Saint Louis Chess Club

38°38′40″N 90°15′40″W 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 in St. Louis, Missouri, United States. Opened on July 17, 2008,[1] it contained a tournament hall and a basement broadcast studio before its expansion began.[2] 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, Il Monastero at Saint Louis University, or the World Chess Hall of Fame.

History

In 2007, multi-millionaire Rex Sinquefield opened the Chess Club and Scholastic Center of Saint Louis.[3] In August 2010, Sinquefield provided seed funding to move the World Chess Hall of Fame to St. Louis, citing the Chess Club's presence and reputation.[4]

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.[5] The titled players who have held the position are (in order of first residency): Ben Finegold, Yasser Seirawan, Alejandro Ramírez, Varuzhan Akobian, Jennifer Shahade, Ronen Har-Zvi, Irina Krush, Joshua Friedel, Anna Sharevich, Robert Hungaski, Bryan Smith, Maurice Ashley, Aviv Friedman, Tatev Abrahamyan, Mac Molner, Eric Hansen, Vita Kryvoruchko, Kateřina Němcová, Robin van Kampen, Cristian Chirilă, Eric Rosen, Denes Boros, Elshan Moradiabadi, Sabina Foisor, Vitaly Neimer, Atanas Kolev, Yaroslav Zherebukh, Mauricio Flores Ríos, Jesse Kraai, Vladimir Georgiev, Pepe Cuenca, Aman Hambleton, Aleksandr Lenderman, Tiberiu Georgescu, Steven Zierk, Dorsa Derakhshani, Joel Benjamin, Dariusz Swiercz, Mircea Pârligras, Lázaro Bruzón, Yuniesky Quesada, Alex Yermolinsky, Alexander Shabalov, Romain Édouard, Illia Nyzhnyk, Evgenij Miroshnichenko, Cemil Can Ali Marandi, Igor Novikov, Joshua Sheng, Benjamin Bok, Victor Mikhalevski, Melikset Khachiyan, and Akshat Chandra. Parligras is the only guest to teach completely virtually, during the COVID-19 pandemic.

The success of the 2009–2010 U.S. Championships led the United States Chess Federation 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.[6]

Since 2013, the STLCC has held the Sinquefield Cup, a super-GM tournament consisting of many of the world's strongest grandmasters. In 2014, the tournament was the strongest in history (by rating), with an average rating of 2802.

The STLCC holds yearly tournaments in Fischer random chess or chess960 that they trademark as Chess 9LX.[7][8]

Allegations of sexual assaults

In March 2023, the Wall Street Journal reported that numerous women have accused former resident grandmaster Alejandro Ramirez of sexual assaults occurring during Club events. Ramirez then resigned from all affiliation with the Club. The Journal says that Chess Club officials have known of allegations against Ramirez for at least eight years.[9][10]

In August 2023, the Wall Street Journal reported that leading chess platforms chess.com and Lichess would no longer provide support for the St. Louis club, nor would they cover its tournaments, due to the sexual misconduct allegations.[11]

See also

References
  1. Fagone, Jason. "The Queen's New Gambit: Chess as a Great American Spectator Sport". Wired Magazine. Retrieved April 3, 2013.
  2. Williams, Erin. "St. Louis Scores A Checkmate For International Students". St. Louis Public Radio. NPR.org. Retrieved April 3, 2013.
  3. Our Beginnings. Archived April 17, 2013, at the Wayback Machine Retrieved October 29, 2013.
  4. About the Hall of Fame. Retrieved October 29, 2013.
  5. Munz, Michele (January 31, 2011). "St. Louis chessman shows he's the grandmaster". St. Louis Post Dispatch. Retrieved April 3, 2013.
  6. Hough, Randy. "USCF Recognizes Leaders at Awards Luncheon". uschess.org. USCF. Retrieved April 3, 2013.
  7. "2020 CHAMPIONS SHOWDOWN: CHESS 9LX".
  8. "Champions Showdown Chess 9LX: Carlsen and Nakamura share first place". September 14, 2020.
  9. Beaton, Andrew; Robinson, Joshua (March 7, 2023). "How Sexual Assault Allegations Against a U.S. Chess Grandmaster Went Unaddressed for Years". The Wall Street Journal. Archived from the original on May 14, 2023. Retrieved May 20, 2023.
  10. Doggers, Peter. "The Wall Street Journal: 8 Women Accuse Ramirez Of Wrongdoing". chess.com. Retrieved May 20, 2023.
  11. Svensen, Tarjei. "WSJ: Chess Platforms Halt Relationships With Saint Louis Chess Club". chess.com. Retrieved August 19, 2023.
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