ChessPoints - by Tony Robson
1 . How ChessPoints started How did it begin ? Please be patient , I shall need to take you back 4 years and tell you about Tricky Dick ' s and Sosta Cafe !
Tricky Dick ’ s
I recall how I used to visit a London coffee bar in the late 1970s where they played chess every night . Happy memories ! This venue , 515 Finchley Road , nestling in a small parade of shops in northwest London , has long been a café or restaurant under a succession of different proprietors . In those days it was the Tricky Dick ’ s restaurant and coffee bar , and remained open each night until the early hours , while the rest of London shut at 10.30 p . m .
I would frequently drop in at Tricky Dick ’ s for a coffee around 1 a . m . on my way home from working late in London before hitting the motorway north . The customers would be sitting at 3 or 4 tables engrossed in chess while sipping at their cappuccinos . I would not join them at the chessboards – I simply relaxed and watched them play . A magical atmosphere ! Maybe some of you " locals " will remember the place ? Of course , people tell me of similar venues in many countries across the globe . But Tricky Dick ’ s was the one that did it for me .
And so to the first “ ChessPoint ”… Fast forward 30 years , I am strolling through Northampton town centre . I pass this café Sosta in Abington Street and immediately have a " Finchley Road " moment ! That was my inspiration for the “ ChessPoint ”, a community venue where members of the public could simply turn up and play chess free of charge , with sets provided by the management .
So we started at Sosta Cafe ( now renamed Cafe del Sol , by the way ). We provided the management with 4 chess sets ; 2 chess clocks ; the ChessPack , a lever arch file with 30 double sided A4 matt laminated pages , covering the history of chess , famous players , and a coaching section . This is of interest to the
15 non-chess playing public as well as seasoned chess players , or beginners .
We arranged a 2-hour group session there every Monday morning from 10:00 till 12:00 , when 3 or 4 of us would turn up , sip coffee , and play . We built a small group of other interested individuals who would join us from time to time .
After a few months at Cafe del Sol , we wanted to look further afield and learn the kind of public venue that might make a ChessPoint . So we tried to get going in a variety of different venues . A library , a sports centre , an old people ' s home , a museum , a concert hall foyer , the town hall , the local university , the local hospital , a Working Men ' s Club , a hotel , various community rooms , & c .
In every case , there were problems : ( i ) We might be asked to pay to use the venue - in this case , we simply stopped going there . ( ii ) The venue might object to us using the venue at certain times . ( iii ) They might object to us talking while we were playing . ( iv ) They might argue that they could not spare tables or seats for our use . ( v ) They would not want to look after the chess sets & c for us !
We concluded that each of these places was potentially a successful ChessPoint , but needed support from the management .
2 . Who is playing chess out there ? Let us examine the take-up of chess in ChessPoint ' s home county of Northamptonshire .
The county has a population of nearly 700,000 . Established chess clubs ( affiliated to Northamptonshire Chess Association , recently readmitted to the ECF ) have in total about 110 members . So about one in every 6,000 of the population plays chess to club standard at one of the 7 clubs across the county .
Northamptonshire Schools Chess Association , with its group of dedicated helpers , manages to organise chess for a further 150 schoolchildren in a dozen schools across the county .
This places Northamptonshire well down the list of all counties in the UK in its take-up of chess . However , there are many hundreds in the community