Welcome to the City of Bangor International Chess Club! We are the region’s longest continuously running chess club, established in 1966. We are also the largest chess club in Northern Ireland, attracting international members from all across the world, from India, Kazakhstan, USA, Canada, France, Poland, Hungary, Ukraine, England, Scotland and of course Ireland!
We are a super friendly chess club and our biggest attraction is the number of FIDE rated tournaments we run each month. FIDE is the International Chess Federation and it celebrated its 100th Anniversary in 2024. We hold a FIDE blitz once a month, as well as rapid and classical events throughout the season.
Our membership grew to 104 players in January 2026, with ages ranging from 7 to 87. Due to capacity issues at our venue, we introduced a waiting list for new adult members. Newcomers are still very welcome to make contact and we will try our best to bring you along to one of our events, if not our weekly Thursday sessions, then our Friday and Saturday events (which normally occur once a month). We average 4-5 new players every month asking about club membership and it always creates a real buzz in the hall when newcomers arrive! Come and join us and feel the warm atmosphere and incredible magic at our much-loved chess club.
The club runs for 8 months from September to April each season with a 4 month summer break during the months of May/June/July/August. Please click on the ‘Upcoming’ page which details all our events each week.
