rss feedOn a Saturday evening in a Seattle suburb, people gather to play, watch chess match
It might be easy to criticize many U.S. suburbs for lacking a central public square – where you can sit, people watch and enjoy the type of civic life that other cities offer.
But in the Seattle suburb of Bellevue, there is one place that’s worth visiting – Crossroads Bellevue, a mall that offers a large, boisterous food court with plenty of offerings, a stage with live music and a great larger-than-normal chess board.
Yes, it is not a grand square that many European cities have and it’s not a central place such as Tiananmen Square in Beijing.
The mall is close to Microsoft’s headquarters. So, since Microsoft has been able to attract top talent from around the world, you’ll see the same type of representation in the people who play chess and gather for meals.
But it is a place that has a vibrant pace to it – and that’s what suburbs, as well as big cities, need.
It’s safe to say that on any day, you probably have people from Europe and Asia (both east and south), as well as long-time Seattle area residents and others from different parts of the globe who gather at the mall.
The larger-than-normal chess board has always attracted me since I’ve lived in the Seattle area.
When I saw these two men playing, I decided to mix their contemplated moves with stop motion.
What struck me, as I looked at the stop motion series of images, is that it looks like one player seems to be shuffling, as in dancing (though he really isn’t).
What the faster speed doesn’t allow you to see though is the contemplative pauses that each player took before making a move. There could be a few minutes of people just sitting and watching.
Then, one player would move and sometimes take another player’s chess piece. Almost instantly, the other player would return the favor.
Strange as it may seem to say this but it is good to see people using their brains and just hanging out over an old-fashioned game on a Saturday evening.
For years, there has always been that emphasis on going out to bars and trendy restaurants to enjoy the nightlife. That’s great if you like that.
But there are people who enjoy doing other things.
When I lived in Berkeley, Calif. for a summer, I would visit all the great bookstores – sometimes three to four on a weekend evening – and just sit and read what was there. Then, I’d leave.
Of course, I often would head to Blondie’s Pizza for an inexpensive slice of cheese pizza.
What the camera didn’t catch at Crossroads were tables of other people playing chess (on much smaller boards) or cards.
We showed up at Crossroads because we were heading home and needed to grab some dinner.
As I saw the two chess players, as well as all the people who were watching, I thought: Yes, watch chess – in addition to tofu.
In a way, the Saturday evening chess match also made me happy in a way – that people were pursuing a game that requires some thought and on a weekend night.
Years ago, when I was in graduate school, I always wondered if my study group and I were out of the ordinary when we were spending our Friday and Saturday evenings to finish our problem sets.
There were some Friday and Saturday evenings in which we couldn’t find seats in the libraries – yes, plural – to study.
As I took the photographs of this chess match, a boy stood next to his dad. The two analyzed each player’s move. Wow, I thought, people really do like this game.
When I later showed my son and wife, they liked the match, too.
UPDATE: Speaking of chess, if you didn’t see this third-grade student from Seattle play against 16 of his classmates, have a look at this video from The Seattle Times. By the way, he won all the matches. I’m impressed.
