A major chess gathering in a historic club
One of France's most established chess centers, Lyon Olympique Échecs, will host the Henri Rinck International Chess Championships from 8 to 19 April 2026. Founded in 1905, the club celebrated its 120th anniversary in 2025 and, with more than 950 members, now stands among the country's largest chess communities. Located in the historic fabric of Lyon at 5 Place du Marché, 69009 Lyon, the club is far more than a playing hall; with roughly 600 square meters of space, it offers the atmosphere of a true chess museum and a distinctive meeting place for enthusiasts. For those able to attend in person, the venue itself is an attraction; for those following from afar, the schedule and the field already make the event compelling.
The organizers have designed the event as a broad festival that goes beyond pure competition. The first tournament has already attracted 140 players from 14 nations, and the program features three sections: classical, rapid and blitz. A press conference is scheduled for Thursday, 9 April, from 5.00 to 6.00 pm, followed by simultaneous exhibitions from 6.15 to 8.30 pm with champion players from Sport Etude Echecs and the ECAM LaSalle Lyon campus. Across the twelve-day program, visitors can also expect outdoor chess sessions, simuls against titled players, and even chess-themed music and painting activities. Three-time French champion Grandmaster Christian Bauer is set to be one of the marquee names of the festival.
A tribute worthy of Henri Rinck
The scale of Lyon Olympique Échecs cannot be explained by membership numbers alone. The club serves a remarkably broad community, from employees and executives to retirees and young players, and through its work with 86 schools it has built a deeply rooted educational network. On top of that, its international partnerships with clubs in 21 countries — including India, China, Armenia, Germany and Italy — give the event a genuinely cosmopolitan profile. For that reason, the Henri Rinck Championships are more than a series of tournaments; they also act as a showcase for the organizational strength of French club chess, its educational mission and its international reach.
The most meaningful dimension of the event is the tribute paid to the great chess artist whose name it bears. Henri Rinck (1870-1952) was a legendary French composer and chemist, widely regarded as one of the founding figures of the modern endgame study. Over the course of his career, he published around 1,670 endgame studies, earning particular renown for his clarity in reduced-material positions and for the creative depth of his two-rook studies. The awards ceremony on 15 April at 8.00 pm, to be held in the presence of Rinck's family, will give special emphasis to that legacy. At a time when top-level tournament chess is often associated with opening preparation and engine-assisted calculation, this championship in Lyon seeks to bring chess aesthetics, endgame art and historical memory back to center stage.