Basics LOCATION 219 Thompson Street FOUNDER Imad Khachan OPENED IN 1995 NOTABLE CUSTOMERS Oliver Stone, Julia Roberts, Liv Tyler FOR SALE Ebony-and-bird’s-eye-maple chessboards ($299), archangel chessmen ($99)
IMAD KHACHAN: My name is Imad Khachan, and I’m the humble owner of Chess Forum. I welcome you to the place in its 25th year. I opened in September ’95. Before that, it was a printing place. One of the early victims, I think, of the internet. But before that, starting in 1975, it was a chess space. The original chess place in New York, it was here.
NICOLAS HELLER: They were called chess parlors, right?
I.K. Yes. It was opened by a Ukrainian grand master, the real deal, named Nicolas Rossolimo. It was called Rossolimo’s Chess Studio.
N.H. Did you ever come…