How America’s Most Dangerous City Became Its Chess Capital
St Louis is a surprisingly grand city to be a grandmaster.
Chess is not a particularly dangerous sport (if you consider it to be one, and the International Olympic Committee does). Concussions, fractured bones and dislocated joints are all quite rare, although bruised egos are common and sore wrists are a known risk.
At least in the US, it’s a famously middle-class, intellectual and sedate pastime. It’s also very well-known and has a rich competitive scene, so you might guess that the US Chess Federation would be based in a major city like New York or Washington DC, or perhaps some tranquil town in New England.
Strangely enough, however, the US chess scene is based in St Louis, Missouri — a city that is often ranked as the most dangerous in the US for murders and violent crimes.
Crime statistics are always very difficult to compare, and it must be said that St Louis’ top ranking is at least partly because the city limits have not expanded as far beyond the urban core as a place like Detroit, where safer suburbs have been formally swallowed up over the years.
