Chequered for Chess – how Liverpool  won over the Grand Masters

Over 2000 chess players and parents joined hundreds of enthusiasts as the British Chess Championship came to Liverpool this summer. With an innovative wraparound festival, organisers have praised the city’s business and wider community for supporting an event that has left a “lasting legacy” in Liverpool.

The tournament and festival was supported by Liverpool BID Company, part of its programme of using the investment made by the city’s business community to drive footfall and activity in the city. Through a subvention fund, which comes from Liverpool’s Accommodation BID and is designed to support the city’s visitor economy, support is able to attract major events to the city, encouraging visitors and overnight stays, where the benefit is felt in hospitality and the hotel industry.

In partnership with Culture Liverpool, BID helped The English Chess Federation, the governing body of chess in England and the UK charity Chess in Schools and Communities, bring the British Chess Championships to Liverpool for two weeks this summer.

Running from Thursday 31st July to Sunday 10th August, the competition brought the UK’s top Grandmasters and 100s of amateur players to the city from the UK and abroad. The junior championships brought families to the city who require hotel rooms, restaurant meals and touristic activities, to the benefit of local businesses.

The wraparound festival was designed to create “chess fever” in Liverpool. Eighteen different activities, from lectures to lessons to simultaneous displays were staged in venues, such as Liverpool Central Library, the Walker Art Gallery and Liverpool One. These served to encourage public participation and were full to capacity or overbooked.

The festival brought a boost to the city, with footfall in the area up by +5.8% v 2024. Occupancy is at 72% around St Georges Hall from 31/07 to 09/08, +9.5% on 2024.

Malcolm Pein from the English Chess Federation says,

“The two-week event was a great success, with record entries to the Championships. Many of these events leveraged the remarkable chess history in Liverpool which includes the world’s oldest active club, Liverpool Chess Club, founded in 1837.

The feedback from participants was excellent, as the tournament was held in the stunning surroundings of St George’s Hall with playing conditions that were perfect for competitive chess. The timing of the tournament, ending in the first week of August, avoided the peak periods around football matches and so competitors were able to take advantage of reasonable hotel rates for the duration.

Local politicians were engaged and even the Chancellor of the Exchequer, herself a former junior champion who competed in the ‘British’ , was regularly ‘checking in’ for updates.

It has created, he says, a lasting legacy for young children in the city.

“Chess was played indoors and outdoors, for fun, or in deadly serious competition, and by players of all ages from 4 to 93.  The championship also included disabled and blind players and the event left a lasting legacy for hundreds of children in Liverpool, as schools, libraries and youth clubs received, or will continue to receive, free chess lessons from CSC. The tournament also enabled local players to participate in high level competitions to which they would usually have to travel long distances, and traditionally do not participate in.”

“The ambition now is not only to host the British Chess Championships again, but also to bring a European representative event to Liverpool. The last time this happened was when Liverpool was capital City of Culture in 2008.”

Bill Addy is CEO of Liverpool BID Company,

“We are delighted to have supported this event and to see the hugely positive impact it has had on everyone involved. This is exactly why we support events like this through our subvention fund; it allows for real creativity to bring as many people as possible to Liverpool, gives a boost to our hospitality sector, and gives us a chance to build on a vibrant city offer”.

For the city’s hotels, it has been a positive experience. Matt Knight from Holiday Inn says it has been a great success,

“Chess has been great for us at Holiday Inn, 98.5% occupancy for the first 10 days of the month, a great success for the hotel. 10% up year on year.

Absolutely, it was a great event for us. Often the lucrative events are focussed on the waterfront locations, so nice to see events in this part of the city having an impact.”

Richard Carlin from Adagio agrees,

“We had a good number of bookings and the average stay was over 8 nights. The majority of those who came travelled from London and Birmingham. It has had a positive impact and we’d like to see it come back”