{"id":28440,"date":"2025-03-05T08:42:34","date_gmt":"2025-03-05T14:42:34","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.paulryburn.com\/blog\/?p=28440"},"modified":"2025-03-05T08:42:34","modified_gmt":"2025-03-05T14:42:34","slug":"7-reasons-to-love-memphis-chess-club","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.paulryburn.com\/blog\/2025\/03\/05\/7-reasons-to-love-memphis-chess-club\/","title":{"rendered":"7 Reasons to Love Memphis Chess Club"},"content":{"rendered":"

Even if you don\u2019t play chess<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

$\"\"$ <\/a><\/p>\n

I got the idea to write this post because the league that sanctions the card game bridge<\/a> is having its spring national tournament<\/a> Downtown this month. Many bridge players take up chess as a side hobby and I want them to be aware of the club\u2019s existence.<\/p>\n

But then I realized, this post has a much larger audience. You see, I\u2019ve been going to Memphis Chess Club for about five months now, and it\u2019s a place tourists and locals need to know about. Even ones who don\u2019t play chess. (I don\u2019t. There are probably 6-year-olds out there who could beat me.)<\/p>\n

Here are 7 reasons the club has become a home to me.<\/p>\n

Coffeehouse Vibes<\/strong><\/p>\n

Our neighborhood Starbucks doesn\u2019t even feel like a coffeehouse. It\u2019s inside a boutique hotel and there\u2019s barely enough room to stand in line for a to-go order.<\/p>\n

Not so at Memphis Chess Club. There\u2019s plenty of room to spread out and work, play, or relax. The vibe reminds me of Central Perk from the TV show Friends. Wood tables (with inset chess boards, of course) and comfy couches are everywhere. There\u2019s a mezzanine where you can get away from it all. Just don\u2019t expect to run into 7\u20194\u201d Memphis Grizzlies center Zach Edey on the mezzanine – he\u2019d hit his head on the ceiling!<\/p>\n

They have a full menu of coffee drinks – lattes, macchiatos, and such. Instead of small, large, grande, and venti sizes, Memphis Chess Club has pawn, knight, king, and queen.<\/p>\n

For those who don\u2019t drink coffee, they have a huge tub of cold drinks – Coke products (including Mexican Coke in glass bottles), Dr. Brown\u2019s premium sodas, water, and more.<\/p>\n

Excellent Pizza<\/strong><\/p>\n

I would put Memphis Chess Club\u2018s pizza in the top three downtown. They offer an 8 inch personal pizza, a 12 inch, and an 18 inch. Pizzas are named after famous chess players. My favorite is the Carlsen, white sauce based with sausage, onions, mushrooms, and lots and lots of mozzarella. The meat lover\u2019s with sausage and pepperoni, and again lots of mozzarella, is another favorite of mine. They have offerings for vegetarians too.<\/p>\n

$\"\"$ <\/a><\/p>\n

The Carlsen<\/em><\/p>\n

$\"\"$ <\/a><\/p>\n

Veggie pizza<\/em><\/p>\n

Open Early<\/strong><\/p>\n

It can be hard to find places open early in downtown Memphis. Most restaurants don\u2019t open till 11.<\/p>\n

Memphis Chess Club, however, opens at 8 Sundays and 7 the other days of the week. It\u2019s ready to go as early as I am. There\u2019s a small breakfast menu on weekdays and a brunch menu on Sundays.<\/p>\n

Sweets Selection<\/strong><\/p>\n

$\"\"$ <\/a><\/p>\n

Memphis Chess Club\u2018s baked goods are to die for. The chocolate chip brownies are my favorite, with the cinnamon rolls a close second. They have cookies too, and bags of M&Ms.<\/p>\n

Groovy Crowd<\/strong><\/p>\n

Memphis Chess Club\u00a0draws a crowd from nearby colleges and universities, including Southern College of Optometry and the University of Tennessee Health Sciences College. They bring their laptops and connect to MCC\u2019s lightning fast Wi-Fi.<\/p>\n

MCC also draws tourists from the Hotel Napoleon next door and employees from the First Horizon bank building down the street.<\/p>\n

Full Bar<\/strong><\/p>\n

I\u2019ve never had an alcoholic drink there, but I could – Memphis Chess Club has a full liquor bar. They also have mimosas on weekend mornings.<\/p>\n

Memphis has a fantastic craft brewery scene and MCC has a refrigerator stocked with canned beers from local breweries.<\/p>\n

Board Games<\/strong><\/p>\n

A rental pass for five dollars a day get you access to Memphis Chess Club\u2019s approximately 100 board games; they have everything from Chinese checkers to Risk to Hungry Hungry Hippos. MCC is kid friendly and they have plenty of games kids love.<\/p>\n

Where Is It?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Memphis Chess Club is at 195 Madison, just east of B.B. King Boulevard, on the ground floor of Press Box Lofts.<\/p>\n

Phone: 901-501-3257<\/p>\n

Website: memphischessclub.com<\/a><\/p>\n

Back tomorrow with a regular news post.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s free to read this blog, but I gratefully accept tips!\u00a0<\/em>
\nVenmo:\u00a0@Paul-Ryburn<\/a>\u00a0(8113 if it asks for digits)
\nCash App: $PaulRyburn1
\nZelle: paul@paulryburn.com
\nApple Pay: paul.ryburn@gmail.com<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Even if you don\u2019t play chess I got the idea to write this post because the league that sanctions the card game bridge is having its spring national tournament Downtown this month. Many bridge players take up chess as a side hobby and I want them to be aware of the club\u2019s existence. But then … Continue reading “7 Reasons to Love Memphis Chess Club”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.paulryburn.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28440"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.paulryburn.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.paulryburn.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.paulryburn.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.paulryburn.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=28440"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"http:\/\/www.paulryburn.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28440\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":28446,"href":"http:\/\/www.paulryburn.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28440\/revisions\/28446"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.paulryburn.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=28440"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.paulryburn.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=28440"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.paulryburn.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=28440"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}