For chess players
Manchester Chess League representing 3Cs. He also plays at many other events, including the British Chess Championship, British Rapidplay, English Rapidplay, and he’s also part of the National Chess Junior Squad.”
Members of the 3Cs meet each Thursday at St Edward’s Parish Church hall in Lees, Oldham.
Since forming in 1978 the group has become one of the major clubs in the country, with players recently qualifying for the European Team Championships.
While many of the nation’s best players are paid thousands of pounds to play in tournaments, players from the 3Cs travel using cash from the club’s coffers. Each week they pop a £1 coin in a tin at the door and nothing more.
Yet the club has produced some of the best players in the country.
Its success is down to inclusivity, according to club founder Steve Rigby.
“On the chess board they are adults,” he says. “You can get such talented children and the age is not an issue. The second you take them for granted they will beat you.”
He added: “We can be playing people who have been flown in from around the world and they are paid to come. This is Oldham – a high deprivation area – and it doesn’t half surprise people.”
Chief coach Phil Adams says the hours spent working on strategy helps young people develop a range of skills.
“They learn from their own experience,” he says. “We tell them ‘learn from the mistakes of others because life is too short to make them all yourself.”
Britain’s first-ever chess club was formed in 1817 in Manchester and it paved the way for the Manchester Chess Federation, a flourishing league which this season saw 41 teams across five divisions going into battle.
The federation has helped players such as former world championship contender Nigel Short, from Leigh, and two-time English champion Stephen Gordon, from Oldham.