Bemidji chess club hosts public exhibition, welcomes players of all ages

Four of Bemidji’s stronger players will take the boards at Headwaters Music & Arts on Sunday, turning the downtown arts center into a public showcase for local chess. The exhibition will run from 1:30 to 4:30 p.m. at 519 Minnesota Ave. NW, and it is open to chess fans of all ages and experience levels.

The lineup includes Caleb Erickson, Steven Radley, Yohan Maie and David Hanson, giving spectators a chance to watch advanced local play in real time. The event is built for more than committed players. It also gives casual visitors a place to sit down, watch a game unfold and see what strong chess looks like when it is played at full speed across a board.

The exhibition also puts a spotlight on Headwaters’ regular Sunday chess club, which meets every Sunday from 1:30 to 3:30 p.m. in the Headwaters Performance Hall. The gathering is free, volunteer-led and open to all ages and skill levels, with Dan Batson guiding the club’s public chess programming. For newcomers, the exhibition functions as an easy entry point into the weekly club, where players can learn, practice and move into local tournament play.

Headwaters has been building that kind of public access for years. The organization says it began more than 30 years ago as a nonprofit offering music lessons in Bemidji, with seven teachers and 72 students. In 1997, it moved to 519 Minnesota Ave. and expanded into a full-service school of the arts. Today, its calendar includes recitals, rock band shows, clay work, mural painting and other arts activities, making chess part of a broader downtown gathering place rather than a stand-alone hobby.

The club’s return in October 2025 marked a revival of a format Headwaters had used before, and open chess has shown up in the organization’s programming for years. A 2016 update described Sunday chess as free to attend, with a suggested $5 donation. Chess.com also lists a Headwaters Chess club with 14 members and five events played, showing that the Bemidji group has a footprint beyond the performance hall.

For Beltrami County, the value is simple: a quiet game becomes a visible public event, and a volunteer-led tradition gets another chance to pull new players into the circle.