The Saint Louis Chess Club (previously named the Chess Club and Scholastic Center of Saint Louis) is a chess venue located in the

Central West End The Central West End is a neighborhood in St. Louis, Missouri, stretching from Midtown's western edge to Union Boulevard and bordering on Forest Park with its outstanding array of free cultural institutions. It includes the Cathedral Basilica of ...

St. Louis St. Louis () is the second-largest city in Missouri, United States. It sits near the confluence of the Mississippi and the Missouri Rivers. In 2020, the city proper had a population of 301,578, while the bi-state metropolitan area, which e ...

Missouri Missouri is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. Ranking List of U.S. states and territories by area, 21st in land area, it is bordered by eight states (tied for the most with Tennessee ...

, United States. Opened on July 17, 2008, it contained a tournament hall and a basement broadcast studio before its expansion began. On September 19, 2022, all Club operations temporarily moved to the adjacent space that housed the original incarnation of the chess-themed Kingside Diner. All tournaments in the interim are held at 308 N Euclid Ave, the old Kingside Diner space, the basement of

The Chase Park Plaza Hotel The Chase Park Plaza Royal Sonesta St. Louis is a historic hotel and apartment complex located at 212 N. Kingshighway Boulevard in the Central West End, St. Louis, Missouri. It consists of two buildings - the Chase Hotel, built in 1922 by develope ...

, or at

Saint Louis University Saint Louis University (SLU) is a private Jesuit research university with campuses in St. Louis, Missouri, United States, and Madrid, Spain. Founded in 1818 by Louis William Valentine DuBourg, it is the oldest university west of the Mississip ...

History

In 2007, multi-millionaire

Rex Sinquefield Rex Andrew Sinquefield (; born September 7, 1944) is an American businessman, investor, and philanthropist who has been called an "index-fund pioneer" for creating the first passively managed index fund open to the general public Sinquefield wa ...

opened the ''Chess Club and Scholastic Center of Saint Louis''. In August 2010, Sinquefield provided seed funding to move the

World Chess Hall of Fame The World Chess Hall of Fame (WCHOF) is a nonprofit, collecting institution situated in the Central West End neighborhood of St. Louis, Missouri, United States. It features chess exhibits, engages in educational outreach, and maintains a list of ...

to St. Louis, citing the Chess Club's presence and reputation. It has been host to the U.S. Championships and U.S. Women's Championships since 2009 and the Junior Closed Championship has been held there since 2010. The STLCC features a Grandmaster-in-Residence, who provides lectures, lessons and camps for the community. The titled players who have held the position are (in order of first residency): Ben Finegold,

Yasser Seirawan Yasser Seirawan ( ar, ياسر سيروان; born March 24, 1960) is a Syrian-born American chess grandmaster and four-time United States champion. He won the World Junior Chess Championship in 1979. Seirawan is also a published chess author an ...

, Alejandro Ramírez,

Varuzhan Akobian Varuzhan Akobian ( hy, Վարուժան Հակոբյան, born 19 November 1983 in Yerevan, Soviet Union) is an Armenian-born American chess Grandmaster. Originally from Armenia, he now resides in St. Louis. He played on the bronze-medal-winni ...

Jennifer Shahade Jennifer Shahade (born December 31, 1980) is an American chess player, poker player, commentator and writer. She is a two-time United States Women's Champion and has the FIDE title of Woman Grandmaster. Shahade is the author of the books ''Chess ...

Ronen Har-Zvi Ronen Har-Zvi (born 13 October 1976) is an Israeli chess player and writer. Har-Zvi won the under-16 title at the World Youth Chess Champion in 1992. He has held the title of Grandmaster of chess since 1995. Biography Growing up in Israel, Ha ...

Irina Krush Irina Borisivna Krush ( uk, Ірина Борисівна Круш; born December 24, 1983) is an American chess Grandmaster. She is the first woman, and as of August 2022 the only woman, to earn the GM title while playing for the United States ...

Joshua Friedel Joshua E. Friedel (born December 3, 1986) is an American chess player with the FIDE title of Grandmaster. He was the U.S. Open Champion in 2013. He has had notable wins against GMs Hikaru Nakamura, Boris Gulko, Ben Finegold, Timur Gareyev, a ...

, Anna Sharevich, Robert Hungaski, Bryan Smith,

Maurice Ashley Maurice Ashley (born March 6, 1966) is a Jamaican-American chess player, author, and commentator. In 1999, he earned the FIDE title of Grandmaster (GM), making him the first black person to do so. Ashley is well known as a commentator for hi ...

, Aviv Friedman, Tatev Abrahamyan,

Mac Molner Mac or MAC most commonly refers to: * Mac (computer), a family of personal computers made by Apple Inc. * Mackintosh, a raincoat made of rubberized cloth * A variant of the word macaroni, mostly used in the name of the dish mac and cheese * Mac, ...

, Eric Hansen,

Vita Kryvoruchko Vita or VITA (plural vitae) is Latin for "life", and may refer to: * ''Vita'', the usual start to the title of a biography in Latin, by which (in a known context) the work is often referred to; frequently of a saint, then called hagiography * Vita ...

Kateřina Němcová Kateřina Němcová (born November 14, 1990) is a Czech and American chess player holding the title of Woman Grandmaster (WGM). She was women's Czech champion in 2008 and 2010. She came second in the World Youth Chess Championship of 2007 and wo ...

Robin van Kampen Robin van Kampen (born 14 November 1994) is a Dutch chess grandmaster. At the age of 14, he won the Dutch U20 Championship. He achieved his grandmaster (GM) title at the age of 16 years, 8 months and 17 days. Van Kampen has represented the Neth ...

