Saturday, 12th July 2025
CHESSFEST!!
LONDON - LIVERPOOL - HULL - PORTISHEAD!!
ChessFest 2025
Chess Fever to Take Over Portishead!
We’re thrilled to announce 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?
10.00-16.00, 12th July 2025
Chess will dominate the areas around the Marina show-casing the wonderful talents of our primary school children, demonstrations by international celebrities, simultaneous exhibitions by a local master, dramatised games with human pieces ... and much, much more!
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, including International Master Chris Beaumont. 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 re-enactments in pantomime-style costume. Possible underwater theme: jellyfish pawns, pirate kings … who knows!