Eric says: “It has been a few years since I last played chess for pleasure. On moving to Cambridge, I decided to reactivate my interest as a means of meeting like-minded people. After some enquires, I was directed to The Crossways Communities Cafe and started playing chess again.

The twist is that I do not play on a standard board but on the 5asideCHESS short-form board.   This certainly appealed to me as a shorter, more concentrated game leaving time for a chat at the end.  What I really like is the idea of the first move being ‘hello’ – it has helped me break the initial barrier of being a new, yet older, resident in the community.

Currently, because we are on lockdown due to the coronavirus with no or limited socialising, I have found 5asideCHESS is an ideal game to play via the internet.”