ChessFest Portishead
ChessFest 2025 opened in the delightful coastal town of Portishead on Saturday 12th July. A new event this year, ChessFest Portishead truly took over the whole town, with 5 different activity zones:
In the Casual Chess Zone, visitors could enjoy a friendly game of chess over coffee and brunch at the fantastic Aqua restaurant overlooking Portishead Marina,
In the Elite Chess Zone, visitors could take on a chess master in a game of blitz or test their skills against IM Chris Beaumont who was taking on four players simultaneously while blindfolded!
In the Kids Zone, FunMaster Mike from ChessKid ran activities for children of all ages,
At Portishead Primary School, children from local schools took part in an outdoors chess tournament,
In Jubilee Park, 32 actors delivered two performances on our living chessboard, with commentary from FunMaster Mike.
An amazing 2,000 people visited ChessFest Portishead - nearly 10% of the town’s population - and enjoyed a day of fun, family-friendly, and free chess activities. Our huge thanks to Jane and Jack, our Bristol Regional Regional Organiser team, and to all the other tutors and volunteers who helped make this such a successful opening event.
