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How Chess Communities Are Thriving Post-Lockdown: London Chess Club and UWE Chess Society Leading the Way

Skye Collacott WilliamsonLeave a comment
A close-up of a chess player wearing a brown striped sweater, thoughtfully moving a piece on a wooden chessboard during a game.
A member of the London Chess Club deliberates during a friendly game

Hands linger over chess pieces, silently debating the possible outcomes, all with a ticking clock counting down as everyone retreats into their world, but not isolated, a comfortable knowledge that chess players surround the room battling the same questions.

Perhaps they had already considered all the outcomes; even the younger children stare at the chess boards and back up at their opponents, curious about the thoughts inside their heads.

A bustling sense of community within the quiet concentration.

A lively café filled with people engaged in a chess tournament, with wooden tables and chairs, warm pendant lighting, and a relaxed yet focused atmosphere. The room is bustling with players deep in thought as they concentrate on their games.
Chess enthusiasts gather for an intense tournament in the cozy MMyElephant Park

Many members of the London Chess Club and the UWE Chess Society have only played online before; now, they can soak in the silent deliberation.

Chess.com and Lichess saw a stark rise in membership accounts during the 2020 Lockdown, and this success continued into 2022, as Chess.com reached over 100 million members.

https://public.flourish.studio/resources/embed.jschart visualization

London Chess Club Organiser Harry comments that since the lockdown and the Netflix series ‘The Queen’s Gambit’, the community has become larger and larger each year as they move from cafe to cafe.

Rows upon rows of friends, fathers and sons, and young children all sat in the MMY Elephant Park since the London Chess Club merged with the local London Knight Club in 2024.

A group of young adults seated at a table, deeply focused on a chess game. A man wearing glasses and a smartwatch ponders his move while two women sit next to him, immersed in thought. A green-and-white chessboard with pieces in play is in the foreground.
Members of London Chess Club concentrate on their next moves

Four years have passed since the end of the lockdown, and community chess clubs such as the London Chess Club and university chess societies are booming.

Co-founder of the UWE Chess Society, Edward Honey, believes the increase in online platforms will increase communication between universities, allowing arrangements such as inter-university Chess to become the norm. 

The increase in interest has led to YouTube phenomenons such as Gotham Chess, encouraging the next generation of Chess players.

President of the UWE Chess Society, James Meadows, said: “The youth of today shapes the future of tomorrow.”

Eight-year-old girl moving a chess move at the London Chess Club.
Eight-year-old Chess player at London Chess Club

An eight-year-old at the London Chess Club mentioned playing Chess for two weeks, first inspired by YouTube channels.

Her father has encouraged her passion for the game by taking her to the chess club, where Organiser Jed helps teach the young chess player.

The youthful spark of passion for strategies.

Two organisers of the London Chess Club overlooking a chess match with a person making a move.
London Chess Club Organisers, on the left Harry, and on the right Jed

The London Chess Club organises monthly tournaments for around 50 to 100 players, divided into different rating groups: Pro, Intermediate, and Novice.

Various Grandmasters have dropped the club, including Pia Cramling, Alessia Santeramo and Noel Studer.

Harry explains that a Grandmaster is a title awarded to Chess players; other titles include Female Grandmaster and International Master.

A green-and-white chessboard with white and black pieces mid-game, next to a smartphone timer showing 8:52 minutes left.
Chess transcends generations and brings players together in casual and competitive play

University can become a lonely environment, with stacks of papers piled high on desks, a new labyrinth of hallways and faces to memorise, and the grey hues of British weather threatening to unleash the rain. 

Upon walking into a room full of beginner and more advanced chess players, a warmth of light glows with the friendly welcome of the UWE Chess Society.

Individual in a light blue shirt and a navy tie playing on a plastic chess board in a timed match.
Photography Credit to Edward Honey. Edward Honey playing in a timed chess match

Co-founder of UWE Chess Society, Edward Honey, started the society in his second year with the old President; in his third year, the other committee members agreed that Edward should be President.

As the 2023/24 President of the UWE Chess Society, his primary aspiration was for the society to be a place where students can come together and improve their chess skills.

