BREAKING NEWS
Leeds Chess Club & Bradford Renaisance strategic partnership.
Charles W. Wood
Born 1970, son of a textile working family and brought up on the Council Estate of Thorpe Edge. He was deaf until the age of 9, at which point he had become quite a good chess player after being taught by his father. Sadly due to coaching costs being so high at the time he had to give up his chess career as the family couldn't afford it. In 1992 Charles returned to chess and has a great career as a team captain and founder of over 8 new clubs and the most successful academy in Yorkshire history. As Managing Director of the Renaissance Academy he is now on a mission to deliver chess to all and anyone who would normally get chance to play in this intensive sport, but along the way all who ask.
Renaisance Academy.

The Renaissance Academy was set up at the beginning of 2007 to help develop chess for people under the age of 25, people with impairments and within the wider community in general. The Renaissance is a company Limited by Guarantee which enables it to apply for funding to help pay for coaching across West Yorkshire. Running six tournaments a year, 8 leagues teams, and coaching in 350 sessions per year. The Academy has already trained over 800 people how to play chess and is in the process of introducing the new players to captivating world of Chess Leagues, Congresses, Grading, and Certification programmes.
The clubs:
This club is basically Leeds Chess Club but playing in the Bradford League, I am the captain and organizer as I am for Leeds Chess Club in Leeds. The name seems quite fitting for us and 174 is the number of years that Leeds Chess Club has been active for, since we are the longest running chess club in Yorkshire we may as well brag about it! Leeds 174 Insurgents is entirely my club and I take all responsibility to run this club and make sure we have a full team every week!
This team has absolutely nothing to do with Leeds Chess Club, Chaz Wood of Bradford Renaissance takes full responsibility of this team but with the idea of possibly recruiting some juniors that may eventually transfer to Leeds Chess Club in the future. Unfortunately, because this team has nothing to do with me at the moment, Chaz Wood is struggling to run it. There are two options, either I take this club off his hands and do something productive with it or, ask Chaz to omit Leeds from the name and just call them The Owls. I'm going to give him a few more weeks to see if he can make a team out of it but as he's now defaulted 2 out of 2 matches, I think it's a good idea to make a decision on this very soon!
This strategic partnership can only help both chess in Leeds and Bradford to grow!
"When you see a good move, look for a better one." - Emanuel Lasker.