A weekly room with deep roots
CCCR traces its roots to the Rochester Chess and Checkers Club and describes a history extending beyond half a century. The club's game archive places ordinary weekly play beside championships and simultaneous exhibitions, preserving the recurring formats through which its history was made.
The defining format is a recurring US Chess-rated game with opponents generally paired by rating, so players receive reasonably even matches. Official club descriptions place children and adults, beginners and masters inside that same structure, making the weekly room both an entry point and a serious competitive habit.
A dedicated chess setting
At the Rochester Chess Center, founded by Ron Lohrman in 1989, the club sits inside a broader local chess program. The center's history describes an open weekly CCCR meeting alongside after-school instruction, children's camps, and tournaments for young people and adults.
CCCR and the center occupy different roles within the same ecosystem. The club has its own championship traditions and game archive, while the center provides the dedicated setting, instruction, and additional youth and adult tournaments.
The tournament named for Erich Marchand
CCCR carried its local organizing culture beyond club night by founding the Marchand Open. The event was named for Erich Marchand, whom US Chess described as the leading Rochester player of the 1960s and 1970s, and in 2010 the federation called the tournament a 32-year fixture in the city's chess life.
Before his death, Marchand asked friends in the chess world to play in his memory. His request gave the tournament a memorial purpose; after CCCR's original organization, the event later passed to Ron Lohrman's direction and continued as a regional fixture.
A title that creates another event
The internal championship developed its own multiweek rhythm. The 2016 edition was the twentieth annual championship and ran for five Wednesday rounds, turning the familiar club night into a sustained title race rather than a separate weekend event.
Winning also generated another shared occasion: the 2016 champion was due to give the fourth annual simultaneous exhibition by a club champion. The game archive later preserved the 2018 championship and a 2019 champion simul, showing that the title was treated as a role within club life, not merely a final score.
Sources
- 1.The Community Chess Club of Rochester (CCCR), Community Chess Club of Rochester
- 2.Welcome Chess Friends, Community Chess Club of Rochester
- 3.Community Chess Club of Rochester Wednesday Night Chess, US Chess Federation
- 4.Perelshteyn and Dean-Kawamura Win Marchand Open, US Chess Federation
- 5.Bryan Smith Tests Himself in Marchand, US Chess Federation
Show 3 more sources
- 6.About Us: Rochester Chess Since 1989, Chess Gorilla
- 7.Empire Chess, Winter 2017, New York State Chess Association
- 8.The CCCR Chess Game Database, Community Chess Club of Rochester
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