ST. LOUIS — The U.S. Chess Federation, a nonprofit governing body for chess players and supporters, plans to move its headquarters to St. Louis from Crossville, Tennessee, sometime this year.
The organization said last week its executive board unanimously chose to relocate to St. Louis and that no incentives were offered to U.S. Chess to make the move.
"With the world-class chess activities in St. Louis, including the Saint Louis Chess Club’s decade-long string of hosting U.S. Championship events, we are excited about being positioned to better deliver on our nonprofit mission with this move," U.S. Chess President Mike Hoffpauir said in a statement.
St. Louis is home to the World Chess Hall of Fame as well as the St. Louis Chess Club, which was founded in 2007 by political donor, philanthropist and financier Rex Sinquefield. The St. Louis Chess Club opened in 2008 at 4657 Maryland Ave. in the Central West End, where it is expanding from 6,000 to 20,000 square feet. The World Chess Hall of Fame, founded in 1986 by the U.S. Chess Federation, moved several times before shutting down in Miami in 2009. Sinquefield and his wife, Jeanne Sinquefield, funded the museum's relocation to 4652 Maryland Ave. in St. Louis in 2011.
U.S. Chess hasn't yet chosen a specific location in St. Louis, however it plans to lease space and is assessing its current inventory and "will have a better sense of space needs in a few months," Executive Director Carol Meyer told the Business Journal in an email.
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