The Golden Knight is Morocco’s best coffee shop for people watching, as it’s home to a group of greats who’ve been showing up since the ‘70s.
In business district Casablanca , close to the big Bank ofMoroccobuilding , there ’s a small staircase with a preindication that learn “ Antic Cafe . ” Up the stairs , patrons order coffees and Maroc mintteawhile they watch some of the nation ’s upright chess role player in their chemical element . It ’s a swelteringly live summertime day , and a blanched - hairy man in his 70 park his motor scooter and prepare to head indoors . No one quite think when he stopped being Omar and became Ba Omar — a prefix associated with age and regard . But when he walks in , everyone in the club wrick to the door and says his name excitedly .
“ L’unique ! ” he reply , as a way of announce himself .
The Golden Knight Chess Club was once a restaurant where the later King Mohamed V ate many meal in the fifties that eventually morphed into a coffee shop class . One day in the early ‘ 70s , a few guys showed up with chess boards and started playing on the balcony . The owner of the place eventually gave them their own elbow room adjacent to the main hall . Those young guys are n’t so untested any longer , but they still show up . And Omar came onto the vista about a decade later .
Ba Omar, pictured here on the left, is a player who commands respect for his age and expertise.|Photo by Akram Herrak
That good afternoon , he quick spotted the mesa play blitz , a format of chess in which each participant only gets three minute of playtime for the whole game . The organisation at Golden Knight is simple : whoever loses is replace by the next person in the queue .
Omar seat down and await for his number . He star intently at the two medium untried players , only grunt if someone addresses him . The guy playing white get what should have immediately been a fall back mistake . But his opponent needed to see Omar ’s sick facial verbalism so as to realize his circumstances .
" Ba Omar , go easy on him , " someone says , when it ’s in the end his turning to play .
There are other chess clubs in Casablanca, but the Golden Knight has the most character.|Photo by Akram Herrak
" You forget I ’m a professor , it ’s my duty to educate these Thomas Kyd , ” he reply .
Back in his 20s , Omar studied the theory of chess : the game of all the great from Fischer to Steinitz and the openings they always played . Only or else of play objectively sound openings like the Sicilian or the King ’s Indian , he excogitate his own . If someone were to call for him what open he ’s make for , he ’d plainly say : “ This is the Ba Omar possibility . ”
His own opening seem utterly nonsensical to anyone who knows the game , but he makes them turn . When he cameface - to - facewith previous World Champion Anatoly Karpov in a simultaneous exhibition in Casablanca , for instance , he play those same moves , including a very early castle face lifting that is generally agree to be very risky and often fall back . Everyone in the club still ride him about it : “ You played Ra3 in the third move against a public whizz , you maniac ! ”
The club is also a veritable museum featuring pictures of players past and present.|Photo by Akram Herrak
In his younger days , Ba Omar tour around Europe playing in heavy venues . But then he settle into instruction , first formally in music schools , and now in private lessons at his house on the outskirts of the city . He claim a vow of celibacy in his 20s and still last alone , ofttimes declare that he does n’t ask anyone . His primary source of companionship is his mathematical group of champion , who he forgather day by day for a few rousing round of chess .
There are a few inflection full stop in the history of chess as a pop sport — Bobby Fischer kill Spassky in the ‘ LXX and Garry Kasparov losing to the supercomputer Deep Blue in the ‘ XC among them . But in the first yr of pandemic lockdown , millionsof Modern fans began playing chess game on their phones , inspired in part by Netflix’suber popularTheQueen ’s Gambit .
And while play chess through a headphone screen may scratch a certain itch , it can never cater the sense of community and excitement find in strong-arm places like the Golden Knight Chess Club , which is the hub for chess lovers not only in Casablanca but in all of Morocco . While the oldest chess club in the country is in Tangier , Casablanca always gas more players , events , and tournaments . There are many other clubs in the city , but none have the combination of skill and trash talk that the Golden Knight is noted for . Most of Morocco ’s chess champions had their beginnings on its old boards , and many of them still return to remember the honest-to-god twenty-four hour period and give the younger guys the line of gab of how much better it was in the good old solar day .
The author squares off with Jamal, a heavy smoking former pro who is currently the club’s president.
Ba Omar is still seated three game later . His next opponent , a timid and excusatory young kid , continue making mistakes as he ’s fresh to using an IRL chess control board . With each move , the acquisition disruption becomes more apparent , and it is n’t long before the kidskin is left with only a king , a bishop , and a couple of stranded pawns . Despite having 40 years on him , Ba Omar is much quicker than the fry , playing moves in less than two moment . The chattering around the table mature , and a few of the previous people at the other tables take the air over to see what the spat is all about . That includes Jamal , a 70 - something former pro and the night club ’s current president .
With an International Chess Coaching certificate and class of professional play under his belt , Jamal is also one of the most well-thought-of player in the club . “ Do n’t you jazz who you ’re playing against ? ” he call for the kid , who looks like in his 20s . “ This is Ba Omar , the fox ! ”
“ I am a maestro ! ” come the quick reply from Omar , whose laughter is loud , recollective , and relegate despite the fact that he ’s a health revivalist who ’s never smoked .
Chess is a spectator sport at the Golden Knight.|Photo by Akram Herrak
As the new kid contemplated his fate , the two elderly men did the same . They face at their late champion ’s portrayal on the rampart , which was expectant and new compare to the other petite pictures there dating back to the ‘ 80 .
“ The bozo who used to beat you has go to God now , ” Jamal says to Omar .
This friend was a successful man of affairs who made his fortune in the ‘ ninety by importing IBM computing machine to Morocco . But in the Golden Knight , it does n’t matter how rich you are ; regard come from your moves on the board . And his were some of the best . He ’d sit at a table and musician would get together around him for a chance to play him . He ’d beat them all , with a Winston string up out of his oral cavity .
“ What was he expect with the amount of fag he used to smoke ? ” asked Ba Omar , who played a brilliant forfeiture despite being on auto - pilot .
Jamal took a deep drag and view the point . Even though their friend ’s portrait had only been taken a few long time before his death , it stand for decades of friendship and laughter . His eyes scanned across the elbow room — it really had n’t changed much , and except for wrinkle and white hair and back problems , none of them had either . But he kept that observation to himself . His friend was n’t here to reminisce ; he was here to play chess .
" We ’re all joining him rather or later on , " he said , countenance Omar get back to his secret plan .
