Jonathan Arnott: Ex-UKIP high-flyer swaps politics for chess

Jonathan Arnott hopes a new chess centre in Sheffield will become a social hub

"Politics is so demanding as a career that it just got in the way of my chess," admits former politician Jonathan Arnott.

The candidate master (three steps below grandmaster in the world chess hierarchy) once hoped to succeed Nigel Farage as leader of the UK Independence Party (UKIP).

Today he's left his political career behind and is back in his home city of Sheffield where he's turned part of an out-of-town industrial estate into the new South Yorkshire Chess and Education Centre.

It's only the second such venue outside London and is worlds away from the parliamentary hubbub of Strasbourg and Brussels where he made his name - although strategy and tactics play an equally big role in chess as in politics.

His own passion for the game started early.

'North-south divide'

"I began playing when I was about three or four. I played a few games against my dad and I was beating him so he stopped playing. He taught me chess to shut me up really. After that I just kept playing in local leagues and in competitions."

He won his first competition aged just five; then went on to win the British junior under 16s and became a member of the England Under-21 squad. But he says he suffered from a "north-south divide" in the sport.

"There really wasn't much coaching available up north at the time. Someone of my ability, if I'd lived in Kent, I'd have been on the radar of grandmasters who would have been coaching me from the age of six.

"Broadly speaking I was self-taught and that isn't always good as there were huge gaps in my knowledge. It was very difficult to keep up with the top juniors in the country."

That may now be about to change with English chess set to get a £500,000 funding boost from the government to help young talent develop. This includes plans to expand chess in schools and install chess tables in local parks.

Prime Minister Rishi Sunak has previously said he wants to get more children playing chess

"It's great to see the government finally recognise the benefits of chess in terms of concentration, mental health and overall life skills," Jonathan says.

"It's certainly time that 'mind sports' were given a level playing field alongside physical sport as they both significantly benefit health and wellbeing."

Ironically he believes his own political success - he became UKIP's General Secretary aged 27 before being elected to the European Parliament - held back his promising chess career.

"I've been involved in politics one way or another since the age of 20," he says.

"That time between 20 and 30 is when you'd normally be improving but politics is so demanding as a career that it sort of got in the way. If I'd not gone into politics I would have been a lot better at chess."

He competed in the European Chess Club Cup in Slovenia and Bulgaria as well playing in Las Vegas. He also represented Great Britain at the board game Stratego.

"At my peak I was in the top 200 players in the country and I'm probably not too far off that again now as I've been playing regularly."

So no pressure then when we lined up the pieces on one of the dozen electronic chess boards and set the clock.

Generously he gave me six minutes to make my moves and just one minute for his own.

It was no surprise to anyone that I didn't win but sobering that Jonathan only needed seven seconds of his allotted time to finish me off.

Won't mention UKIP

Political fortunes over the years have been more arduous. He was elected as UKIP's first MEP for the North East of England in May 2014 after six years as the party's general secretary.

In July 2016, following the resignation of Nigel Farage, he launched his bid to become party leader, although he eventually withdrew from the contest.

By that point he was already becoming disillusioned. He eventually resigned from UKIP in 2018, warning it was heading in a "bland and anti-Muslim" direction. He remained in the European Parliament until July 2019 sitting as an independent.

He remains a staunch supporter of Brexit but won't use the word UKIP, saying he "doesn't like to mention" the party's name as he's "no longer comfortable being associated with what it later became".

And besides, many of those at the chess centre "probably aren't even aware I used to be a politician".

The image of chess got a boost in 2020 when Netflix released The Queen's Gambit which told the story of fictional American chess prodigy Beth Harmon and her rise to the pinnacle of the chess world while facing problems with drugs and drink.

Its success raised the profile of the game, especially among younger and female audiences.

The hit series The Queen's Gambit focused on fictional chess player Beth Harmon, played by Anya Taylor-Joy

Chess also saw a boom in popularity during lockdown with people able to play at home and online.

But the pandemic wasn't so good for the coaching and development of junior players at club level.

Jonathan says he "accidentally inherited" the Sheffield junior chess club at this critical moment.

"We couldn't meet during the pandemic and lost nearly everybody," he recalls.

"We were down to about 4 or 5 players and it was collapsing. We lost our venue because we were meeting at a school.

"Children were being schooled online - so the last thing they wanted to do when they finished was to be taught chess online in a class environment."

Once the pandemic was over he set about fundraising. The centre, of which he is a director, opened in July 2023 and has about 35 paid-up members - both children and adults who play together.

As well as offering chess coaching and hosting competitions, the centre aims to be a social hub too, with home-made pizza nights in a chess-themed café.

Jonathan admits it "doesn't yet break even" but remains confident there's a bright future for the game. He's less optimistic about party politics.

"There's no political party now that represents what I believe," he reflects.

"Conservatives have badly lost their way and the newer parties need more of an ideology of what they are for, not just what they are against."

As a former maths teacher, it's a "passion for education" that he says motivates him. The chess centre could eventually expand to include writing courses, maths tuition and lessons in Artificial Intelligence.