Kurdshop – There is an interesting cafe in the Rezan area of Diyarbakir city center, North part of Kurdistan, where nobody likes football and nobody plays Cards and there is only chess and tea.
In the chess cafe, there is a tough competition involving customers from all groups including academics, students, doctors, workers, and religious figures.
The coffee shop, where only chess has been played, has been in service since 1992. Thirty-one years ago, at the request of several customers, the plays began there, and it has now become the center of difficult chess tournaments. From academics to doctors, teachers, students, workers, religious figures, and citizens of all professions, they gather in this cafe to play chess.
The chess cafe, which has a small area, gets warm in the winter using a heater, and tables are set up outside after the summer begins. Smoking is prohibited in the cafe. The chess coffee shop, which has customers of all ages, occasionally hosts a game that lasts for hours. Although the game is played between two people, the people gathered around the table watch the game and the competitors.
One client answered the question, "Who is the best?" "There isn't the best, there is success and failure. Even the best player can lose with a wrong step," he said.
The coffee shop is called "Asnaf" coffee shop, which means craftsman. It is a special place to play chess and has the characteristic of being the first of its kind in the entire city.
"When my father first opened this shop, two people asked for chess," said Yunes Baytok, the owner of the cafe. It started with one chess, but now there are fifty chess games here, and there are a lot of requests for it. From day one, only chess is played here. When my father passed away two years ago, I am still doing this. I play too, but I am not as good as the customers. Most of the customers are over 50 years old, but now the youth also show their interest in this.”
“I open the shop at 7 AM and it is open until 8 PM,” Baytok said. "It’s particularly crowded here on the weekends. Fifty people gather and play chess. Many of the games are also very exciting and there will be tough competition. Many players play very well and when they play there is a tough competition. Chess strengthens the mind and should be taught to children.”
One of the regular customers, Recep Ozakbash, says he has been playing chess there for years. "This game allows the individual to think differently, in many aspects. Distinct viewpoints would be created in people's minds more than old fashioned perspectives while playing chess. For example, in the Damas game, there are compulsions, you have to move, but not in chess. Definitely, you have a different alternative and you don't have to do only one thing and this changes a person's thoughts on life. It means you don't have to do anything and it promotes alternative creativity in people. If people use the technique in their lives, their mind works better. Sometimes I fail, and sometimes I win. There are good players, but people don't always succeed. Even the best players make mistakes. Chess tournaments are organized in Diyarbakir, but because there are no prizes, participation is low. They went to Mardin a few days ago, then to Koser, and they will go to Mush this week. If there is a prize, the interest will increase."
A young man named Suleiman Gunesh said that after discovering the cafe, he and his friends regularly visit it to play chess. “We used to play chess on mobile phones, computers, and those devices, but then we found this cafe and enjoyed it a lot. It has become a meeting place for our friends. We meet here, play chess, and leave. It's nice to meet new people. It also advances people. Especially chess always needs to be solved like math problems; chess also advances people. You need to always think other ways and expect future steps, and you can get upper levels like this."
Another young man, one of the cafe's customers, said: “Chess changes our outlook on life. It also changes our attitude towards problems and develops our ability to solve them. I prepare myself for exams and participating in such games has a good and positive impact on me. That's why I like chess. There is winning and failing. Such an idea is very good in Amed. That's why I like here.”
Customers of this coffee shop in the city are asking for tournaments with prizes.
