Six Months into CheckMate Experiences
Today, CheckMate Experiences is six months old. We incorporated in March, but the story started well before that: from Sam and me meeting as 11-year-olds on national duty against the Dutch, to various volunteering roles in chess from Battersea to Brazil, and then our first chess retreat last November. So we wanted to take a quick look back at the journey so far and say thank you to everyone who has been part of it.
What we've been up to
It's been a packed six months. We've now coached more than 350 kids across four locations, and built a growing community of adult players along the way:
Our free Saturday club at Battersea Library, now running for nearly three years and regularly welcoming 25 kids
Weekly clubs in Battersea, West Norwood and London Bridge, with Islington coming soon
Big Sunday sessions at Hotel Rafayel, mixing serious coaching with friendly competition
Two weeks of summer camp at Hotel Rafayel, kept light and fun with chess, drama games and sport, with a second venue in Borough joining for October half term
A bootcamp ahead of the British Championships for our strongest juniors, which paid off: Louis finished 3rd nationally in his age group, and Max placed in the top 6 at a very strong adult event
Our second retreat at the Redfield Centre, Buckinghamshire, mixing chess with yoga and mindfulness, with IM Adam Taylor our special master guest, following GM Matthew Wadsworth at our first
CheckMate Lates, our social chess night for adults, now two nights in at Hammerton Brewery, with a coaching corner, a knockout tournament and plenty of pints in between - come for one of our custom beer mats, stay for the chess!
The moments that stuck with us
Our stall at the Bermondsey Street Festival was packed from start to finish. We taught plenty of kids their first moves, met some really lovely families, and enjoyed watching people of all ages sit down together and bond over a game.
Over the summer, three-time British Champion GM Jonathan Rowson brought his son to one of our camps and kindly gave a lesson to the whole group. Watching a room of young players learn from one of the country's great players was really special.
We were also lucky to welcome IM Danny Rensch, Chief Chess Officer at Chess.com, to Battersea Chess Club. After his talk, he took on a simul, and a few of our kids gave him a real game. My own game against him is one I'll remember for a long time! We've also been enjoying his memoir, Dark Squares: How Chess Saved My Life, and would certainly recommend it.
And then there are the smaller wins that happen every week: kids delivering their first checkmates, children beating their parents for the first time (and making sure everyone hears about it), retreat guests winning their first games online, and others breaking the 1000 barrier on Chess.com. We were especially proud when one of our own students went on to win the Lates Knockout tournament.
A crash course in everything business
Chess coaching is where we're at home, but running CheckMate has been a crash course in everything else: marketing, bookkeeping, website building, partnerships and a hundred other things we didn't know we'd need to know. We've made plenty of mistakes, figured things out as we went, and been lucky to have a lot of generous people help us along the way.
What's next
We have bigger plans for the next six months: more classes, more camps, more schools, more socials, more retreats, and more ways for people of all ages to get into chess. We can't wait to share them with you.
Watch this space!
The CheckMate Team
