The Black Men's Chess League
A Bay Area non-profit created by Black men, dedicated to teaching chess and fostering community.
Our mission
Teaching chess.
Building community.
The Black Men's Chess League is a Bay Area non-profit created by Black men, dedicated to teaching chess and fostering community.
It started in August 2025 with about a dozen brothers around one board in a backyard in East Oakland. Today we gather every month across Oakland, Vallejo and the Bay — a safe space where anyone can sit down at a board, and where Black men, families and young people see chess cultivated in their own community.
Every monthly event is also a fundraiser for our free youth program, so kids ages 5 to 18 can learn the game at no cost to their families.
2025
Founded in East Oakland
Free
Youth chess, ages 5–18
Monthly
Community events
Non-profit
Built by Black men, open to all
What we do
Three things, every month, all around the Bay.
Free youth program
Chess classes for kids ages 5–18, boys and girls, no experience needed. Instruction, open play, boards and snacks all provided.
Community events
Family-friendly gatherings with music, food and chess, hosted at local businesses and community spaces in Oakland, Vallejo and beyond.
A seat at the board
Chess is rarely cultivated in the Black community. We centre Black men and welcome everyone — every board is a safe space.
Our story
From one backyard board
to the whole Bay.
Chris Morgan and JaColbrian Benard met by chance on a hiking trail in 2025 and started playing chess online. Benard wanted the game back at the table, in person. On August 24, 2025, about a dozen men gathered around one board in a backyard in East Oakland.
With co-founder Alton Kennedy, that backyard game grew into a monthly community event, and then a non-profit. Since then we’ve set up boards at Mare Island Brewing, H Lounge, El Barrio, Xingones and Prescott Market in West Oakland, where we celebrated our one-year anniversary in August 2026, and brought free youth sessions to the Springstowne Library in Vallejo.
Our founders
Alton Kennedy
Co-founder
Chris Morgan
Co-founder
JaColbrian Benard
Co-founder, and the musician known as Profhit
As featured in KQED and SF Bay View
Follow along
@blackmenschessleague
Photos and clips from our community nights, outdoor boards and youth sessions.
Your move changes a life.
Every donation helps keep our youth program free — boards, instruction and snacks for every kid who walks in — and keeps the community board open to everyone.