History of chessing on the train

From meetings of TJ Lokomotiva to a simul of the World Champion

[18.04.2013 00:00:00] - Unique chess tournament on the train, which is being prepared for the third time by the Prague Chess Society in cooperation with Czech Railways, encourages chess witnesses and historians to search in dusty archives, whether any chess tournament in the past hadn’t already taken place on rails. Several-days-longing international chess tournament on the special train had never been realized before the event of the Prague Chess Society and Czech Reailways, but it is possible to find several prophetic events. Dive into the chess-railwaymen’s history, and if you can’t resist the allurement, sign up for the Chess train 2013.

Now we are diving into the depths of the seventies. Chess historian Jan Kalendovský remembers, that in 1979, returning from a league game, he played a little match with the Vice World Champion of the visually impaired chess-players JUDr. Jaromír Florian on the train.

Raimund Leiner from chess club TJ Lokomotiva Praha recalled annual meetings of their club, which they organised in the dining car on the route Prague – České Budějovice in the eighties.

Of later date – February 2011 – is an exhibiton between ex-champion of the world, Anatoly Karpov, and current World Champion, Viswanathan Anand. On the high speed train on the route Madrid – Valencia, hurtling in speed of 300km/h, two grandmasters played two minor simultaneous displayes. „For the first time in my life, I’m playing behind the chessboard on the train. Many times I played with my friends on the road, but only verbally. The motion of the train – that’s an extra challenge in each game,“ reclaimed Karpov and recommended to the clients of Spanish railway company Renfe to use the train ride purposefully in order to play chess.


World Champion Viswanathan Anand plays a simultaneous games in express from Madrid to Valencia

Closest to the Chess train, by which you can travel from 11th till 15th of October 2013 on the route Prague – Regensburg – Innsbruck – Salzburg – Český Krumlov - Prague, was the jubilee ride of the train Rossiya in 2006, during which a chess tournament also realized.


The winner of the tournament from the ride of the Jubilee train Rossiya in green shirt, Anatoly Nikolayevich Nesteren

After these times, which can, by its romance, bring to mind football with a ragball in the gallery building’s backyard, came October 2011 and along with it also the first international chess tournament on specially dispatched train. Prague Chess Society in cooperation with Czech Railways had prepared for chess-players a nine-wagons-train, which rode on the route Prague – Wienna – Budapest – Bratislava – Krakow – Prague and in which a 15-rounds tournament in rapid chess was played, which won IM Richard Biolek.

A year later – in October 2012 – the Chess train rode on the route Prague – Dresden – Wroclaw – Piešťany – Wienna – Prague and 13-rounds rapid tournament won GM Martin Petr.

Who will arrive this year from the Alpine towns back to Czech Republic as a winner of the Chess Train 2013?

Prepared with usage of materials of Jan Kalendovský

| Pavel Matocha | visits(9990x)