Chessiecon

A convention, founded in 1978 as Darkover Grand Council (often called Darkover, later Darkovercon), and starting in 2014, renamed Chessiecon, which is held in the Mid-Atlantic states and is devoted to fantasy.

It is currently on hiatus, with a February 26, 2023, decision not to hold the convention in 2023 due to financial and volunteer issues. The con did not make its room block commitment in 2022 and were attempting to raise $11,000 through contributions; they had garnered less than $6,000 as of August 2023.

In its early days, it was centered around Marion Zimmer Bradley's Darkover series.

Judy Gerjuoy founded Darkover and ran it (and funded its deficits) until she died. The final Darkover was a blowout celebration and it then became Chessiecon, which is sponsored by the Thanksgiving Science Fiction Society.

• Chessiecon website.
• Darkover website (archived).
• Lots of info at Fanlore.

Convention	Dates	GoHs, Notes
Darkover Grand Council 1978	July 9, 1978	Jacqueline Lichtenberg, Marion Zimmer Bradley
Darkover Grand Council 1979	July 13-15, 1979	Jacqueline Lichtenberg, Marion Zimmer Bradley
Darkover Grand Council 1980	November 28-30, 1980	Katherine Kurtz, Marion Zimmer Bradley, Jack Chalker
Darkover Grand Council IV	1981	C. J. Cherryh
Darkover Grand Council V	November 26-28, 1982	Marion Zimmer Bradley, Katherine Kurtz, Hannah Shapero
Darkover Grand Council 6	November 25-27, 1983	Katherine Kurtz, Hal Clement, Don Wollheim, Elsie Wollheim, Diana Paxson, Paul Edwin Zimmer
Darkover Grand Council 7	November 23-25, 1984
Darkover Grand Council 8	1985
Darkover Grand Council 9	1986
Darkover Grand Council 10	1987
Darkover Grand Council 11	1988
Darkover Grand Council 12	1989
Darkover Grand Council 13	1990
Darkover Grand Council 14	November 29-December 1, 1991	Marion Zimmer Bradley, Katherine Kurtz, Robin Wood
Darkover Grand Council '92	November 27-29, 1992
Darkover Grand Council 16	1993
Darkover Grand Council 17	1994
Darkover Grand Council 18	1995
Darkover Grand Council 19	1996
Darkover Grand Council 20	1997
Darkover Grand Council 21	1998
Darkover Grand Council 22	1999
Darkover Grand Council 23	2000
Darkover Grand Council 24	2001
Darkover Grand Council 25	2002
Darkover Grand Council 26	2003
Darkover Grand Council 27	2004
Darkover Grand Council 28	November 25-27, 2005	C. S. Friedman, Tamora Pierce, Diana Paxson, Katherine Kurtz, James MacDonald, Scott MacMillian, Debra Doyle
Darkover Grand Council 29	2006
Darkover Grand Council 30	2007
Darkover Grand Council 31	2008
Darkover Grand Council 32	2009
Darkover Grand Council 33	2010
Darkover Grand Council 34	2011
Darkover Grand Council 35	2012
Darkovercon 36	Nov 29-Dec 1, 2013	Rosemary Edghill, Steampunk Family, Katherine Kurtz, Melissa Scott, Clam Chowder
Chessiecon 2014	November 28-30, 2014	Tamora Pierce, Tom Smith, Katherine Kurtz
Chessiecon 2015	November 27-29, 2015	Seanan McGuire, Heather Dale, Ursula Vernon
Chessiecon 2016	November 25-27, 2016	Sarah Pinsker, S. J. Tucker, Tabitha Ladin
Chessiecon 2017	November 24-26, 2017	Ada Palmer, T. J. Burnside-Clapp, Megan Willis
Chessiecon 2018	November 2018	Jo Walton, Dr. Mary Crowell
Chessiecon 2019	November 29–December 1, 2019	Charlie Jane Anders, Cathy McManamon. Canceled
Chessiecon 2020 (virtual)	November 27–29, 2020	Charlie Jane Anders, Tom Smith
Chessiecon 2021 (virtual)	November 26-28, 2021	Danielle Ackley-McPhail
Chessiecon 2022	November 25-27, 2022	Danielle Ackley-McPhail, The Blibbering Humdingers
Chessiecon 2023	November 24–26, 2023	Canceled

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Convention
	1978—2022

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