Co-founder Edward Honey said, “I just wanted it to be an inclusive place where beginners and advanced players could meet, have fun, and enjoy the game of chess.”

A member of the 2023/24 UWE Chess Society and the President of the 2024/25 UWE Chess Society, James Meadows, reflected on the society’s founding: it “started up again in 2022 because students started talking to each other when they were playing at a chess board in the engineering building.”

A chess player laughing and looking towards his friends during a friendly match.
Member of UWE Chess Society, Thomas Kitch, mid-play in a friendly match

While Chess maintains a serious reputation, the players themselves are not.

On Valentine’s Day, the UWE Chess Society had a hand-and-brain tournament instead of the more traditional format.

Hand-and-brain Chess involves two team members on each side: one person as the hand moves the pieces, and the other person as the brain voices which type of piece.

The team, however, cannot collude with each other.

Sometimes, the game can become a source of madness and frustration when one teammate takes a different direction.

But at the final checkmate, the two teammates have strengthened their understanding of how each other plays and reflected more deeply on themselves.

A close-up of a chessboard with black and white pieces mid-game accompanied by a digital chess clock on a wooden table.
The beauty and tension captured in a Father and Son chess match

The President of the UWE Chess Society, Meadows, said: “Our hand and brain events encourage players to work together, so it really helps in creating a sense of community.”

Meadows will continue the hand-and-brain tournaments to help members bond together.

Co-founder of UWE Chess Society, Edward Honey, said: “It’s a lot easier to create a competitive team from a sociable club than to turn a competitive club into a sociable environment.”

Honey arranged other social events for the UWE Chess Society, including fresher fair stalls across campus to play Chess against the 2023/24 Committee, solving chess puzzles, and a Christmas trip to Chase and Counters to bond the members.

His goal as President was always to keep the group tournaments competitive but fair and fun.

Four tables are divided into groups where players compete with a set timer, and from the tables, one player would come out to play against a different table.

The lingering over pieces to the quick touchdown and rushing to press the chess timer to begin re-considering your move or waiting for the plan to unveil.

Honey won the April UWE Chess Tournament by three points.

A focused individual chess player in a light blue shirt heavily engaged in chess with beige and black chess pieces.
President of UWE Chess Society, James Meadows, playing chess

James Meadows took over as President in the 2024/25 academic year.

If Honey had more time, he would make inter-university Chess more accessible, and Meadows has continued his work with future matches in the Bristol Chess League.

President of UWE Chess Society, James Meadows, said it “will give our players the opportunity to play competitive classical chess”, but he remains focused on creating “a real sense of community.”

Both Honey and Meadow focus on fostering a strong sense of community within the University.

A smiling chess player with a light blue shirt playing chess on a wooden board.

James Meadows strategising in a friendly game of chess

Honey returned in July after graduating with a first-class honours degree as an alum member.

President of UWE Chess Society, James Meadows, said: “I’ve known from very early on when I started playing chess that it is so much more enjoyable when the experience is shared with others… you realise that you have a lot in common with people”.

While it maintains its status as a Chess society, some members bring other games, such as Geoguesser, similar to the fostering of the game community at the London Chess Club.

An individual with a cream jumper playing Go against another player, deep in thought.
Graduate Student, Jun, playing a friendly game of Go at London Chess Club

The London Chess Club has expanded its reach to another game called ‘Go.’

UWE Chess President Meadows said: “Chess mirrors life, and we can learn a lot about life and ourselves when we play it.”

A match of Go in the corner with a sign reading 'Go Club' and a hand lingering over one of the bowls with captured pieces inside.
The Go Club inside the London Chess Club

The teacher of Go, Jim, believes the same psychology about ‘Go’.

Similar to Chess as a strategic and older game, two players place pieces down in order to capture more territory than their opponent.

Whether through online platforms, local tournaments, or social events, the game of Chess continues to unite people of all ages and skill levels, proving that its relevance in modern society is as strategic and timeless as the game itself.

A Hot Chocolate with Max Meadows

Skye Collacott WilliamsonLeave a comment

First Published via HUB Magazine when I was Culture Editor.

