Year of Chess


This project follows Ernest Lavert Jr., founder of the Royal Oak Initiative (a nonprofit dedicated to developing and supporting the community through the game of chess), for a year as he builds this community hub in Columbus, Ohio.


NOTE: Mr. Lavert suffered an aneurysm in 2024 while I was out of the country and later passed away in early 2025.  I consider this story to be unfinished for the time being.

 

 

Before the 4c

 

 

ROI hosts Upper Cup Chess Sundays every 2nd and 4th Sunday of the month at Upper Cup coffee shop on Parsons Ave. People from across the city take over every open space in the coffee shop with their chessboards. After running out of room, the Cooperative Chess Cultural Center (The 4C - pronounced "The Fork") opened in November of 2021. However, until the grand opening, ROI made space wherever Lavert could find it across Columbus.  

 

Ernest held the first ROI chess tournament in 2021 at the Gahanna Upper Cup location. Everyone, from first-timers to ranked chess players, was welcome to sign up to play at the tournament. He wrote table numbers on coffee filters to mark where competitors were assigned. Ernest specifically requested a photo of the coffee filters, saying, "I want to mark where we started. I feel like this is the beginning of something big?"

Upper cup sundays

 

When asked how to replicate the success of building a community hub where people from all over feel comfortable coming together and building relationships, Ernest said "the best option seems to be branching off from a pre-existing space rather than trying to reinvent the wheel."

For ROI, Upper Cup coffee shop was the branching-off point. The 4C is now across the street and often operates as overflow space when ther are no more tables available for Upper Cup Sundays.

People play chess at Upper Cupp coffee shop every other Sunday.

ROc Academy

 

Royal Oak Chess (ROC) Academy is a 10-12 weeks of leadership activities

A space where young people can interact with each other and without their phones. Lunch and chess on a Saturday morning.

Everything about ROC Academy is a group experience. While chess may be an individual game, nothing about Ernest's approach to teaching chess is individualistic. ROI is about chess as community, always

the 4 c



There is one rule when it comes to playing at the 4 C. Actually, there are several, but the big one is that no one leaves without losing at least one game. If you hadn't lost a game by the time you're ready to leave, then Ernest would play you himself. The ROI philosophy of chess is that it's not about the win; it's about the loss. How you lose is what matters. And if you're not losing, you're not learning.