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In a 13-hour chess battle in 1984, the only move that could convince Kensington resident Allan Savage to agree to a draw in a fierce match with Grand Master Alonso Zapata was the churning of his stomach.

"We could have missed the banquet if we continued," Savage explained, reminiscing on the match that stretched over two days at the New York International Chess Tournament. "I was trying to torture him back for all the torture he'd given me, but neither of us really wanted to miss the banquet so I finally gave in to the draw."

Opponents challenging Savage on Saturday better hope he comes hungry. The chess lover, who holds the rank of FIDE Master from the International Chess Federation, Life Master from the U.S. Chess Federation and International Master in Correspondence Chess, which is done through the mail, will play three opponents at once in a mini-simultaneous exhibition game at Kensington Row Bookshop. Any opponent who wants to challenge him may.

Savage is quick to point out the event is small compared to usual simultaneous exhibitions, which feature up to 40 simultaneous opponents, but the bookshop space cannot accommodate much more.

"It's just to promote chess, to get more people interested in the game," Savage said. "I think it's such a wonderful game and I think everybody should at least know how to play it."

Savage's 48-year chess career began as a 10-year-old boy in a hospital cot, when during a short convalescence his fifth grade teacher brought him a pocket chess set and accompanying teach-yourself-chess book. Savage was check-mated into a new passion.

"I guess the thing that attracted me the most is perhaps the logical nature of the game," Savage said. By day, he works at the National Institute of Health conducting disciplined, technical analysis of medical terminology, a cerebral activity Savage said dovetails nicely with his tactical chess tendencies.

"There's so many different aspects to it, there's so much that you can learn from chess. It really develops a lot of qualities, persistence, consequences — you have consequences to all your actions. You have to think ahead before you move."

In a 1985 match with Grand Master Boris Spassky — famous for his battles with the legendary Bobby Fischer — Savage said he lost because he didn't think ahead far enough, even though he was doing his best to do just that.

"I had to ask him after the game where I made the mistake, and that's very unusual at my level, you usually know when you make the mistake. It's not like I made the mistake and I lost a few moves later. I made the mistake and lost 30 moves later." Savage said. "It was a very interesting experience."

Savage spends hours poring over chess strategy in his basement study, which is stacked floor to ceiling with more than 2,000 chess books and decorated with chess-themed art. There may only be 32 pieces on a chess board, but Savage said the possibilities are limitless.

"Every game is unique and so every game there's no way to get bored," Savage said. "For most players, the more you know the more you realize there is."

Savage has done simultaneous exhibitions at the bookstore before, and Larry Wannemacher of Kensington, who watched Savage play several kids at an exhibition last spring, said the speed impressed him most.

"I was pretty amazed," Wannemacher said. "He was moving the whole time, it's a rectangle of settings that he was standing among and he would just move and move and move and wouldn't take more than a second to assess the lay of the board."

Tom Beckman, a Chevy Chase resident who also used to be active in tournament chess said though it's speedy out of necessity in exhibitions, Savage's style tends to be more analytical.

"He has a very solid style and he's very well prepared and he typically likes to surprise his opponents in the opening and that usually disorients them as they go on," Beckman said.

To beat Savage? Beckman suggests a bit of free-wheeling unpredictability.

"Try to create very muddy positions that are hard to analyze tactically, concretely. A more unpredictable, wild style is probably a good idea," Beckman said. "But I don't think the people that show up to this are really going to have a chance."

Savage said he doesn't want that to scare anyone off.

"There's always somebody better than you and there's always somebody worse than you and you can play and enjoy it."

Kensington resident and Chess Master Allan Savage will play in a mini simultaneous exhibition, taking on several opponents at one time, between 1 and 3 p.m. on Saturday at the Kensington Row Bookshop, 3786 Howard Ave. Anyone who wishes to challenge him is welcome to play.