Events & community Chess at The Creek

Event recap

Chess at The Creek

Paradise Creek Community Room · National City

Learn together. Think ahead. Have fun.

Young players at chess boards while two adult coaches lean in to help during the first Chess at the Creek class.
Coaches leaning in to help at the first Chess at The Creek class, Friday, October 9, 2026.

Chess at The Creek opened on Friday, October 9, 2026, in the Paradise Creek Community Room. Boards went down on the tables, players met their coaches, and the first class got underway. CCE runs the program with our community partner Community HousingWorks, and day one was full.

The program is ten classes, every Friday from 5:30 to 7:00 p.m., in the Paradise Creek Community Room. Each week builds on the last: learning the pieces and how they move, spotting the choices in front of you, and planning a move or two ahead. Along the way, players practice patience, focus, and good sportsmanship — win kindly, lose kindly, and help your partner learn.

CCE's purpose here is bigger than chess. Through the game, young people strengthen critical thinking, problem-solving, strategic planning, and confidence, and they do it in a room full of neighbors who are glad they came.

Maritza Davila-Nash, Community Building Coordinator at Paradise Creek, thanked CCE for bringing the program to the community and for its commitment to creating opportunities for young people to learn, grow, and build new skills through chess. We are grateful for the partnership.

We are exploring a December 2026 graduation ceremony and chess tournament to celebrate what the players have learned. Both are still tentative — no date is set — and we will publish the details here once they are confirmed.

Thank you to Paradise Creek and Community HousingWorks for hosting, and to every family who brought a player on day one. The photographs on this page are from that first class, October 9, 2026.

What that looked like

  • First class held Friday, October 9, 2026, 5:30–7:00 p.m. Pacific
  • Ten classes, every Friday, 5:30–7:00 p.m. Pacific, in the Paradise Creek Community Room
  • Players build critical thinking, problem-solving, strategic planning, patience, and confidence
  • Run by CCE with Community HousingWorks at Paradise Creek in National City
  • A December 2026 graduation and tournament are being explored — tentative, no date set
The Chess at The Creek program mark: Coalition for Community Elevation and Community HousingWorks present an afterschool creativity project, framed by chess pieces.

The ten Fridays

Ten classes, every Friday from 5:30 to 7:00 p.m. in the Paradise Creek Community Room. Add them to your calendar once and they are all there.

  1. Class 1 of 10
  2. Class 2 of 10
  3. Class 3 of 10
  4. Class 4 of 10
  5. Class 5 of 10
  6. Class 6 of 10
  7. Class 7 of 10
  8. Class 8 of 10
  9. Class 9 of 10
  10. Class 10 of 10
Add to calendarGoogle Calendar (opens in a new tab)

The December graduation and tournament are still being explored. No date is set, so they are not on this calendar.

More from this event

The Paradise Creek community room during chess class, with an instructor at a large demonstration board.
An instructor working from the demonstration board while players sit at tables across the room.
An instructor standing at a wall-mounted demonstration chess board beside a whiteboard during class.
The instructor at the wall board, beside a whiteboard marked with the class time.
Children leaning over a chess board, one reaching out to move a piece, during a Chess at the Creek class.
Players leaning over the board, one reaching out to make a move.
Players and a coach gathered around chess boards at a long table beside tall windows.
A coach sitting in with players at a table beside the windows.
Rows of chess boards set out along tables across the Paradise Creek community hall.
Boards set out along the tables across the Paradise Creek community hall.
A young player reaching across the board to make a move while the other player watches.
A player reaching across the board while the other player watches.
Children playing chess at tables in the Paradise Creek community room.
Young players at their boards during the first class.
Players lined up along a table of chess boards during a Chess at the Creek class.
Players lined up along a table of boards as the class gets going.

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