For chess players the world over, it is the place where many other famous battles have been fought - over the chessboard.
In the early 1880's, Hastings was a thriving Victorian 'watering place'.
The railway had brought the town within reach of London and attracted many enterprising businessmen. There were many excellent hotels, restaurants and shops. The town's immediate neighbour westwards along the coast was St. Leonards-on-Sea, a smaller township remarkable for its splendid buildings. These were the work of James Burton, builder of much of London's Regent Street, and his son Decimus, architect of the Athenaeum and the fine arch at Hyde Park Corner. Regarded as slightly up-market from its neighbour, many famous people had visited or resided in St. Leonards, including the young Princess Victoria (1834) and the exiled Louis Philippe (1848).
For practical purposes the two towns had become one by the 1880s.
Mr Gladstone was Prime Minister when, on 26th June 1882, the Prince and Princess of Wales (later King Edward VII and Queen Alexandra) honoured the town with a visit.
For chessophiles, however, the most important event of the month was to take place two days later - on the 15th an advertisement appeared in a local newspaper which read: 'A meeting of those interested in chess will be held at the Albert Temperance Hotel, Queens Road, Hastings on Wednesday 28th June 1882.' The Albert was situated in a central position opposite the Town Hall.
The meeting duly took place and was attended by a small group of enthusiasts, mostly local professional and business men. Hastings and St. Leonards Chess Club was born!
It soon became firmly established and, in 1887, changed its meeting place to the town's leading hotel, the Queens, prominently situated on the sea front and still functioning today.
In the same year Herbert E. Dobell was elected as Secretary, an event of great significance, not only for the club but for the whole chess world. Only 23 at the time, Dobell was a young man of great vision, resourcefulness and courage. Thanks to his efforts, regular match games were arranged with strong London clubs, as well as local teams.
County matches were staged in Hastings for the first time. An annual Festival was started at which lectures and exhibitions by leading players of the day were featured. One of the first of these was by J. H. Blackburne, who had come to Hastings to recuperate from a serious illness in 1884 and subsequently taken up residence in the town.
Emanuel Lasker, Gunsberg, Bird, Janowski and Teichmann were among those who brought lustre to the Festival in succeeding years. The club's strength and prestige increased steadily. The stage was set for 1895 and what is still regarded as probably the greatest international chess tournament ever held.