‘They wouldn’t budge': Chess players kicked out of city hall for bringing chess boards despite renting out venue for chess club

Author image for Eleonora Bader
Eleonora Bader
Apr 13, 2024 9:00 AM EDT

City halls are notorious for being stuck up, but this one really takes the cake.

This chess club had eagerly prepared for their opening night, rented a venue (their city hall), and arrived with everything they needed to play chess, which would be chess boards and pieces. Somehow the fact they brought their own things became a huge deal. Their excitement turned into dismay when they were unexpectedly approached by a dude working for city hall. He peeked in, noticed their things, and asked where they took them from. The chess players said they brought them from home, which apparently, wasn't allowed. Things escalated, and the director of city hall was called. She was furious, and they were left confused. It didn't end there, but hey, I won't spoil the ending… Scroll down and read the rest of the story along with all the juicy details and comments below.

Some people need to chill. It's only chess! Afterward, check out these amusing boss stories told by incredulous employees.

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  • 01
    "You need to leave right now and take everything with you- or else!"
    via Canva
  • 02
    The venue my chess club rented threw us out at our opening night for bringing "unauthorized outside material", aka chess boards and books After weeks of discussions with city hall, they finally accepted to 'rent' a venue to our chess club.
    via u/Jiriakel
  • 03
    As we were setting everything up for our opening night, someone from city hall peeked in and pointed at the chess boards and pieces and asked us where we took them from. When we replied that they were ours, he told us that we were not allowed to bring in outside stuff 'if it had not been cleared with the director before' We tried telling him it was no big deal; we tried explaining that it is kind of usual for a chess club to bring chess sets; we tried promising him that we'd bring any of the pap
    via u/Jiriakel
  • 04
    It somehow escalated from 'you shouldn't bring things here' to 'you will all leave'. Then someone suggested calling the director. Which he did. I don't know what he told her, but by the time we spoke to her, she had gone ballistic. She had NOT authorized us to bring chess sets. Our behaviour was inexcusable (?!). She would write us an official reprimand, and we needed to leave and take everything with us right now, or else. Then she hung up.
    via u/Jiriakel
  • 05
    I wish I could stay we heroically resisted or something, but we're a group of chess nerds; so we took our stuff and left, and now I'm just ranting about it on the internet. TL;DR:f k the Lille administration.
    via u/Jiriakel
  • 06
    dideldidum 10 hr. ago That is a story for the local newspaper. 8.4k Reply Share Impossible-Heron7125 · 7 hr. ago Chamber of commerce too. A local venue would eat this up as a great way to drum up business by getting media exposure. 2.7k Reply Share
    via u/dideldidum, u/Impossible-Heron7125
  • 07
    svh01973 9 hr. ago My Flair Too many "local" papers won't cover actual critiques of local administrations. Gotta stay in-good with the powers-that-be. Worth a shot though. I'd suggest a tv station instead. | 1.9k Reply Share Lucaslouch 7 hr. ago It seems to be in Lille, France, so complaining about the administration is something that we, French people, are very good at. They should contact the local newspaper 1.1k Reply Share
    via u/svh01973, u/Lucaslouch
  • 08
    Barokespinoza23.10 hr. ago Were they expecting you to use human chess pieces? 1.8k Reply Share justtiptoeingthru2 · 10 hr. ago There's a Hogwarts/McGonagall joke in there but, I'm not clever enough to craft one... 402 Reply Share
    via u/Barokespinoza23, u/justtiptoeingthru2
  • 09
    Disastrous-Idea-666 · 10 hr. ago Like, do they have chess sets available to rent? And they were upset that you brought your own? I don't see how this could be any sort of problem. 3.5k Reply Share HonestBeing8584 . 9 hr. ago They probably have rules about outside materials to prevent people bringing in N W things? Idk. Chess boards are so mild and bland I don't know how they didn't say "Ok, let's do the paperwork for next time just to check the box off but it's fine to play today" 1.5k Reply Sha
    via u/Disastrous-Idea-666, u/HonestBeing8584
