Welcome to Seattle – the world’s capital of the grunge rock bands and now a breeding ground for chess pub events! Seven Seattle bars host chess events throughout the week: Linda’s Tavern, Pub 70, Tio Baby’s, Big Time Brewery, OAK, Halcyon Brewing, and Kings Hardware, attracting guests “with a chess problem”.
Seattle’s Chess Club community is the main culprit behind the organization of the chess parties in the bars throughout the city. The events are described as “a place to play chess and make friends”, and the organizers welcome everyone that look for a place to spend some quality fun time.
Recognizing their work, the US Chess Federation named Seattle as the “City of Chess” in 2023. Detailed information about the events and the Club can be found on their webpage.
“Almost nothing about Linda’s Tavern announces it as a venue for chess. Thereโs a shaggy buffalo head above the bar, arcade games in the back, and Taylor Swift booming above a near-constant din. Itโs not the setting one imagines for playing a famously intense game. But there are tables. And so on an otherwise quiet Monday, I watched a paradoxical nightlife phenomenon once again unfold, quite literally, at the Capitol Hill bar where Kurt Cobain was supposedly last seen.“, wrote Benjamin Cassidy for Seattle Met. The complete article can be found here.