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Founded 1978
2025 King's New Year's Honours - Stephen Rigby - British Empire Medal
Click this link to view the official approval of Steve's honour by King Charles III ...
Steve Rigby, the founder of Oldham-based 3Cs chess club over forty-six years ago, has been awarded the British Empire Medal in the 2025 King’s New Year’s Honours for services to chess and his work with young people in the community, therefore becoming only the thirteenth person in the country to receive a national honour from the monarch specifically because of their involvement with chess.
The honour has been granted to Steve just twelve months after he also received the national "Points of Light" award; the recipients of which are personally selected by the Prime Minister (then Rishi Sunak) for outstanding voluntary service within their community and on that occasion was the first person to have had their work for the benefit of chess recognised in such a prestigious manner.
It was in 1978 that Steve, a former headteacher at a number of Oldham schools, founded the “Children’s Chess Club of Oldham” (now known locally, nationally, and internationally as “3Cs”) along with fellow local teacher Roy Williams after they were informed that many already established chess clubs were unwilling to allow children into their midst.
Therefore, Steve and Roy agreed to establish an Oldham schools’ chess league assisted by notable contributors such as Gareth Lewis, Brian Whitworth and Arthur Marsden as well as other teachers interested in providing opportunities for Oldham children to compete in what was at that time considered a somewhat elite academic pastime. From this early schools’ league the Oldham under-11s and later under-9s teams were formed, both of which continue to represent the town to this day under the care and capable hands of Dale James, himself one of Steve and Roy’s original group of players in 1978 and who eventually became the first player from 3Cs to win a British Championship when becoming the national under-14s' champion in 1984.
Steve began coaching chess while teaching at local schools and then with Roy Williams (shown in the centre photo above) formed 3Cs in 1978
Although the under-11s’ first match ended in a disastrous 23-1 defeat against the mighty Manchester team. Steve and Roy were not discouraged and worked to improve the team’s performance. The recruitment of experienced coach Phil Adams was a major step forward together with the idea that the way to improve the children’s level of skill was to play against more-experienced adults - and to this day that is still the blueprint for the 3Cs club.
3Cs’ weekly club nights now attract youngsters from near and far, many of whom compete in events both nationally and internationally after having started to learn chess under Steve’s guidance. Indeed, one such player was Stephen Gordon who has since progressed to become a Grandmaster and twice English champion.
As well as encouraging youngsters to play chess, Steve Rigby also sees the importance of support given to them by parental involvement and, as a consequence, notable examples such as Tony Ashton, Alan Burke, Glyn Towse, John Walton, Andy Lewis, Tim Horton, Vic Pelling, Everson Correa and others have been seen playing in teams alongside their children while Lorraine Towse and Rose Kaliski have provided valuable behind the scenes work.
In 2009 Steve was honoured by the English Chess Federation as the recipient of their national “President’s Award” for services to chess while, as a result of his often unnoticed hard work in always trying to improve the club, 3Cs have won the ECF’s “Club of the Year” award on three occasions; an honour which no other club in the country has ever been granted more than once since its inception in 1984.
Having introduced chess to many local boys and girls, Steve took a group of 3Cs youngsters on tour in 2009 to play in Spain
Many of the youngsters Steve first nurtured now play regularly for 3Cs in the local adult league, resulting in the club having won the Manchester League championship in eighteen of its last twenty seasons. The 3Cs’ impressive Roll of Honour currently shows 39 of its young players having represented England, 28 having become national champions at various levels and 12 individuals achieving Masters titles. However, it isn’t just the success that Steve craves. He gets far more pleasure in seeing new young faces coming through the door on 3Cs’ club nights and, in his words, “having a relatively small and unfashionable town, in the world of chess, like Oldham, being able to compete at the highest level with others who have far greater resources.”
3Cs have also twice qualified for the European Chess Club Championships, yet while their opponents were often a mix of “imported” players who were paid to represent their team, Steve gained pleasure in knowing that the 3Cs side had mostly come through the club’s own youth development system and were all genuine club members.
Furthermore, the 45th anniversary year of 3Cs in 2023 not only brought the club national publicity with an appearance on the BBC1 primetime television programme “The One Show” as well as becoming the first club to win the Manchester League Championship eight years in a row, but the winning of the ECF National Cup (the chess equivalent of the FA Cup), yet again with a full team of players who were products of the club’s junior coaching system, officially crowned 3Cs as the top chess club in the country.
Steve said of his honour, “I am delighted to receive this award not only for myself but on behalf of the remarkable people who I have spent time sharing the same vision with and who have all helped make our achievements possible. That so many have been willing to support the club’s fully inclusive nature and to provide opportunities for all for many years has been a great inspiration to me all my life.
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3Cs have been national Club of the Year three times and featured on BBC 1's The One Show, while Steve won the national "Points of Light" award
My thoughts, of course, go to friends and colleagues no longer with us but who bought into the dream Roy and I had so long ago. I am sure that Gareth Lewis, David Monaghan and Steve Wild, to name a few, would appreciate our efforts and be delighted by the progress made in the forty-six years since then. They too will be by my side in spirit when I am presented with this prestigious award.
Although much success has come 3Cs’ way, its main aim is, and will always be, making chess more accessible to young boys and girls. I’ve just got on with the whole promotion of the club but always taken a lot of pride in the fact that Oldham can stand by itself and yet still be represented at such a high level. Being able to compete on equal terms (and often prevail) against those who can rely on support from external sources certainly reflects the commitment of many 3Cs’ members both past and present.”
Steve’s passion for the 3Cs club and chess hasn’t diminished. Early during 2025 he will be travelling to support the 3Cs junior team when playing in the Four Nations Chess League and, although since retiring from teaching and having moved out of the Oldham area to live in Guilsfield, Wales, he still makes the 200 miles round trip to attend the 3Cs club nights while he has also helped in the development of a new chess club in Welshpool nearer his home.
Away from chess, Steve’s other passions are bowls – at which he has already represented his newly adopted county of Powys - salmon fishing and Rugby League, the latter of which saw him working behind the scenes for over 25 years at Salford Red Devils and also coaching the Oldham junior schools’ under-11s’ team to victory in the Lancashire Cup as well as when they played in the curtain-raiser to the 1984 Rugby League Challenge Cup final at Wembley Stadium.
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