Hey guys,

very long time no talk I hope this place has not completely died during that time!

So, long story short, I am an ex-serious player (I still play sometimes obviously, one can't just quit chess) who very much loves the game and for years now I've been dreaming of opening up a chess academy and/or chess club in my city/country. That's all it was, just dreams, and occasionally brainstorming on how exactly I would proceed with that, but nothing really serious.

Well, I've been getting really fed up with my career in law lately and been thinking about the academy (let's call it that, for simplicity purposes) more and more. Thinking about potential coaches, potential curriculum, monetization, premises, etc. Still nothing super concrete or serious (it's really hard to make a decision to drop a decently well paying career for something like that), but I feel like I am slowly getting there There is definitely a niche for this where I am at and I believe that the academy would do well, if done the right way.

So, where I would like to ask your input at this stage (probably more input in the future, but for now let's limit it to this) is the premises. If I will ever do this, I will definitely want to do it "right" and invest to the most of my financial capabilities to make sure that the premises are nice, etc., and not some dilapidated dump. But as I am scouring the market for potential premises to either rent or buy, I realized that even though I have some vague ideas/visuals of how it could look, I could definitely use some guidance/ideas/visuals as to what would actually constitute nice premises for a club/academy/how it should be laid out, etc..

I started googling just some names of a few clubs that I know, but they usually have only a few pictures of the inside, if any. Of course the gold standard is St. Louis Chess Club, but there are not that many pictures of how it looks or if there are, it's just separate rooms, but not the entire place, so it's hard to visualize how the entire place looks together. I also checked out Memphis Chess Club, which had quite a few pictures and does look quite nice, even though it is more of a casual chess club/cafeteria type thing and would not be well suited for academy part of it (but might still piggyback some ideas from that!)

So, guys - maybe you know and can share websites of some chess clubs/academies that you know where it would be possible to just see how they look on the inside/how the premises are laid out, etc.? I realize there won't be floor plans or anything like that, but basically, the more pictures, the better Thanks!

Chessmax academy has a virtual tour: https://www.chessmaxacademy.com/about-us/

Not really what I was expecting, to be honest, but definitely unique and quite interesting

You might be able to use Google maps / Street view to see the outside of places.

Some others to look at:

http://www.fairfieldcountychess.com/ourfacility.html

https://www.charlottechesscenter.org/

https://atlchessclub.com/

Ben Finegold talks about starting his chess center, starts at 25:30



He had to close due financial difficulties, but someone else appears to be taking over:



Some of my friends tried to start one. They knew a lawyer with a small firm who let them use his meeting rooms on weekends, for free at first. But these guys kept their day jobs and I don't think they really tried hard enough to promote the business, so when the lawyer started charging a small rent, they decided not to continue.

Tim, thank you very much for this, I will check them all out!

I have to say I find it hilarious that I wrote in my post that I don't expect floorplans or anything like that, and literally the first link Tim gives has an actual floorplan.. Wow.

But that's the thing - without knowing the names of actual clubs/academies it is like searching for a needle in a haystack. Already glad I decided to look here for help

I will say I have no idea how the Fairfield club affords that building. Physical locations come with huge expenses.

The most successful (longest running) in-person chess instruction businesses I know of do not have a full time physical location. They do one or more of the following:

1. Rent meeting space for an hour or two a week and hold classes.
2. Coordinate with schools to set up after-school classes in their facilities.
3. Private instruction in student's homes.

By hiring instructors to do all these, you can break out of the situation where you only get paid for the time you personally spend working. But this may be unsatisfying to you, since you don't even have to know how the horsey moves to do this.

If you like doing 3 yourself, then 1 and 2 can serve as a feeder system for that, as the most promising beginners will be the ones likely to seek private instruction. This can also be a way to get started on a path to eventually having a full time location.

Some examples of these businesses:

https://chessnuts.org/
https://premierchess.com/
https://chessintheschools.org/
https://www.littlehouseofchess.com/

Even when this forum is dead it's still great lol!

I have nothing to post that will help.

But I think this is an amazing idea and really hope you can go for it and pull it off well!

Frankly, everything about your academy has to be focused on kids. Parents have the money and time to drop their little future geniuses off for some development/babysitting. Your program should focus on constantly making it possible to announce successes for the parents to put on social media "Little Johnny just reached level chess star!".

It might be cynical, but for it to be a real financial success, the teaching and improvement of the actual chess is probably not in the top 10 things to care about.

chess might be too narrow........ didn't read what you wrote in too much detail

I might expand it to math, math contests, basic coding, sciences, tutoring....... anything to layer more services on a fixed cost base.

I put these down purely for info...

1) didn't many of the wave of old time poker tv celebrities get their start at the Mayfair Club in NYC? which I think was chess club, but also did poker and backgammon... and when I say "old time", I mean they were old-time poker players when the TV poker boom began in 2003

2) rex sinquefeld sp? has put huge amounts of money into making St. Louis a major chess hub.. I'm guessing you knew this.

3) maybe check what/where chess is at in schools.... a unicorn-valuation tutoring company near to where I live signed up the school boards, not the parents. and then probably expand into parents through the school boards.

4) look into money and the demographics of different target markets...

I concur on the babysitting comment...

make sure you have the credentials (whatever they are.. .official or unofficial) to babysit kids.. I'm sure there's all kinds of admin/paperwork related to this these days.

ok, I read your full OP comments..

Chess is too narrow.. but good starter if you are passionate about it.

Our local club is based in a church ran by the padre and church volunteers. It is kids/community focussed club where they learn following a programme, basic rules, checkmates, openings etc becoming more and more advanced. At the competitive end there are former strong competition players who analyse games, inform about tournament etiquette etc. Eventually there should be a competitive team at one end and intro programme for youngsters at the other, with all stages in between. Main thing is that it is community focussed and brings all kinds of people in. Other clubs charge to play but this is only to cover costs I think. I dont see how a business model could be feasible unless you operate around yuppie families with loads of cash and spoiled kids .

Bump.

In terms of the actual facility, the key word is "open". If you're dealing with kids, the place has to be very open concept so there's no chance (or perception of chance) that a kid is going to be in enclosed rooms alone with an adult, for your protection and for theirs. In my mind, an ideal chess academy is a giant room that is super well lit, decorated with GM pictures on one side, and a wall of student accomplishments on the other, a trophy case. One office for administrative purpose only - a desk and a couple of chairs with a window out to the floor. Washrooms. A storage room that no student should ever enter. That's it.

You're probably better off looking at local daycares for ideas than the st Louis chess club tbh.