English Chess Forum

Is it likely to be much bigger than a telephone box?

MJMcCready wrote: ↑

Sat Jan 23, 2021 7:19 pm

Is it likely to be much bigger than a telephone box?

If it's the Tardis nobody will mind.

We are asking our young people where we work what services they want in 2035.
Long Term yes. Some 50-200-1000m property will be available.

Richard Christie. Yes, i meant where the chess venue was either owned (like Hastings) or on a log lease. Edinburgh CC is also a dedicated venue.
So New Zealand Christchurch, Dunedin,Wellington, Auckland when I was there in 1995. I guess they still exist and has not Murray Chander opened one?
The tragedy in London was that the lease on Hill's Restaurant by Liverpool Street Station was allowed to lapse in about 1955 because they were secure in the knowledge that it was moving to the newly rebuilt John Lewis in Oxford Street. Then J Spedan Lewis died before we moved in and the project collapsed. No NCC has existed since then,

Auckland Chess Centre owns its own venue but the other big Auckland clubs do not.

Murray bought a church in Devonport primarily to rent out as a wedding venue; it wasn't really used much as a chess centre and has long since been re-sold.

So we finally got the keys at the start of March. Decorating, cleaning, furnishing etc is all well underway.

Small "pilot events" in May already planned and almost sold out within the first week of advertising. The junior club advertising is also now in full swing and hopes are high of a good turnout from May onwards.

Can't wait to open our doors in May, subject to Government rules, and to finally getting this project off the ground after a long 12 months of hard work!

Our full calendar of open events will be available on the ECF website in due course, and also via our dedicated website (which we hope to have live within weeks). Hopefully the appeal of a day or weekend away in sunny Ilkley will be appealing enough for some of our fellow chess players from further afield to come and visit us in the months ahead. Our dedicated Chess Centre is humble in stature, but aims to provide the highest standards of playing conditions.

Feel free to email us at [email protected] if you would like to be registered on our mailing list for events.

Great news, congratulations!

I struggled to find any details from this thread of where this centre is, finally stumbling across the mention of Ilkley in the most recent post by Andrew W above. Was Ilkley mentioned at all previously to that? Is there a website anywhere with details or photos? I searched for "Ilkley chess centre" but nothing came up. Ah, I see the website is still under development, but there is a hint at:

https://chesscentre.online

Good luck with this worthy project. (Hopefully it will do better than the previous atttempts.)

Christopher Kreuzer wrote: ↑

Sun Mar 14, 2021 9:36 pm

I struggled to find any details from this thread of where this centre is

Hammersmith in West London are doing something that might be similar.

https://hammerchess.co.uk/2020/12/23/th ... me-is-now/

Nick Burrows wrote: ↑

Sun Mar 14, 2021 8:33 pm

Great news, congratulations!

I agree with Nick. This is great news. Congratulations and best of luck.
It is also great that it is in the North of England.

Roger de Coverly wrote: ↑

Sun Mar 14, 2021 10:45 pm

Christopher Kreuzer wrote: ↑

Sun Mar 14, 2021 9:36 pm

I struggled to find any details from this thread of where this centre is

Hammersmith in West London are doing something that might be similar.

https://hammerchess.co.uk/2020/12/23/th ... me-is-now/

Thanks Roger, I wasn't aware of this project, but it sounds fantastic. We are certainly similar in that we are doing these projects with many of the same thoughts and objectives in mind. That said a "National Mind Sports Venue" in London is certainly a scale of magnitude greater than our humble ambitions in Ilkley.

I wish the Hammersmith team all the luck in the world with their venture, and look forward to hopefully visiting their centre in the future to compare notes!

Christopher Kreuzer wrote: ↑

Sun Mar 14, 2021 9:36 pm

I struggled to find any details from this thread of where this centre is, finally stumbling across the mention of Ilkley in the most recent post by Andrew W above. Was Ilkley mentioned at all previously to that? Is there a website anywhere with details or photos? I searched for "Ilkley chess centre" but nothing came up. Ah, I see the website is still under development, but there is a hint at:

https://chesscentre.online

Good luck with this worthy project. (Hopefully it will do better than the previous attempts.)

Thanks Chris, yes I was a little reluctant in earlier posts to confirm the location until all of the paperwork was signed. We are in lovely Ilkley (on the outskirts of Leeds and Bradford). Excellent road and rail links. Over venue is a 2min walk from Ilkley Train Station.

Our website is looking excellent and will launch in the coming weeks with details of events, membership etc. Our digital experience is just as important for us as the physical experience of the centre. We are going with a custom built online platform for membership, event entry, results etc. We want our members to value being part of the Chess Centre and to recognise the benefits that this brings.

Roger de Coverly wrote: ↑

Sun Mar 14, 2021 10:45 pm

Hammersmith in West London are doing something that might be similar.

https://hammerchess.co.uk/2020/12/23/th ... me-is-now/

There's a crowdfunding campaign for it now. It's not raised much in the 10 days it's been running. There's also some information on the company behind it.

It's not clear to me what the purpose of the crowdfunding is. The project has been largely funded by Bridge players and Go. Any chess contribution would be a very small part of the total, and nowhere near enough to have any influence on the way the centre is run.

Hey Andrew, awesome to hear about your venture! Amazing work to not only start something like this, but also progress to where you have, I can't wait to visit when I'm up your way.
I probably should have thought to post on this forum prior about what is going on in London, and thanks to Ian for sharing the link above, any contributions to help make this venture successful is so amazing, and thanks for anyone who has considered or donated!

There are a number of people in the chess community who are investing directly in the centre already (and a significant number of conversations ongoing), and you are completely right, the level of investment we receive from the community is going to steer the level of influence we have have in the decision making of the centre.

At the end of the day, all of our sports have something to offer, in terms of investment, member numbers, or events, which help keep a centre like this running and commercially viable, and we are much more powerful as a collective than individually. Hopefully it will serve as a great model for people looking to do this in other places, and of course I'll be more than happy to share any insights to help.

If anyone wanted to get involved, in one way or another (investing, running events there, etc), let me know, every piece helps!

Thanks,
Christopher Skulte

Chris - There are probably more chess players than bridge and go players combined. But chessplayers are renowned as being rather cheap.
We have many more children players and that will help if you intend to have a section of the project achieve charitable status,