The Canterbury Chess Club
History
The Christchurch Chess Club
The Christchurch Chess Club was founded in 1866 for a
telegraph match against the Nelson Chess Club. The club then became nearly
inactive until 1877, when it was revived to prepare to host the 1879 NZ Chess
Championships. Following the Championships, some disgruntled members left the
club, and the Canterbury Chess Club was born, on the 18th of October, 1879. As
for the Christchurch Chess Club, nearly the whole membership had gone to the
Canterbury Chess Club by the end of 1879, leaving the old Christchurch Chess
Club defunct.
The Canterbury Chess Club
The Christchurch and Canterbury Chess Clubs between them
have provided chess equipment and a place to play for over 150 years.
Throughout that time, many tournaments have been run by the club, including the
New Zealand championships, or Congress as it is known - as noted above, we
hosted the first Congress. The Canterbury Chess Club was also instrumental in
founding what was then called the NZ Chess Association (now called the NZ Chess
Federation) in the 1960s - the NZCA (now NZCF) was originally based in
Christchurch. The South Island Championships have been run by the Canterbury
Chess Club, whether at our clubrooms or at other venues, on many occasions as
well.
June 2009 saw a new chapter for the Canterbury Chess Club,
as the club sold its clubrooms at 227 Bealey Avenue and set up the Canterbury
Chess Trust as a charitable trust to foster chess and look after the clubrooms
and finances. The Canterbury Chess Trust bought an office in a small block at
27 Tyne Street, and the club's first night at the new premises was July 1,
2009.
The Bealey Avenue property was significantly damaged in the
major earthquake of September 4, 2010, and further damaged in the subsequent
earthquake of February 22, 2011, which saw the old clubrooms receive a red
sticker. It has since been repaired and refurbished, however.
The Club Today
The club is still situated
at Unit 9, 27 Tyne Street, Riccarton.
The Canterbury Chess
Club is currently open on Wednesday evenings from 7pm until late for tournament
games.
It is also open
every Thursday evening from 6:15pm until 9pm for beginners, social or casual
games and visitors.
Please see the club’s
Facebook page https://www.facebook.com/CanterburyChessClub
or website www.chess.org.nz for more
info.
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