The Richmond and Twickenham Chess Club has made its home at the Adelaide Inn on Park Road, Teddington, after two months without a venue.
The club, which is a merger of the Richmond Chess Club and the Twickenham Chess Club, reopened its doors January 4th, following decades of moves and two months without a venue.
It’s been about 170 years since the very first Richmond Chess Club, which ran in the 1850s.
However, the very first Twickenham Chess Club, which also operated in the Adelaide in 1901, ended up merging with Kingston Chess Club.
The second Richmond Chess Club, which has been in existence since 1893, took its current form following the 1958 merger.
According to Richmond Council, membership of the chess club has doubled since 2020 as a result of a renewed interest in chess during national lockdowns, and the Queen’s Gambit series on Netflix.
The period drama, which was written by Scott Frank and stars Anya Taylor-Joy, depicts the story of a young girl learning to play chess whilst dealing with drug addiction and the loss of her parents.
Following the release of the show in 2020, eBay reported a 216% increase in sales of chess-related products.
Richmond & Twickenham Chess Club President Richard James, also a chess historian, is writing a series of articles about members of chess clubs in the area over the years, which are being published by British Chess News as part of the Minor Pieces series.
The weekly tournaments will take place every Tuesday night from 7.30pm to 10.30pm.
