Club Re-Opening! Monday and Friday Nights at Temporary Location,

Good news – the Club will reopen for in-person chess next week! Our new temporary location is 7212 Woodlawn Avenue NE, Seattle at Orlov Chess Academy. On Monday June 14^th we will be open 7-10:30pm for casual chess. On Friday June 18^th we will hold a USCF-rated tournament which starts at 8pm sharp (please arrive by 7:45). If all goes well, we will continue this schedule going forward.

·         Monday casual – This is like a meet-up. Play with whoever is there. Chat during and between games (“Why did you take the bishop? You could have…”, “How ‘bout them Mariners?”). Come and go as you like.

·         Friday tournament – This is our regular old Friday tournament: One game, 40 moves in 90 minutes, then 30 moves in 60 minutes. (It will seem excruciatingly slow if you have gotten used to the fast pace of lichess!) The tournament director (Fred) assigns opponents; clocks and score sheets are used. USCF rated, a US Chess membership is required.

·         Sign up: This space is smaller than our old offices, and social distancing is still necessary. Maximum capacity is 20. So for now you need to sign up to indicate your intention to attend on Monday and/or Friday. Please send me an email at [email protected]. First come, first served.

·         Hygiene: You must be fully vaccinated to enter the premises. Also, in an abundance of caution, we recommend that you wear a mask. The tables and chairs will be disinfected, and hand sanitizer will be available.

·         Location and parking: The location is one block above Green Lake, a few doors along from Rosita’s Mexican restaurant and 1 block from PCC Greenlake Village. On-street parking only. It is challenging! There is paid underground parking below the PCC, which I believe is open to the public.

·         Lichess Wednesday: We will hold our usual rapid arena on lichess.org next Wednesday June 16^th. We’ll continue with that when we reopen for in-person chess if there’s enough interest.