Greetings!
Northern California is home to one of the most plentiful chess regions in the United States.   We are one of the top five states* in membership in the U.S. Chess Federation.  


We have dozens of local chess clubs in our club list that you can drop in and enjoy a casual game.   The Mechanic's Institute Chess Club   in downtown San Francisco is in fact the oldest chess club in the U.S.   If you are serious about some competition, look at our tournament page as there is a chess tournament for almost every weekend in the year.   We have several of the top scholastic players in the United States and a few of them are even World Champion caliber for their age group.

* USCF considers Northern and Southern California two different states.

CalChess Crowns 38th Annual Scholastic Champtions
by Michael Aigner
Around 1000 Bay Area youngsters descended on the Santa Clara Convention Center for the 38th annual CalChess State Scholastic Championships.
Hunter Klotz-Burwell
Denker Representative for CalChess
Participants ranged from novices attending their first serious chess tournament to a co-champion of the World Youth U12. Many wide-eyed kids were accompanied by equally bewildered parents. This turnout proves that scholastic chess still thrives in California!
Read More
CalChess accepting bids for 2013 Grade Level Championship
by Tom Langland
CalChess is now accepting formal proposals from chess tournament organizers to coordinate and manage our 2013 State Grade Level Chess Championships usually held in December.
We invite interested organizers to submit a proposal to CalChess by Saturday August 3rd, 2013, for consideration. Read More
Local Chess Stars to Battle in ChessKid.com Online National Championships!
by Amanda Mateer
My name is Amanda, co-scholastic coordinator for ChessKid.com, and I'm excited to announce that ChessKid will be hosting the 2nd Annual Online National Chess Championship, June 14th-17th 2013!
Josiah Stearman
The nation's best scholastic chess players will come together online in each respective age group to battle over the web for a national title.
Read More


6/8-9/2013
Event:  50th Annual
            Arthur Stamer
            Memorial
Addr:   Mechanics Institute
            57 Post Street
            San Francisco, CA
Rounds: 6
   Prizes: $1,600 b/50
   TC: Rnds 1-4: G/1
           Rnds 5-6: 30/90,SD/30
   Entry Fee: $45
Contact: Mechanics Chess Club
e-mail: chessroom@milibrary.org

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Re-Birth of the CCJ
The CalChess Board of Directors has voted to start publishing the California Chess Journal again. In March, Eric Schiller created a Winter 2009 issue ( see back issues), later we had well-known writer Frisco Del Rosario create a Summer 2010, up to January 2011 issue. Now we have the young and talented Aditya Kumar as editor with our January 2012 issue. Our current issue is see below. With your support, we are hoping to continue publishing an electronic version four times a year. Once we get this established, issues will be FREE and emailed to all current CalChess members.

If you are interested in receiving a copy, make sure your membership is up-to-date, by checking for your name on the Membership List. We will also publish back issues on the website, and if CalChess has the financial resources, you may see some printed issues you can pick up (for free) at your local tournament!