Date Published: 10th March 2023.

While Max Meadows has more disdain for the title of Indie Rock than coffee, he is as unfortunate as it is an Indie Rock Musician. 

If one were to meet him in person, the words whimsical, somewhat chaotic, and full of laughter come to mind. Not only is he talented at the piano, but he is also talented at erupting into laughter, so much so that you can hear him across the UWE Campus. He plays both the piano and the guitar, quite exceptionally, I may add.

Though he remarks that he does not take inspiration from other artists, I would describe his music close to The Smiths if they had more childlike wonder. While he can be seen as full of life at times, his music is much more relaxed and dreamlike, if I may use one of my favourite words: melancholy.

If you cannot tell from his music, Max Meadows is passionate about all aspects of art, whether fashion design, art itself or music. Before going into music, he considered a career in fashion, and maybe one day he will return to it. He designed the cover of his EP and “Sleepy Sally” while doodling in his notebook. If you can believe it, the cover is a drawing of Max Meadows himself before he had a moustache. Fun fact, he originally grew out the moustache as a joke for an 80s party, and has kept it ever since.

Not only is Max Meadows a songwriter, but he is also a poet. However, he has only shown me one Haiku, so the jury is still out on that. It is extraordinary and beautiful that his creativity clearly drives him when he writes a poem, rather than having a strategic plan before going into it, even though sometimes he doesn’t know if it will become a song. While some songs may originate from poetry, others come from wandering about the riverbanks and seeing a boat called “Lady Chloe”.

It is to be said that his interests are leaning towards film and away from poetry at the moment. When asked about possible future music videos, he vaguely replies that maybe after he has remastered his EP. Like anyone with a strong passion for art, he has an idea for music videos, but he has yet to determine how he will execute them. He is determined to one day reproduce his old EP now that he has learnt more about music production. He is driven to produce music videos for his EP once he learns more about camera work.

One day Max Meadows would also like to dip his toes into the genre of Jazz. He will probably have to learn more instruments first. Though he is a grade six alto saxophone player too. 

My favourite from Max Meadows’ “Candy Tide” EP is “My Lonely World”. It feels like being transcended into a dream. I will honestly be surprised if this does not make it into my Spotify wrapped. The melody feels like a warm or perhaps even a hot chocolate with Max Meadows. This song radiates the same warmth as the singer himself. The mixture between the soft sounds on the guitar, the playful sound of the piano, and the enchanting singing, along with the echoing effect of the voice on the track. The chorus makes the song relaxing, creating the feeling of home and safety.

Although, if you want a groovier vibe, may I suggest either “Candy Tide”, the EP’s namesake, “In a Dream” or “Nocturnal Love”. Stanley Ward on the drums makes “Nocturnal Love” very different from the rest of the EP, and it is beginning to be one of my favourites. Both “Lady Chloe” and “Lucy” mimic each other by the repetitive nature of the continuous singing of the names.

The most beautiful and perhaps, the best song on the album belongs to “Sleepy Sally”. It is a breathtakingly beautiful, yet a heart-aching song and the chorus will get stuck in your head for hours. Ironically the chorus keeps me up at night with it playing in my mind. 

Max Meadows’ “Candy Tide” is an EP that I would recommend as you stare at the ceiling with some dim lights on and just allow the music to flow through you.  

The Clandestine Existence

Skye Collacott WilliamsonLeave a comment

First Published via HUB Magazine when I was Culture Editor.

Date Published: 12th February 2023.

Photography by Skye Collacott Williamson.

Dearest reader,

I went too far this time.

I lay crestfallen on the wooden ledge overlooking the moors, and the clock in my room continues ticking. The raindrops on the window drowned in my misery. I am terrified to look at myself in the mirror, scared to be greeted by the woman I had become. The memory of unravelling her braids lingers in my hands. Her beauty was remarkable.


I hadn’t seen Rosalina in a month, and I knew it would be easier if I never did. Anxiously pondering over my mistakes would not achieve anything.


