Merseyside chess boom

Chess is seeing a huge boom on Merseyside, thanks in no small part to our amazing Regional Coordinator Rob Steele and his incredible team of tutors. Their hard work has led to a record 40 schools signing up to CSC’s Schools’ Programme for next year. Many of these will be taking part in our annual schools’ chess tournament held at the magnificent St George’s Hall in July.

Also in July (on Sunday 20th), Rob and his team will be putting on the fifth ChessFest Liverpool in Chavasse Park. Come along to get a free chess lesson from our tutors, play on a giant chess board, take part in a simultaneous display, and much more. ChessFest is completely free of charge and there’s no need to book - just turn up on the day. There are more details here.

The chess then returns to St George’s Hall which will be hosting the 2025 British Chess Championships (31st July - 10th August). Already confirmed are Grandmasters Nikita Vitiugov and Mickey Adams, who will be trying to wrestle the title from reigning champion, Gawain Jones. There will be a host of events running alongside the main event, including opportunities for members of the public to test their chess skills against some of the competitors. For more details, see the event’s website.

Ahead of this summer of chess, Rob and the team recently met up at Liverpool Central Library, to swap teaching tips for the classroom, make plans for some of these events, and, no doubt, play a few games of chess themselves. We look forward to reporting on the activities over the next two months.