Daniel has been a chess Grandmaster since 1989. He has also had a successful media career working as a commentator, presenter, journalist, and author with 17 books to his name, shaping how a generation of players think about the game. His YouTube channel, PowerPlayChess, has carried that same clarity to a global audience. Few people have done more to bring serious chess to a wider audience.
Nathan is the author of Chess Opening Names, a two-volume series that explains the stories behind the first few moves of the game. As an adult, he has invested serious time and energy into chess improvement, rising from an online rating of 1500 to 2100+. He now posts instructional content on his YouTube channel to help busy adults who want to improve their own results.
Chateau de Jalesnes has watched over the Loire Valley since the early 1600s. For this one week, it's entirely yours. Behind its moat and stone towers sit a private chapel, a salon-library, and grand rooms opening onto its own forest and gardens. This is a house built for slow mornings and stone-walled evenings, one that does as much for the week as the chess itself. It hosted Dom Carlos, grandson of the exiled Spanish throne claimant Don Carlos VII, for a month in 1879, arriving to find a grand staircase and a theatre built specially for his stay.
The first chess week will run 3–10 April 2027.
Six full days of chess, built around three classical rounds, two team tournament days, and a closing final played on the retreat's own special board. The week opens with a blitz tournament on arrival night and closes with a full prize-giving dinner.
The Classical Club welcomes players of every level, from ambitious club players to lapsed competitors finding their way back to the board. You don't need to match the person across the table rating for rating, just enough curiosity and generosity to make a house full of mixed-strength chess feel like a shared pursuit, not a competition. Travelling with someone who'd rather not play? Companions are welcome too, with a lighter schedule of their own and a shared room at the chateau.
We envision The Classical Club as a global home for chess. A special place for people who deeply appreciate the game and want to play it with others in a beautiful location and good company. Not a tournament hall, not a screen, but a grand European house with days built around playing chess and excellent food.
We're starting with two chess weeks in April 2027. In time, we mean to set a fuller table: different formats and paces, different ways to test yourself and grow at the game, always in beautiful places and warm company.
Behind the experience is Leatherback Travel, the company with seven years of experience running small-group adventures around the world. After almost 500 completed trips, we're bringing the same level of care and attention to chess.
Until the first chess week begins.
Got a question before you commit? Write to us, and we'll give it the same attention we give the board.
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