My husband is the love of my life in every way that matters. Father of my children, friend and first love. Benedict taught me how to love and that I could be loved. He built me a house, layering the stones of memories and decorating it with his love for me. Nevertheless, Rosalina – dearest reader, I cannot resist – planted her seeds of ivy over the walls. They grew subtle at first. However, each year, the roots grew deeper into the stones until they began to crack and crumble under their force. Until I am left as nothing but encapsulated by her, covered in her ivy, covered in our clandestine love.


I silently crept out of my house. My blue coat kept out the rain as I galloped through the moors. I continued until I was far enough to barely see the house, the newfound solitude, allowing me to finally scream everything that had been building inside of me for twenty-five years. The moors served as freedom, allowing me to remain unapologetically me. I would never have her love to keep; the thought maimed me. Then, when I was gasping for air, smiling at the heavy feeling in my lungs, I heard another horse approach and race past me. A dash of purple awakens me, I spur my horse even faster to catch up to her. I couldn’t let her disappear again into the fog.


“Rosalina,” I shouted, desperate even as the wind covered my sound.


The fog blurred lines in my mind, making it difficult to navigate. My entire life, I realised, mirrored fog. Only when I see her face does everything come into focus, into colour.


I had doubts about whether she had ever seen or heard me, but I knew I could not stop my shouting. Perhaps, dearest reader, it was by my distraction or despair to see my love leave me again. But as we approached the forest, I missed a low-hanging branch and came crashing, hard, to the ground in a breathless pile of a broken heart.


It must have been the loud snap that caught Rosalina’s attention.


It maimed me to love her, but is that not what love is? To be consumed by emotion, not to see reason? If love was rational, I did not want it, my dear reader. I’d rather bleed from the thorns of love than the curse of my own mind plaguing me forevermore in the question of whether she had been my great love.


She reached out her hand. Still breathless from the fall, I could not help hesitating and being enticed by the beauty in front of me. She had silk lavender gloves, a fact I noticed as I accepted her hand. Yet, perhaps it was my rampant imagination, but I could still feel the warmth of her skin against mine. This single thought cursed me speechless. Rain dripped from her eyelashes and chin, refocusing my attention on her cherry lips, slightly shivering from the cold rain. The look in her eye was not one of the stolen stares we frequently shared across crowded rooms, but vulnerability.


“I wish not to talk”, she retreated her hand from mine and turned her back on me.

This must be the cruellest of fates, not to talk to the person you desire most intimately in this world. To burn for someone and not reveal your friendship’s true nature. I could not hold the truth back anymore, nor did I desire to.


“I thought it was my title, my duty, my faith, I cannot live without.” I stepped towards her, shouting against the beating rain, “But it is you, whom I cannot and will not sacrifice.” Although her back remained turned against me, her head angled as if to listen to my pleas. “You maim me a million little times until I cannot breathe, and yet I still burn for you. You above all others. I am yours and always will be, Rosalina. I would ruin myself, but I shall not bear witness to my dearest children receiving the same fate…”


“I will not make do under any false pretences”, she interrupted me. The wind blew down her purple hood to unleash her wild curls. She held her hand over her heart with the other on top to comfort her as she breathlessly said, “your faithless love is a scar that opens eternally”.


I reached out to her, but I stopped myself, “You are like the rose bushes I pass by every morning. Your beauty draws me in, but no matter how hard I try to avoid their thorns, I pull away maimed.”


She shook her head. It isn’t enough. Anger bottled up so long inside of me. I am drenched head to toe in the water. I scream to the sky and curse it for granted, my love for her and yet taking away my ability to be with her.


“Look at this godforsaken mess you made me; I am bleeding my love for you.” I shouted at her. She appeared stunned at first until she stepped toward me, closing the space between us then placed her hand on my cheek.


“I have nothing else to say, except I love you. I have spent 10 years denying this damning fate.” She stroked my cheek with her thumb, “Marianne, I don’t want to do it anymore”. I pulled her closer to me. I am intoxicated by the smell of lavender and cinnamon. I stared into her beautiful eyes.


“You have bewitched my mind for ten years, I promise till I’m lying on my deathbed to truly, completely love you and spend the rest of my life making up for lost time”. She kissed me gently at first, but as the rain intensified, so does the kiss.