Rourkela: A khatti or adda in the middle of a busy marketplace might seem an unli-kely location for strategic planning.

At the Koelnagar market, here, however, everyone is racking their brains about the knight's fork, the qeeun's invincibility, the king's protection, the power of a double rook or that of the bishop and pawns. The frenzy of the market doesn't bother the men and women at Rourkela's only chess adda, where both professionals and amateurs match their brains. An iron table is their domain in the evenings, especially on Sunday and holidays. "I love chess and started this chess club to get away from the boredom of my business," said Pintu, owner of Koel Cool.

Even he does not remember when he started it. "Probably four or five years back and since then it has been going strong," he said. What started as "time pass" for a few amateurs regularly draws the city's rated and professional.

"We have tournaments on Sundays and holidays," said Pradeep Bisoi, a chess coach and rated player.

All the rated players with ranking or Elo rating between 1,600 and 1,800 take part in the tournaments. The likes of N.N. Behera, G.N. Behera, Akhaya Bisoi, P.K. Bihari match their prowess alongside newbies such as Tuna, Sonu and Papu. Under-10 Commonwealth Chess Championships runner-up Soyamsree Mohanty is a regular at the adda.

"I bringing him here because he will get valuable match practice against quality players," said the chess genius's father, Manjit.

Once the games start, there is no time limit. "We generally still play with clocks every Sundays. It could begin at 12 in the afternoon and continue till 9 in the evening," said N.N. Behera. His friend, G.N. Behera, said: "We collect Rs 20 from each participant and half of that goes towards food, while the other half is given away as prize money."

The club has three mats at present and on non-tournament days, more than 15 people can be seen poring over the boards when the games are on.

"We have sometimes played with umbrellas under mild rain," said Saroj Mallick, a banker by profession.

Enthusiasts even come from other places. "I brave the Rourkela cold every evening to come here," said Murad Khan, who lives 7km away.

Even police let them be.

"They are good people, they are not doing anything illegal. Sso we do not disturb them," said a police personnel on patrol duty.