One Small Chess Club in Jamaica

Sometime before the middle of the 1950 decade, Bobby Fischer, then a young boy, was in the University Place Book Shop at 821 Broadway at 12th Street, looking through its reasonably priced chess books.  The shop provided hard-to-find books for the Marshall Chess Club but really its specialty was African and African-American literature.  A short black man struck up a conversation with the boy and they soon became good friends. The man's name was Archie Waters. It so happened, Waters was a member of the Marshall Club, breaking the color-barrier when he joined.  Later, in 1959, he would even be part of the committee that threw a special party for Caroline, Frank Marshall's widow.  But when Archie met Bobby, Fischer was an unknown boy with an interest in chess.  According to Prof. Frank Brady in Endgame, "[Waters would]  teach the boy the intricacies of the game and become a lifelong friend."
One more unusual thing about Waters was that he was an expert and proponent of a variation of draughts called Spanish Pool Checkers and wrote several books on the subject Although he lived in the Hollis neighborhood of Queens, he'd trek down to Harlem to promote the variant and play for money. Fischer read Waters books on Spanish Pool Checkers and learned to play. 

Archie Waters (1918-2001)

Archie, a a WWII vet and Columbia University graduate, was a career journalist. On the east coast he worked for the Long Island Daily Press,  then as the civics affairs columnist for the New York Daily News.  In 1980 he moved to El Paso, Texas, where he worked for 20 years at the El Paso Times writing about community affairs.

Back in the mid 1940s to early 1950s there existed a chess club in the Queens neighborhood of Jamaica (almost adjacent to Hollis) rightfully called the Jamaica Chess and Checker Club. They were part of the Metropolitan Chess League which included the Marshall CC, the Manhattan CC, the Columbia University CC, the Log Cabin CC, the London Terrac CCe, the Intercollegiate CC, the Bronx-Westchester CC, the Staten Island CC, the Queens CC, the Lithuanian CC and the Academy of Chess  and had some press coverage in the Brooklyn Daily Eagle and Chess Review from 1948-1951 but then disappeared. One can only conclude it shut down in the early 1950s.  On January 13, 1956, like Phoenix rising from the ashes, Archie Waters re-opened and incorporated the Jamaica Chess and Checker Club, Inc. at 149-01 Jamaica Avenue, Jamaica (where 149th St. intersects with Jamaica Ave. in the building that now houses Beverly Hills Furniture).  Later the club would relocate to 155-10 Jamaica Avenue, Jamaica (in the YMCA at Parson's Blvd.)

Waters advertised that the club would be open every day, afternoons and evenings. Among some of the better Jamaica CC players were: M. Staub, W. Buchin, R. Moran, J. Chall and A. Schrader.

Bobby Fischer, now 13, was becoming the boy wonder. Now a member of Jack Collins' Hawthorne Club, Fischer won the US Juniors in July of 1956 and the U. S. Open the following month.

Fischer had given several simuls starting at the Manhattan Club in Nov. 1955 where he won all 12 games from a group of children. In late February 1956 Fischer went with E. Forry Lauks and his Log Cabin Chess Club to Havana, Cuba. where he gave another 12 bd. simul at the Capablanca Chess Club, winning 10, drawing 2. Returning, they stopped at Hollywood, Florida on March 1 where Fischer won 7 and drew 1 in a simul there.  Later that month Fischer gave a 21 bd. simul at the Jersey City WMCA, winning 19, drawing 1, losing 1 and in September Fischer played in the Canadian Open in Montreal after which he gave an 19 bd. simul, winning 18, drawing 1.

Up to this point, the simuls were mostly well covered with photos and write-ups. But on October 14, 1956, Fischer gave a small simul that had almost no coverage other than its result: 11 wins, 1 draw. John Donaldson, who researched Fischer's simuls considerably, speculates that Fischer gave this simul as a favor to a friend. The friend was Archie Waters and the venue was his obscure chess club in Jamaica, N.Y.   Three days later Fischer and Donald Byrne would create what would be hyperbolically called "The Game of the Century" during the Rosenthal Memorial at the Marshall Club.

The Jamaica Chess and Checker Club, sometimes just referred to as the Jamaica Chess Club, never reached the stature of the older and better known clubs in any of N.Y.'s 5 boroughs but during its 26 years, it had its moments in the sun. 

The New York State Junior Championship was held there in 1964. Walter Shaw Browne won it with a perfect 5-0 score.  GM Andrew Soltis mentions how a game he played at the Jamaica Chess and Checker Club where he was playing on the Marshall B team  vs. Bill Fredericks who was playing first board for Jamaica in which he made a Rook sac and announced mate in 8 was recalled by Bobby Fischer when Soltis met him for the first time a few weeks later. 

