Jabalpur embraces The Big Chess Summer Camp 2025
"The Cultural Capital (Sanskardhani)" will be hosting a first-of-its-kind Chess Camp in the city on 7th and 8th June 2025 in a shopping mall! Yes, you read it right! Jabalpur is all set to host a Big Chess Summer Camp at the South Avenue Mall this coming weekend. A camp brought to you by the community and the material designed by trainers with a self-paced learning approach, is coming to the city of Narmada, for FREE! This camp is organised by Chess Community Jabalpur in collaboration with ChessBase India and Teach Chess India. Check out the article for more details.
The Process
Back in August 2024, when Kartik and I started working on the beautiful project of the "Gift of Chess", one of our major challenges remained finding individuals with an abundance and giving mindset, who would love to serve communities and the society through distributing chess sets and bring a change in the lives of people.
As we both marinated ourselves into the process of finding "our tribe" for the Gift of Chess initiative, we crossed paths with beautiful humans and their inspiring stories on the journey. I vaguely remember one of the days when we made an Instagram post about the story of the chess sets distributed in Varanasi, when we received a DM!
An 18-year-old boy named Tanish Gupta had written to us from Chess Community Jabalpur with an interest in procuring a few chess sets to distribute to kids in their nearby slums, where they would teach chess. I never found the right time to call him for the next few days, but he kept on pursuing, and his hunger to change lives stayed with us! After sending them a few chess sets, we fell in love with the stories that were created in the city of Jabalpur.
I kind of experienced a déjà vu when we released the details on The Big Chess Summer Camp 2025 in Mumbai, on our socials. Tanish reached out to me over DM asking if they could host something similar in Jabalpur, and without a second thought, I agreed and all of us at ChessBase India and Teach Chess India were very positive about the same.
The story of Tanish and Chess Community Jabalpur is that of perseverance and willingness to create change, no matter where we are or what age group we belong to! Most of their team members are actually under 25 years of age, and their work inspires me the most!
Bringing the pieces together!
After I spoke to Tanish about the operations and logistics that go into curating a Big Chess Camp, the entire team at Chess Community Jabalpur came together and found a venue partner, that too a mall, within a week! This camp fit perfectly into the vision of their community, where they are in the process of building a vibrant, inclusive chess culture in their city, entirely on a non-profit basis.
A team of friends, volunteers, and chess players was built to work on the camp. The camp operations and logistics are completely taken care of by Chess Community Jabalpur for now, but a search for sponsors is still on! They will be supported on the ground, for managing the camp, by their friends from the Robin Hood Army, a volunteer-based, non-profit organisation.
Camp Highlights
The Big Chess Summer Camp in Jabalpur would be similar to the biannual camps that we host in Mumbai. It would be a celebration of the community coming together and sharing their mutual love for chess, as the space welcomes both an absolute beginner and a skilled chess player with equal warmth. Whether you are a 4-year-old or a 70-year-old, this space is for you to come and learn chess with the help of the volunteers and trainers who would be present at the venue to guide you! The best part of the camp:
Any and everyone from across age groups and chess experience is welcome to join
Learn at your own pace with our carefully curated worksheets that will push the limit of your neurons!
Sheets will be handpicked and given to you based on your current chess level as every sheet focuses on a specific topic.
A lot of fun interactions with the fellow camp participants and camp volunteers. Stories and people that will stay in your heart for life!
Camp Details
Date: 7th & 8th June 2025
Timings: 4 to 8 PM
Entry Fee: FREE for all
Eligibility: OPEN FOR ALL age groups and chess levels
Venue: Ground Floor, South Avenue Mall, Jabalpur
Register Now
You can register yourself through this form. Once your registration is received, you shall receive a confirmation message via email or WhatsApp.
You can also register yourself ON THE SPOT at the venue during the camp hours!
For any queries, you can contact at: 9425807513 (Nitin) and 8109288850 (Tanish)
Venue
Address: Plot No. 36, 4, Narmada Rd, adjoining Perfect Pottery, Bhim Nagar, Katanga, Jabalpur
Special Thanks
Any camp article is incomplete without the mention of some special people who come together each year, before every Big Chess Camp, to curate the camp sheets. We brainstorm, learn from past experiences, and revise our camp curriculum every time. These are the volunteers of the Teach Chess India initiative who believe in the power of chess to both change and save lives!
The Summer Camp sheets of 2025 were curated by Sagar, Amruta, Priyanka, Nithin, Shashank, Daksh, Karishma, Vidhi, Heenal, Satanick & Harsh.
Register Now for the Big Chess Summer Camp at Jabalpur
Special Note from the Author's Desk:
Jabalpur has played an important role in shaping me as a chess player and human. The first and the only time I visited this beautiful city was in 2011 for the SGFI Nationals. It was the first time in my career as a chess player to have been selected for nationals, and it meant a lot to that 14-year-old girl.
On the rest day, we went to visit Dhuadhar falls and Bhedaghat where I witnessed the majestic Narmada in two very different forms. The city and the opportunity left me inspired, and as I sat down to write this article, it all came back to me in a full circle. I started the article with "The Process" and I would like to end that sentence and this article by quoting that, "The Process is going to be your Prize" :)
Important links
The Big Chess Summer Camp in Bangalore
The Big Chess Summer Camp in Lucknow
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Bangalore gears up for The Big Chess Summer Camp
@ 05/06/2025 by Vidhi Karelia (en) |
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The Big Chess Summer Camp 2025 is coming to Lucknow!
@ 03/06/2025 by Aryan Pandey (en) |
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The Journey of The Big Chess Summer Camp 2025 in Pictures
@ 22/05/2025 by Rasika Ratnaparkhi (en) |
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Join us at The Big Chess Summer Camp 2025 from 9th May to 14th May
@ 01/05/2025 by Rasika Ratnaparkhi (en) |