Saturday, 12th July 2025
CHESSFEST!!
LONDON - MANCHESTER - HULL - PORTISHEAD!!
Chess Fever to Take Over Portishead!
We’re thrilled to annouce that Portishead has been chosen as one of only four national ChessFest locations – alongside London, Liverpool, and Hull.
This is an incredible honour and could become an annual celebration in our town. We will be representing Bristol too so we want everyone involved . This is a pilot for even bigger things to come !
What's Happening?
We’re telling everyone to save the date, and we’re sharing our exciting plans so you don’t miss the day!
However, please note: we are still waiting for the formal sign-off from North Somerset Council.. So, while we’re forging ahead, we may need to change venue or adapt plans if permission is delayed or denied. That said, we’ve had a lot of positive signals, and we’re optimistic this will go ahead.
Tell me more!
Okay, so there will be Five Zones across the Marina:
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Aqua Brunch Chess – informal and family-friendly all day
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Elite Chess Zone – simultaneous exhibitions, blindfold games, and top-level chess with big name players. Names to be announced later . There will be over 100 chess sets spread out over the Marina so 200 people could be playing chess at the same time.
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ChessKid and Kids Zone – with FunMaster Mike Klein himself flying in from the USA! The most popular online chess coach in the world is coming to Portishead, thanks to Chess in Schools and Communities. Chess kid teach 10 million kids worldwide and Mike klein is the brains and voice behind ChessKid so this is massive ! We will have 4 giant chess sets around the Marina.
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Junior Inter-school Championships – taking place outdoors on the courts at Portishead Primary school.
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Live Human Chess Plays – two theatrical reenactments in pantomime-style costume. Possible underwater theme: jellyfish pawns, pirate kings… who knows!
This could be the most exciting chess event Portishead and Bristol has ever seen – and you’ll be part of it. This is also a call out to volunteers !
Let us know if you’d like to help. We also need a couple of volunteers with vans to drive equipment and set up and take down.