  • 10
    Nadernade 10 hr. ago City hall? I would be calling somebody and raising hell and if that didnt do anything, my next call would be to several media agencies and then social media. F'`k them, fu that, get rid of these power tripping as oles. 11.2k Reply Share chef6legger 10 hr. ago Would make for a great local news story. "Local chess club kicked out of town hall for bringing chess boards and pieces" 7.3k Reply Share ...
    via u/Nadernade, u/chef6legger
  • 11
    shawdow_moon . 9 hr. ago It's actually worse. "Local chess club kicked out of town hall for bringing chess boards and peices after paying for town hall space to play chess. "In other news, local Town hall gets surprise lesson from chess players: Chess needs boards and pieces to play." 5.2k Reply Share
    via u/shawdow_moon
  • 12
    inanimatecarbonrob. 9 hr. ago What kind of city hall issues official reprimands? What does that even mean? 274 Reply Share LaHawks 8 hr. ago Thr same as a teacher saying something will go in your "permanent record" 153 Reply Share ...
    via u/inanimatecarbonrob, u/LaHawks
  • 13
    Furdiburd10 10 hr. ago So tl;dr chess club should not use chess sets. awesome.... 1.1k Reply Share DropdLasagna 10 hr. ago More like 'local administration so bored they decide to bully chess nerds for no valid reason'... 488 Reply Share
    via u/Furdiburd10, u/DropdLasagna
  • 14
    Cool_Cheetah658 · 9 hr. ago I know which chess club should talk at the next city council meeting. File a complaint with the Mayor's office and speak publicly about it as well. Hopefully the media gets wind of it and gives you some air time. 118 Reply Share
    via u/Cool_Cheetah658
  • 15
    Plasmahole17. 9 hr. ago Not allowed to bring in outside items... to a multipurpose rented venue? Literally the equivalent of telling children they can't bring a ball to the park because it's for playing on the playground and picnics only. It sounds more like they wanted the venue to themselves and were disgruntled when they found out it was already booked so they used "their authority" to kick you guys out. 249 Reply Share
    via u/Plasmahole17
  • 16
    justtiptoeingthru2 · 10 hr. ago They knew you were a chess club, right? <confused_blinking.gif> What a dan power trip that guy's on. What's the venue name and where is it located? Just so we can avoid doing business with those f Chess. Of all things. rs. Never mind we've got a whole bunch of other issues that just might need a bit more attention... like, oh... idk, school lunches? No child should ever go hungry. gatekeeping fun by banning chess boards and pieces that the Chess club needs to run
    via u/justtiptoeingthru2
  • 17
    <deep breath> aight... I'm cool now. Carry on... 619 Reply Share _Aech_ 9 hr. ago The city is named in OP's TL;DR, and a quick check of OP's post history shows they are likely located in a country north of France and south of the Netherlands. 162 Reply Share
    via u/_Aech_
  • 18
    No_Library_5120 · 10 hr. ago A lot of venues have contracts with their vendors, like caterers, that stipulate their customers can only use them. Never heard of something like this for chess sets though. Might be something with their insurance that only covers products that they supply. It's still weird though. 34 Reply Share
    via u/No_Library_5120
  • 19
    possiblyapancake . 9 hr. ago Oh this is the kind of thing local news stations eat for breakfast. You should definitely call them 22 Reply Share LompocianLady. 9 hr. ago Well, our chess club uses city hall and we don't bring anything with us. We quietly sit down and shut our eyes, then begin announcing each move as we play the game in our heads. Since we don't use clocks, we also count the seconds of our opponents and announce it, so they know their elapsed time./s 21 Reply Share ...
    via u/possiblyapancake, u/LompocianLady
  • 20
    MichaelJCaboose666 · 8 hr. ago What the flying 1.k? They rent out a space to a chess club and are surprised when they bring chess boards? Why do you need paperwork to bring chessboards? You could bring a board to a library and play and not need any paperwork. What sort of bureaucratic bs is this?? Reply Share 8
    via u/MichaelJCaboose666

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games queen chess piece bishop checkmate nerds director opening night chess nerds chess board board games venue rent mildly infuriating chess geeks Reddit city hall
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