Forty lessons, finished
Tuesday, 10 November 2026 · Kava Social Club, 540 13th St W, Bradenton
“40 Lessons for the Club Player, done cover to cover, and Battle for the Bay 2 this Sunday at 7 PM.”
Harold Gonzalez · Club director
We did it. 📚🏆 Last Tuesday the study table turned the final page of 40 Lessons for the Club Player. Forty chapters, started on 15 September, finished on 10 November.
Two months of Tuesdays: outposts, space, the seventh rank, slow positional squeezes, and a sparring position every week argued over until Stockfish settled it. Nobody skipped ahead and nobody got left behind. 💪
Thank you to everyone who sat at that table, read along, pushed back and brought the next idea. A book finished together sticks better than one read alone, and this one belongs to all of us now. 🙌 What comes next on Tuesdays will be announced in the Discord.
One more study night before the big one: Intermediate+ at Adobe Kava, Thursday 12 November, 7 to 11 PM. It's not a drop-in, so message Harold first. 🧠
Then it's Battle for the Bay 2, this Sunday, 15 November, at 7 PM, an hour earlier than a normal night. ⚔️ Game two of the six-month Battle for the Bay series: Tampa Knights cross the bay to our patio. Round one was theirs. Round two is on our boards, under our lights.
The format: a five-round Swiss, 15 minutes a side with a 5-second delay, not USCF rated. Four sections by rating, Open 1800+, U1800, U1400 and U1000, and every individual win scores a point for your club. You can play up a section, never down. 🏆
Prizes: $100 for the Open section winner, $60 for U1800, $40 for U1400 and $30 for U1000, a trophy for every section winner, and a Best Female Player trophy.
To play you need a USCF rating, or an online account (Chess.com or Lichess) with more than 30 games; report your highest rating. Entry is $20 if you register online, $25 at the door. 21+. Register here: chess67.com/club/kava-social-chess-club/events/battle-for-the-bay-2-20261115 👊
Every board counts the same, so you don't need to be strong to score for Kava. Bring your best, bring a friend, and let's take the bay back. 🔥
Got a take? The conversation is on the club Discord.
Every Sunday and Tuesday at eight. Say it's your first night.
About the club
Kava Social Chess Club is a chess club in Bradenton, Florida, meeting Sundays and Tuesdays from 8PM to midnight on the back patio at Kava Social Club, 540 13th St W in downtown Bradenton. It is the most active chess club in Manatee County and half an hour from Sarasota, Lakewood Ranch, Palmetto and Ellenton. Every level plays here: beginners, casual players, adults who have not played since school, and US Chess rated tournament players. An in-house chess league every other Sunday, study night on Tuesdays, US Chess rated tournaments a few times a year. 21+, no dues, alcohol-free, in English and Spanish. Established 2021, 608 club nights on record.
If you are looking for where to play chess in Bradenton, or a chess club near you on Florida's Gulf Coast, this is your first night.