When Iulia and I took on the organisation of Leominster Chess Club in December 2023 we believed that players were out there in the local area and that if we did a good enough job we could build a thriving chess community in Leominster.
We’d never done anything like this before, we had lots of ideas but no practical experience in organising a club. We started with a list of things we felt we needed to do in order for the club to begin: chess sets, a venue, a website and some marketing.
We found a great venue at Leominster Community Centre, we wanted to be a club that was welcoming to everyone regardless of age or experience and we think the community centre is the perfect place for this. We were able to source some chess sets from a previous club that ran in Leominster and we added a few more, cautiously optimistic that we might need them. We set up the website, Facebook page and had flyers printed, which we distributed around the local area.
After all this work we still had no idea if anyone would actually turn up, did anyone around Leominster actually want to play at a chess club? As our January launch date approached we were about to find out…
Tuesday 9th of January we launched (with chess themed cupcakes!), with four tables and eight boards. To our surprise and delight we filled every board and welcomed a broad range of players. After only a few weeks it became apparent that the room was too small for us, and we upgraded to the larger hall where we play today.
When we were looking to establish a club in Leominster we reached out to established clubs in the area to ask for advice. Hereford Chess Club were extremely welcoming and supportive, they gave us plenty of advice on getting started and we continue to collaborate with them on events today.
In March 2023 Iulia and I went along to Hereford Chess Club with several other Leominster players to take on GM Keith Arkell in an exhibition simul. This was a fantastic experience, we both made it through the opening but it will surprise nobody reading this to hear that we were no match for a seasoned Grandmaster!
Since the first weeks of the club we’ve welcomed young players – both with chess experience and completely new to the game. Young players bring an energy and excitement to the club and we feel privileged to be a club that can welcome and support players as they build their skills. In May 2023 four players from Leominster Chess Club took part in the UK Chess Challenge Herefordshire Mega Final under 18s tournament. This was a brilliant experience of tournament chess for these young players and something we would love to do more of in the future.
With the club going from strength to strength we looked for ways to keep our players engaged by hosting events that kept things fresh. In June we welcomed players from Hereford Chess Club for a friendly match, this was the first time we had ever hosted a match and while there was some learning on our part, the players all did brilliantly.
Another club who provided advice and support early in our journey was Worcester Chess Club and we were very pleased to also host a match for them in June, with team Leominster scoring a win of 6½ -2½.
We kept the club running every week through the summer – consistency was really important to us and thanks to support of our players and family we always had somebody on hand to have the doors open, boards out and kettle on the boil!
In July we held our very own simul match with the Shropshire Chess Club champion Nathanael Paul. Nat took on thirteen boards at the same time and humbled us with a score of 12½ – only a single draw for team Leominster! Everyone had a great time and we hope to do this again in 2025.
In August we partnered with the Regency Chess Company to offer our players a discount on chess products through their website. They also kindly donated a chess set to the club which we raffled off – congratulations to Craig Byron who got to take this lovely set home!
In the late Summer we joined Hereford Chess Club to reestablish the Herefordshire Chess Association, an exciting step in growing chess in the county. We are proud to be able to contribute towards this and look forward to doing more in the future.
With the end of the year in our sights our players were asking about competitions – we thought it would be fantastic to have a club champion, so we set about organising a small tournament for Leominster Chess Club players, which would result in the award of a ‘club champion’ title.
The Leominster Chess Championship 2024 kicked off on the 5th of November. We played eighth rounds of Swiss with the four highest scoring players then proceeding to knockouts. The semi-finals and finals were played over two weeks with a standard and juniors section which ended in Stephen Priestley and Lewis Mears being crowned our new Leominster Chess Club champions!
It’s been an incredible journey this year. We’ve built something amazing but we could not have done it without the support of each and every one of you, our players. Leominster Chess Club is for you and we look forward to playing many more games in 2025.
Merry Christmas and Happy New Year,
Ben & Iulia
Leominster Chess