Welcome to Cherry Chess!

Cherry Chess is based in the Traverse City, Michigan area - the "cherry capital of the world" - and we organize USCF-rated chess tournaments as an affiliate of the US Chess Federation.

Join us at the AMVETS Post 120 in Mesick for a special tournament: the FIVE YEAR FREEROLL on Saturday, May 18.
$400 in guaranteed prizes and FREE ENTRY for any player who has competed in at least one Cherry Chess tournament in the last 5 years. All others pay $10 entry fee. USCF membership required. Details available at http://www.cherrychess.com/tourney/freeroll.html

A rare opportunity! The 2018 Michigan Open will be in Cadillac this year, Aug 31 - Sep 3, at the Evergreen Resort. More details on the MCA tournament listings website. $3,150 total prize fund.

Local master Dave Sprenkle will be doing a free simultaneous exhibition, playing all comers, from 5:30 - 9:00pm on Friday, August 11, 2017 in front of Horizon Books as part of Traverse City's Friday Night Live summer activities. Also there will be a giant chess set available for open play. Come join the fun and take your best shot at Dave!

After a ten-month hiatus, tournament chess returned to Traverse City with the Traverse City Challenge XI held on June 10, 2017 at Grand Traverse Mall. Section winners were FM Dave Sprenkle and Dan Sajkowski (in the Open Section) and Joe Revnell in the Reserve Section. Read more...

Congratulations to our section winners, Dave Sprenkle (Open) and Alex Bemben (Reserve) who each scored a perfect 3-0 in their respective sections at TC Challenge IX held on May 14, 2016.

The Traverse City Challenge VIII, our first chess tournament of 2016 and eighth in the series, was held on February 27 at the Grand Traverse Mall. Congratulations to our section winners, Dave Sprenkle (Open section) and Sam Vorhauer (Reserve section). Read more...

At our November tournament there was a three-way tie for first in the Open Section among Dan Sajkowski, Greg Bailey and Robert Bemben. Meanwhile in the Reserve Section, Alex Bemben won first place for his sixth time in seven tries. Read more...

Everyone was talking about the monster performance turned in by long-time local player Joe Revnell. Read more...

We were recently featured in a segment of "Jack O'Malley's Journal" on 9 & 10 News! Click to watch the video:

Jazz, art, food... and chess! Friday Night Live returns to Traverse City in August, and Traverse City chess master Dave Sprenkle will give a simultaneous exhibition on Friday, August 14, 2015 from 5:30 - 9:00pm in front of Horizon Books. Also we will have a giant chess set available for open play. Come join the fun and take your best shot at Dave!

Daniel Sajkowski from Torch Lake won the Open Section, and Gavin Roupe from Mount Pleasant won the Reserve Section at the Traverse City Challenge V held on Saturday, May 16 at the Grand Traverse Mall.
Read more...

Greg Bailey from Mesick and Alex Bemben from Petoskey prevailed as section winners at the Traverse City Challenge #4, held on March 21.
Read more...

FM Dave Sprenkle from Traverse City and Alex Bemben from Petoskey repeated as champions in the Traverse City Challenge #3 held on January 31.
Read more...

Two more tournaments upcoming at the Grand Traverse Mall in early 2015.
See details on the March tournament...

FM Dave Sprenkle won the Open section at the TC Fall Challenge, held on Saturday, Nov 22 at Grand Traverse Mall.
Read more...

Greg Bailey wins the Open section with a perfect 4-0 and Alexander Bemben wins the Amateur section also with a perfect 4-0. The tournament was held on Saturday, June 14, 2014. Read more...

Check out the new link at the top of the page for the Cherry Blog where we will post chess-related articles for your reading pleasure!

Thanks for checking us out! We just launched this website and it is under construction. Soon we hope to have the discussion board up and running, along with photos, info about our USCF-rated weekly tournament, and possibly a club directory.