ABOUT US
A chess club for all levels and ages
Location and Hours
Chess Club and Scholastic Center of Atlanta
2500 Old Alabama Rd.
Suite 11
Roswell, GA 30076
Hours
Closed if no event scheduled. Always check our calendar since we close if we don't have an event scheduled.
Sunday: 12pm-5pm (if there is an event)
Monday: Closed
Tuesday: 5-9pm (if there is an event)
Wednesday: 5-9pm (if there is an event)
Thursday: Closed
Friday: 5-9pm (if there is an event)
Saturday: 9am-5pm (if there is an event)
We welcome complete novices, grandmasters, and everyone in between. Here's a glimpse of what we offer:
- Free play during club hours
- Open tournaments
- Scholastic tournaments
- Bughouse and Blitz tournaments
- Lectures by top instructors for all levels
- Camps for children
- One day camps for adults!
- On-site store to purchase books and equipment
- Membership provides discounts, unlimited access to free play hours, and other perks
Meet the Founders
GM Ben Finegold and his wife, Karen Boyd, are the founders and co-owners of the Chess Club and Scholastic Center of Atlanta.
Ben Finegold
Grandmaster and Co-Founder
Grandmaster Ben Finegold learned the rules of chess at age 5 and received his first USCF rating at age 6. It wasn't long -- around his mid-teens -- until he realized he wanted to play chess professionally. GM Finegold's first major tournament win came in 1989 when he finished in a first-place tie at the U.S. Junior Closed Championship. He earned the title of International Master in 1990. The next year GM Finegold won his first major, international, Swiss-paired tournament in Antwerp, Belgium. In 1993, GM Finegold was awarded the Samford Chess Fellowship, an award given each year to the most talented chess player in the United States under the age of 26. In 1994, he finished in a six-way tie for first place at the U.S. Open in Chicago, and in 2002 he finished in a first-place tie with eight players at the World Open in Philadelphia where he secured his first GM norm. In 2009, after his 40th birthday, GM Finegold earned his final GM norm at the SPICE Cup in Lubbock, Texas. The “People’s Grandmaster” is one of the most popular chess lecturers, with many of his YouTube lectures receiving over 100,000 views. Before moving to Atlanta, Ben was frequently the Resident GM and commentator at the Saint Louis Chess Club.
Karen Boyd
Co-Founder
Karen Boyd became interested in chess when her children, Holden and Archer, began playing chess at an early age. But it wasn’t until 2015, when Archer began playing open tournaments, that she began to study chess and to also play in tournaments. Karen is on the Top Women Aged 50 and Over list and has appeared in ChessLife magazine with her son, Archer. She has a background in programming and is currently writing a chess app for iOS.