From the outside it resembled a clubhouse, with teenagers milling in and out or just romping around. A glance inside, however, revealed something else. There the same people now faced one another across one of dozens of tables outfitted with cardboard chessboards and plastic men. Following every move, the players tapped their double-faced clocks and made notes, giving the hall a certain, Cold War-like atmosphere reminiscent of televised chess matches between Soviet and Western contenders. At the same time the absolute silence and diligence among these adolescents proved surreal.

At the front of the hall, decked with trophies, medals, laptop computers and an all purpose fax-printer-copier, stood the arbiters’ table. One of its two occupants, Georgi Zhivkov, explained that the annual, national, under-20-year-old chess championship was under way.

From February 26 to March 4, youngsters from throughout Bulgaria converged in Dobrich, at the International University College to test their mettle against their peers. This year’s tournament was organised and sponsored by Energia XXI, a local chess club, in conjunction with the Bulgarian Chess Federation. Besides under-20, matches are held at different cities and times of the year for those above it, as well as for under-18, under-16… down to under-eight, providing ample opportunity for anyone who knows the rules to have a shot at the title.

Indeed, despite its official billing, contestants here did not necessarily represent the top players from their hometowns. “I’m certainly not the best from Pleven,” Svetozar Tsekov, a 19-year-old university student, said. “I just decided to come out and compete.”

And, in fact, slightly more than half the 36 participants hailed from Dobrich itself, with most of the others coming from nearby Varna, Razgrad and Shoumen. Only two, Marina Harizanova and Nino Vlashki, made it all the way from Sofia. “Tournaments in Sofia and Plovdiv always draw lots of – and the best – players,” said Harizanova. But for them travelling to and competing in different venues is half the fun. Some, like 19-year-old Hristina Hristova of Veliko Turnovo, have even competed abroad in places like Greece, Russia and Turkey.

But, unlike the World Cup, in place of elimination rounds, all 24 males and 12 females that week had to play nine and seven games respectively against different opponents in their categories. Who plays whom – and ultimately the winners – is determined by a software programme called Swiss Manager. Zdravko Nedev, the chief arbiter, said they would enter information pertaining to each player’s performance: match results, completion time and number of moves. The computer then analyses his or her current standing, represented by a myriad of numbers.

From this their next opponents and table numbers for each round are determined and posted. In the end, the player with the most points – with one denoting a win, 0.5 a draw and zero a loss – wins. In the event of a tie, additional calculations are factored in.

For the first round, players would also determine his or her colour. They did this by choosing one of their opponent’s two enclosed fists that held either a black or white pawn. Thereafter the colours alternated. This does exert some influence on a game’s outcome. “Statistically, the white side wins slightly more often, as by convention they move first and set the stage,” said Zhivkov, who, when not officiating about four chess tournaments a year, works in his son’s advertising firm in Vidin.

Each contestant played under an allotted time of one-and-a-half hours, along with a 30-second limit per move. Yet the prizes on display consisted of two identical trophy cups, each with three sets of three medals of pseudo gold, silver and bronze, for a total of 18. Zhivkov said that in addition to the six-day Classic Tournament, they were holding a 20-minute limit per player Rapid Tournament, and the Blitz lasting all of five minutes each person. Double that for males and females.

When asked why they bothered having gender divisions for chess, Nedev, an engineer in Plovdiv in his alter-life, conceded in a subdued tone that, “if they were to compete together, hardly any girls would win”. (He was quick to point out a psychological experiment conducted in Hungary by Dr Laszlo Polgar using his own daughters as guinea pigs. To prove his theory that “geniuses are made, not born”, he and his wife trained them from an early age in the art of chess so assiduously that by their teens, all three had become international champions, frequently besting their male counterparts. Moreover, many great players score rather low on IQ tests).

At hand to witness the play-offs were some parents and local chess masters. One such person was Kosta Angelov, the Varna champ. Throughout his career, the 62-year-old has competed throughout Bulgaria and Europe. “I personally know (Anatoly) Karpov and (Vesselin) Topalov,” he said. Both men, from Russia and Bulgaria respectively, have held FIDE World Chess Championship titles. Angelov even has an autograph from the late, controversial Bobby Fischer, originally from the United States and arguably the greatest chess player ever.

With regards to training, Angelov says his formula for winning was practising against the old masters. “I teach my students to think and not just rely on computers.”

By Sunday afternoon the contestants had completed their rounds for the Classical Tournament. Adriana Nikolova (19) from Stara Zagora, captured the trophy for the females with 6.5 points (six wins, one draw). The male title went to 18-year-old Ivailo Enchev of Razgrad, who had 7.5 points (six wins, three draws).

When asked if they could share their “secrets”, they revealed that they had none. “My father taught me to play when I was six,” Enchev said. “But now I don’t have a coach per se.” As well as belonging to the chess club Abritus, he has read many chess books and plays Chess Base and Fritz 10 on his computer. It has paid off; he won last year’s championship in Rousse. Nikolova began even earlier, aged just four-and-a-half. “I just train very hard, and very often,” the National Sport Academy student said.

All the players, however, drew inspiration from Topalov and Antoaneta Stefanova, another one time FIDE world champion, in the women’s category. Along with France, the Netherlands, Hungary, Russia and Spain, Bulgaria has a strong chess tradition.

The game first appeared in the country during the First Bulgarian Kingdom (681 to 1018), having made its way from India via Persia, and the Arab and Byzantine empires. In the palatial ruins of Pliska and Preslav near Shoumen, archaeologists have unearthed what appear to be chess figurines made of bone dating back to this period. Chess became fashionable among urbanites in the late 1800s and early 1900s, and after World War 2 clubs were established in all towns and schools. The legacy continues, albeit dinted somewhat by Counter Strike.

Following a short award ceremony, the players went ahead with the Blitz. This time a number of contestants under 12, as young as seven, took part. For the next seven rounds, the sound of pieces thudding on the boards followed by the tap of the time-pieces reverberated throughout the hall. After finishing each round, the players took their clocks and went outside while the officials quickly tabulated the next line-up.

About 90 minutes later, it was all over. Once again, Nikolova secured the female title, with the male’s title going to Naiden Dobrev of Dobrich.

The following day, Monday, March 3, in commemoration of Bulgarian Liberation Day, a huge, open chess tournament took place in which 80 hopefuls knocked heads with the pros. Nikolova and Enchev along with Margarita Voiska and Peter Velikov, two of Bulgaria’s 25 grandmasters, and master Plamena Andreava circulated round the tables, pausing for a few seconds at each board before making their moves. As time went on the stops grew longer.

Although the experts won most of the games, the vanquished were consoled with 10 cm wooden, rook trophies. The seven victors received ceramic ones.

For many of the contestants, this week saw another tournament under their belts, and for some a prelude to the adult national championships, held from March 14 to March 24 in Plovdiv.