In 1973 there was a comical exchange in Chess Life and Review between Archie Waters and the editors of the magazine (Al Horowitz had just died) in the letters section. 
Waters had written:

To the Editor:
   Someone on your staff tried to write nicely about me (CL&R February 1973, p.70): "The Jamaica Chess & Checker Club Championship was won by Danny Shapiro. Leslie Braun was second. Archie Waters, who is world champion of 'Spanish pool' checkers, directed ."
   Well, all of my checker friends are giving me the fish-eye. All of my chess friends are puzzled because I've never made such a claim So:
   I am not now nor have ever been nor ever expect to be the world champion of Spanish Pool Checkers. But:
   I am a co-author on Spanish Pool Checkers. One of the two books is now being published and sold on a royalty basis by Walter D. Goldwater, President of the Marshall Chess Club, 23 W. 10 St.,  Manhattan. Mr. Goldwater sells it at his University Place Book Shop, 840 Broadway, Manhattan.
   I have just directed my second trio of chess tournaments at the Jamaica Chess Club in Queen, NY, where I am presently tournament director. I am the coach of Walter Harris, formerly of Harlem, now of Berkeley, Cal., who became the first black United States Chess Federation master. He earned a bachelor's degree out in California and is there seeking a master's and doctorate in physics. Lt. Col. Edmund Edmondson was instrumental in getting him into chess activities while both were in the Air Force.
   I am a reporter on The Long Island Press in Queens, and write a companion column (Chess Notes) to Larry Evans's syndicated chess column, Evans on Chess.
   I think I will now write a chess book. When I do, will you call me the world's champion in chess? If you do, Bobby Fischer, on whose staff I was during his match in volcanic Iceland, might disagree with you.
     Archie Waters
     Hollis, New York

To which the editor replied:

Well, since I never got to ask Spassky, I can ask you: How's it feel to be an ex-world champion?

Then in May 1973 Chess Life and Review wrote:

In Jamaica, the Tournament No. 1 was won by Ronald Axler and Carlos Quinones. Archie Waters , who is not the World Spanish Pool Checkers Champion. directed.

As Waters mentioned in his article, he did accompany Fischer to Iceland for his title match. Waters acted as Fischer's ping-pong partner.

The Jamaica Chess Club held many regular swiss tournaments as well as every Sunday Quads. in addition they also held special tournaments such as:

Chess Life Aug. 1980

"U.S. Women's Champion Rachel Grotto recently gave a simultaneous chess exhibition at the Jamaica Chess Club in Queens. The event was organized by Archie Waters, a director of the club.
Ms. Crotto's opponents were 13 women and six men, and of the women, Jelinas and Lanni won, while lsrailov drew. Two men, Ibbins and Patto, also won their games.
Before the simultaneous, the champion gave a talk on women in chess and told of some of her experiences in national and international tournaments.
She then presented one of her games on. the club's demonstration board with a detailed discussion of the tactics and strategy she had employed."

GM Andy Soltis had written : "There were a lot more clubs, at least in New York, than there are now. Almost all of them are gone because they couldn’t solve the number one problem facing chess clubs. Not membership, real estate."

As property became more and more valuable, owners either sold or raised the rent to levels prohibitive to the operation of financially marginal chess clubs.

When Waters moved to Texas in 1980, both the rising costs, coupled with the loss of the very heart of the club led to a rapid decline in membership which forced its closure less than two years later.  

While chess clubs may not last, hopefully memories will linger long after they're gone.

Very nice article

Thanks @Frasbury

Notice in the Rachel Crotto simul  the women who beat her were " Jelinas and Lanni "

Lanni can only be Diana Lanni'
The 1980 U.S. Women rating list has Diane Savereide #1. Rachel Crotto  #2 and Diane Lanni #5.  Diana was most likely the person upon whose wild life the fictional Beth Harmon was based.

That is so cool, that he accompanied Fischer to Iceland to play ping pong with him.

I guess that's what friends do. 

Great article. Thanks for sharing!

A wonderful read.  Thanks for sharing, and for all the work you put into your posts.  Your writing adds important depth and breadth to this site.

Thanks for taking time to comment. 

I appreciate your kindness. 

Another fantastic article, thanks!

Thanks patzermeister.

@batgirl, fantastic article!

@hreedwork Thanks!

It’s nice to have a ping pong partner.  And it’s good to be able to read Batgirl’s stories. Hm, I tend to capitalize her avatar, just because Batman does… Well, Batgirl/batgirl, I love your stories about non-world champions, ex-world champions and even (non/ex) World Spanish Pool Checkers Champions. ¡Me gustan las historias!

A very good read as always!  Your articles go beyond the game and bring more character to it.

Batgirl is the world champion of writing informative chess articles we all enjoy! Keep up the good work and more Bobby please!?

Thank you @Sachan_1978

Thanks @Terlito.  I love sharing with fellow chess aficionados.

Thanks.  Fischer was a small but evocative element in this story about the Jamaica CC.