Chess on Trafalgar Square

by ChessBase
6/23/2026 – There are now just three weeks to go before ChessFest returns to Trafalgar Square on Sunday 12th July 2026, 12pm-7pm. Once again, this spectacular will take over the whole square for a day of free, family-friendly chess activities. ChessFest 2026 will also celebrate a unique piece of the London’s history: the 175th anniversary of the Immortal Game, played by German chess master Adolf Anderssen, just five-minutes walk away.
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Sunday 12th July 2026, 12pm-7pm, on Trafalgar Square, the chess activities, include:

  • Free chess lessons from a CSC tutor
  • Simultaneous displays by the top Grandmasters in the country including Mickey Adams and Gawain Jones
  • Giant chess sets
  • Speed chess galore in the Challenge the Chess Master tent
  • Living chess with actors, replaying famous games of chess on our giant board
  • Puzzle-rush: pit your wits against fiendish chess puzzles on ChessKid.
  • Watch chess masters battle it out in game of giant blitz, a test of skill and stamina.

This year's theme is wildlife. Will the kingfisher defeat the queen bee? You may have heard of an isolated pawn, a passed pawn, or even a doubled pawn, but you've never seen a butterfly pawn in mortal combat with a hedgehog pawn. Only at ChessFest 2026!

Now it's your move!

We want more people than ever before to visit ChessFest in 2026. Please invite chess lovers everywhere to join us on Sunday 12th July:

  • schools – please include this flyer in your school newsletters
  • chess clubs – please circulate details of ChessFest to your club members
  • everyone – please forward this to friends and family, spread the word on social media

Never played chess before? Not a problem - CSC tutors will be running free classes throughout the day for complete beginners.

Something for Everyone

Now in its 6th year, ChessFest welcomes over 20,000 people of all ages, and is suitable for chess lovers of all standards, from beginners to experts:

  • Beginners – come and have a free individual or group chess lesson with one of our amazing CSC tutors. No prior knowledge of chess required.
  • Experts – come and test your chess skills against some of England's top international players and young prodigies in either a simultaneous game or over a blitz game in our Challenge the Chess Master tent.
  • Everyone – enjoy the performances of our amazing troupe of actors on our living chess board and watch all the action broadcast on a giant screen at the foot of Nelson's Column.

For a flavour of what to expect, please see this video of our 2024 event:

No need to book – just turn up on Sunday 12th July the largest chess event in the country, a true chess extravaganza!

Britain's No.1 female player Bodhana Sivanandan, gives a simultaneous exhibition. She has beaten grandmasters, and will play in the German Bundesliga. Guess how old this girl is.

If you can't make it to Trafalgar Square, there are other ChessFest events being held around the country. The action kicks off in Portishead on 11th July and then continues in Hull (12th), Liverpool (19th) and Coventry (25th), finally finishing in Lancaster on 17th August. Keep an eye on the ChessFest website for more details or follow us on social media for the latest news.

A Historic Anniversary

ChessFest 2026 will celebrate a unique piece of the London’s history: the 175th anniversary of the Immortal Game. In 1851, German chess master Adolf Anderssen entered the game's folklore by sensationally sacrificing his queen and both rooks to force checkmate. One of the most famous games ever, it was likely played just a five-minute walk away from ChessFest at the newly-reopened home of chess, Simpson’s-in-the-Strand. Come and see Anderssen's materpiece re-enacted by our living chess set, ChessFest-style!

Trafalgar Square - How to get to ChessFest

Public transport is your best bet. The closest Tube station is Charing Cross, which goes right to Trafalgar Square. Additional nearby stations include Leicester Square and Piccadilly Circus. If you’re traveling by mainline train, the Charing Cross station is a three-minute walk away. Many buses will take you there as well. Click here for a map.

The aim of these Dvd's is to build a repertoire after 1.c4 and 2.g3 for White. The first DVD includes the systems 1...e5, the Dutch and Indian setups. The second DVD includes the systems with 1...c5, 1...c6 and 1...e6.

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Video

60m The Two Knights

This entry into the 60 minutes series concentrates on the Modern variation of the Italian game where White opens the centre early : 1 e4 e5 2 Nf3 Nc6 3 Bc4 Nf6 4 d4 exd4 5 e5!. This line can be reached by various move orders, most frequently from the Scotch 3 d4 exd4 4 Bc4. It's a sharp variation and Grandmasters such as Evgeny Sveshnikov have used it frequently,with very good results. It's a perfect line for club players to adopt which is relatively easy to learn and which contains many traps. All the main responses are covered here, including 5...d5, 5...Ng4 and 5...Ne4 and the conclusion is that is is difficult for Black to equalize in a straightforward way. Problems are being posed, which over the board might prove tough to solve.