surrounded by a library of literature promoting the USSR (and its way of government). It was usually open Monday, Wednesday, and Friday nights, and all day and evening Saturdays. This is where Kevin Spraggett developed his chess skills, and earned extra income by giving Arthur Langlois 5-2 and a Rook for 50 cents (sometimes a dollar). I ran weekly blitz tournaments starting in late 1970. The club hosted a Spassky simul in 1971.

In April 1972, it moved to 6827 St. Hubert - above a funeral home. The Fischer boom encouraged Langlois to organize a tournament competing with the Labour Day Open. It attracted 154 players - compared to the 103 at the Labour Day Open - and offered $701 in prizes (Montreal open had $700 in prizes). People (such as Leo Williams) weren't satisfied with his club and formed new ones. I didn't attend the club from early 1972 to late 1973, when I started (again) running Friday night blitzes.

In May 1975. it moved to 4570 St. Denis (the space previously occupied by the short-lived Academie Québéchecs). It was a large room - easily holding 100+ players (still the USSR group providing the space).

In April 1977, the club made its last move to various classrooms at the CEGEP Maisonneuve, 3800 Sherbrooke East. I organized Friday night blitzes (the club's only activity at this point) until it closed for good in April 1979. One of the regulars at this point was Cyrus Lakdawala - now a well-known chess book writer. His father ran a good advertising business, and the family moved to San Diego around this time (for PQ-related reasons), and as far as I know, have never been back.

In theory - the club charged a membership fee - but I don't know of any of the regulars that paid a cent.

More to come.

[Hugh Brodie]

Re: The Montreal Chess Club

Montreal has had well-attended chess cafes since (at least) the early 1970's. I first attended the Cafe Morphy (371 Roy E.) in late 1970. It lasted until about 1972, when the nearby Cafe Quebechecs (3619 St.Denis) became the number one place to play chess in Montreal. The Fischer-Spassky match moves were transmitted there live via teletype to "La Presse", and then by phone to the Cafe - where there was a demo board and commentary (usually by Leo Williams). There was an hourly table fee, or an optional annual membership fee ($15, I think). During the Fischer boom, they claimed to have sold 1500 membership cards. Unlicensed - but good food (mostly sandwiches) - but too much smoke. It could seat about 40-50 people, and was open from 10 am to 5:30 am (in time to catch the first Metro home which I did many times).

It was forced to change its name to "Cafe En Passant" in November 1973, due to trademark problems on the name. A giant cement rook stood outside for years. GM's passed by regularly, and I believe GM Peter Biyiasas was part-owner for a while. Lots of money games, blitz tournaments, and backgammon. It died in 1981 after a fire was allegedly "arranged" by the building owner.

Other cafes which came and went were Cafe Le Backgammon (1981-83 - in the 1600 or 1700 block farther south on St.Denis - drugs killed the place), Le Jardin de Caissa (1982-late 1980's - Ontario and St.Hubert), and another short-lived one on St.Catherine E. across from the Papineau Metro station.

"Le Gammon" began in the early 1990's at St.Catherine E. near Berri (above a magazine store). It lasted until about 2002. Licensed, owned by backgammon players, mostly chess players attended, and large (25+ players) blitz tournaments were held weekly. It could seat about 40 people.

"Cine Express" (still exists - farther west on St.Catherine St.) started attracting chess players around 1997, and remained popular until Cafe Pi opened 4 or 5 years later.

More to come.