The 1919 traces and the 1920 congress
The club’s published history places the earliest documents for a chess circle in Varese in 1919 and names Beno Redaelli and Terenziano Marusi among the founders of Società Scacchistica Varesina. Caffè Centrale is listed as the first home; later records use Circolo Scacchistico Varesino before the present Città di Varese identity.
On 20 September 1920, Varese hosted the creation of Federazione Scacchistica Italiana after a congress held from 18 to 20 September. A reconstruction drawing on a 1921 account credits local chess players with actively promoting the meeting, placing Varese’s chess scene inside the federation’s formation without treating the two as the same institution.
A club mapped through its rooms
The documented sequence of meeting places runs through cafés, cultural associations, a tennis club, an oratory and trade-union premises. At different moments, the club found a playing room inside very different parts of Varese’s social infrastructure.
In August 2026, the Via Sant’Imerio room remained the fixed point for regular face-to-face casual play. At the same time, an event in Maccagno formed part of a programme moving chess through the lakes and towns of the province.
Villa Mirabello and public chess
One episode belongs to Varese’s wider chess history rather than the club’s routine programme: FIDE’s three-player playoff in October 1976. At Villa Mirabello, Tigran Petrosian, Lajos Portisch and Mikhail Tal competed for two Candidates Tournament places; Petrosian and Portisch took them.
The club’s presence in public and cultural settings reappears in episodes separated by years. It staged a “Scacchi al Sole” Grand Prix round in the Giardini Estensi in 2012, was named as FAI’s club partner for a planned open tournament at Villa Panza in 2024, and returned to Maccagno in August 2026 as part of an itinerant provincial programme.
Different routes for young people and adults
The school separates its work with children and teenagers from its adult pathway. Youth lessons combine theory, exercises and assisted play with programmes adapted to level; the adult offer moves from the basic grammar of the game to calculation, strategy and preparation for more competitive settings.
Reaching Serie Master
In 2019, the team won its Serie A1 group and was promoted to Serie Master, the top division of Italy’s national club team championship. Seven years later FSI listed Città di Varese in the 2026 Master group, keeping high-level competition alongside the club room and teaching programme.
Sources
- 1.Società - Risultato ricerca 2026, Federazione Scacchistica Italiana
- 2.Dove siamo, Società Scacchistica Città di Varese
- 3.Il Circolo, Società Scacchistica Città di Varese
- 4.Chi siamo, Federazione Scacchistica Italiana
- 5.Cento anni fa è nata la Federazione Scacchistica italiana. A Varese, VareseNews
Show 8 more sources
- 6.Varese playoff 1976, 365Chess
- 7.“Scacchi al sole” ai giardini estensi, VareseNews
- 8.FAI SCACCO MATTO - PRIMO TORNEO SEMILAMPO A VILLA PANZA, FAI - Fondo per l’Ambiente Italiano
- 9.Tornei sul lago e corsi per principianti: la Società Scacchistica di Varese lancia gli eventi di fine estate, VareseNews
- 10.Corsi per bambini e ragazzi (dai 6 anni), Società Scacchistica Città di Varese
- 11.Corsi per adulti, Società Scacchistica Città di Varese
- 12.La Varese degli scacchi festeggia la promozione in Serie Master, VareseNews
- 13.Squadre C.I.S. 2026 - Serie Master girone 1, Federazione Scacchistica Italiana
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