Knight to Waikiki
By Brandon Masuoka
Advertiser Staff Writer
Every year, hundreds of residents and visitors enjoy Waikiki's knight life, playing outdoor chess near the world-famous beach.
Deborah Booker • The Honolulu Advertiser
From sunrise to sunset, there's a good chance that someone will be playing chess at the beach tables on Kalakaua Avenue across from the Waikiki McDonald's.
Cornelius Rubsamen, left, and Randy Prothero square off at the Waikiki Beach tables in the "blitz" version of the game, when the moves are timed. "One day you're playing a guy from Hong Kong, and the next day you're playing a master from Switzerland," Prothero says. "You just never know."
Some of the best players in the world have been known to drop in at the beach tables, which have become one of the premier and scenic chess locations around.
"All the regular players on the Mainland know about the Waikiki Beach tables," said beach competitor Randy Prothero, who is also the president of the Hawai'i Chess Federation, the main chess organization in Hawai'i. "It's kind of a stopping place."
Variety of players
Chess players — some young, some old; some good, some not-so good — flock to the tables daily to play the game that has more than 88,000 U.S. Chess Federation members. In Hawai'i, more than 500 people belong to the local and national organizations.
With so much visitor traffic daily, the Waikiki Beach tables offer a grab bag of opponents.
"One day you're playing a guy from Hong Kong, and the next day you're playing a master from Switzerland," Prothero said. "You just never know.
"Every so often you'll get a child prodigy from California here on vacation, jump in and beat up on the old guys. Every now and then, there's some excitement."
Top players on weekends
For more information, visit: http://hawaiichess.homestead.com/ Honolulu Chess Club Where: Ala Moana Center Stage When: Mondays, 5 p.m. to 8 p.m. Lessons: 6:30 p.m. to 7:30 p.m. Mililani Chess Club Where: Rec Center #6, 95-1010 Konaku St., Mililani Mauka When: Thursdays, 6 p.m. to 9 p.m. Lessons: 7 p.m. to 8 p.m. Windward Mall Chess Club Where: Windward Mall Center Stage When: Wednesdays, 6 p.m. to 9 p.m. Lessons: 7 p.m. to 8 p.m. Pearlridge Chess Club Where: Pearlridge Center, Uptown, second level by escalator When: Tuesdays, 5:30 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. Lessons: 7 p.m. to 8 p.m.
For high-level competition, Saturdays and Sundays are the best, according to national master Cornelius Rubsamen, who plays at the tables and also tutors some of Hawai'i's top players.
CHESS CLUBS
"We have a pretty strong group of players who usually come on weekends," Rubsamen said. "It's really a huge mix."
For added thrills, competitors play two styles of chess at the Waikiki Beach tables: fast and regular. The most exciting to the casual onlooker is the fast-paced, clock-timed style called "blitz," in which competitors each have five minutes to complete their moves.
"Half the games are blitz at Waikiki," Prothero said. "Most other are casual games."
Pride often on line
Most of the games are played for pride, but competitors have been known to play for cash and food, Prothero said.
"There's this one little group — when it gets close to lunch time — they play for an apple or banana or something," Prothero said. "They make the loser go across the street and buy a snack for everybody. That's about as close to any real gambling I've ever seen down there. They play like it's a million dollars when the banana's on the line."
The Waikiki Beach tables are a good place to play and meet people, Prothero said. For those who want to learn the game, though, joining a chess club is the best option.
There are four main clubs on O'ahu: the Mililani Chess Club, the Windward Mall Chess Club, the Pearlridge Chess Club and the Honolulu Chess Club.
Lessons available
All clubs offer free lessons, and according to Prothero, Mililani and Windward Mall are the most structured with weekly classes. Mililani is the only club that charges an annual membership fee (from $12 to $24). The other clubs are free.
Prothero said the popularity of chess has been growing among children. He said last year's state scholastic championships drew a record 135 competitors.
"We're getting chess into the schools more," Prothero said. "Computers have helped. When you buy a new computer, there's always chess on it. The kids will find every game on a computer and try to master them."
Rubsamen said Hawai'i is home to many talented youngsters such as Mililani's Robert Lau, 11, Hawai'i's first national champion. Rubsamen tutors Lau.
"I think our strong point is our youth players," Rubsamen said. "That's where we stand out. We have nationally rated players in the top 20."
Sport? Not a sport?
No one will argue that chess is a difficult game to master, but there is some debate about whether it's considered a sport.
"I think it's a combination of a sport and art," Prothero said. "You're competing like you would in a sport. It's head-to-head competition. Your opponents are trying to mess up what you're trying to create. And if it's done well, it's a piece of art with all the beautiful combinations you can create on the board."
Prothero said chess is the only sport in which competitors use higher-level thinking skills. He also said the brain game is physical.
"To play chess at a competitive level, you're going to have to sit at a board for five hours," he said. "And to be able to maintain that level of concentration ... you're going to have to be in pretty good physical condition."