Cristian Chirilă Cristian is the Romanian and Spanish form of the male given name Christian. In Romanian, it is also a surname. Cristian may refer to: People * Cristian (footballer, born 1994), Brazilian footballer * Cristian Adomniței (born 1975), Romanian eng ...

, Eric Rosen,

Denes Boros The Dene people () are an indigenous group of First Nations who inhabit the northern boreal and Arctic regions of Canada. The Dene speak Northern Athabaskan languages. ''Dene'' is the common Athabaskan word for "people". The term "Dene" has t ...

Elshan Moradiabadi Elshan Moradi Abadi ( fa, الشن مرادی آبادی , born 22 May 1985) is an Iranian-American chess grandmaster. He took part in the Chess World Cup 2011, but was eliminated in the first round by Leinier Domínguez. When he was 16 he wo ...

Sabina Foisor Sabina-Francesca Foişor (born August 30, 1989) is a Romanian American chess player holding the title of Woman Grandmaster (WGM). She competed in the Women's World Chess Championship in 2008 and 2017. Foisor won the US women's championship in 201 ...

, Vitaly Neimer,

Atanas Kolev Atanas Kolev ( bg, Атанас Колев; born July 15, 1967) is a Bulgarian Grandmaster of chess. His highest rating is 2602, January 2012. Kolev was the coach of the Bulgarian women's national chess team 2004–2006. Kolev and fellow Bulgar ...

, Yaroslav Zherebukh, Mauricio Flores Ríos, Jesse Kraai, Vladimir Georgiev, Pepe Cuenca,

Aman Hambleton Aman Hambleton (born 30 December 1992) is a Canadian chess grandmaster. He is a member of the Chessbrahs (a Canadian chess entertainment company), along with other grandmasters such as Eric Hansen (founder), Robin van Kampen, and Yasser Seirawan ...

Aleksandr Lenderman Aleksandr "Alex" Lenderman (born September 23, 1989) is an American chess grandmaster. He won the 2005 World Under-16 Championship in Belfort with a score of 9/10 (+8 −0 =2), becoming the first American to win a gold medal at the World Youth ...

, Tiberiu Georgescu, Steven Zierk, Dorsa Derakhshani,

Joel Benjamin Joel Lawrence Benjamin (born March 11, 1964) is an American chess player who holds the FIDE title of Grandmaster (GM). In 1998, he was voted "Grandmaster of the Year" by the U.S. Chess Federation. , his Elo rating was 2506, making him the No. ...

, Dariusz Swiercz,

Mircea Pârligras Mircea-Emilian Pârligras (born 28 December 1980) is a Romanian chess grandmaster and a two-time Romanian Chess Champion. As of November 2011, his FIDE rating is 2650, making him the 103rd player in the world. In 2007 he tied for 2nd–7th wi ...

Lázaro Bruzón Lázaro Bruzón Batista (born 2 May 1982 in Holguín) is a Cuban-American chess grandmaster. He is a former World Junior Champion, two-times American Continental champion, two-time Iberoamerican champion and five-time Cuban champion. Bruzó ...

, Yuniesky Quesada,

Alex Yermolinsky Alex Yermolinsky (russian: Алексей Ермолинский, translit=Alexey Yermolinskiy; born April 11, 1958) is an American chess player. Awarded the title of Grandmaster by FIDE in 1992, he is a two-time U.S. champion. Career Yermoli ...

Alexander Shabalov Alexander Anatolyevich Shabalov (russian: Алекса́ндр Анато́льевич Шаба́лов; lv, Aleksandrs Šabalovs; born September 12, 1967) is an American chess grandmaster and a four-time winner of the United States Chess Cha ...

Romain Édouard Romain Édouard (born 28 November 1990) is a French chess grandmaster. Born in Poitiers, Édouard has been playing chess since the age of five, and joined his first tournament in 2001. He was trained by fellow French Grandmaster Olivier Renet du ...

Evgenij Miroshnichenko Evgenij Miroshnichenko (born December 28, 1978) is a Ukrainian chess player. He was awarded the title of Grandmaster by FIDE in 2002. Miroshnichenko won the Ukrainian Chess Championship in 2003 and 2008. Also in 2003 he tied for 1st–3rd with ...

Cemil Can Ali Marandi Cemil Can Ali Marandi (born 17 January 1998) is a Turkish chess player who received the FIDE title of Grandmaster in 2017. Biography Cemil Can Ali Marandi repeatedly participated in European Youth Chess Championships and World Youth Chess Champ ...

, and

Igor Novikov Igor Novikov may refer to: * Igor Novikov (painter) (born 1961), Russian painter living in Switzerland * Igor Novikov (pentathlete) (1929–2007), Soviet Olympic modern pentathlete *Igor Novikov (chess player) Igor Oleksandrovych Novikov (bor ...

. Parligras is the only guest to teach completely virtually, during the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identif ...

. The success of the 2009–2010 U.S. Championships led the

United States Chess Federation The United States Chess Federation (also known as US Chess or USCF) is the governing body for chess competition in the United States and represents the U.S. in FIDE, the World Chess Federation. US Chess administers the official national rating s ...

to name the STLCC as the 2010 Chess Club of the Year. The USCF also recognized STLCC Executive Director Tony Rich as Organizer of the Year for both years. The STLCC holds yearly tournaments in Fischer random chess or chess960 that they trademark as Chess 9LX.

References

External links

* {{Official website, http://saintlouischessclub.org/ Chess clubs in the United States Buildings and structures in St. Louis Sports venues in St. Louis Central West End, St. Louis 2008 establishments in Missouri

History

See also

References

External links