Linares and Wijk aan Zee jump out as places whose names would be less familiar to non-chess players and have a history of strong chess tournaments.
As for culture, as you say, a lot of places are famous for certain tournaments (eg Montreal 1979) and for certain chess players (Tal = Riga), but I wouldn't be able to say if there is a rich chess culture present in these places (by rich chess culture I assume you mean things like strong clubs/players based there or very active chess scene - many regular tournaments).
If I were to move to a place solely to play chess the places that spring to mind are London, New York and Moscow.
Originally posted by Golubthe internet city
What would you consider are classical chess towns (i.e. a town with rich chess history/culture)?
Just to name a few places *I* know: Zürich, Hastings, New York, Baden baden
But, what else is there? I do not mean just "any town where a big tournament was played", but something richer than that.
Originally posted by GolubMAR DEL PLATA
What would you consider are classical chess towns (i.e. a town with rich chess history/culture)?
Just to name a few places *I* know: Zürich, Hastings, New York, Baden baden
But, what else is there? I do not mean just "any town where a big tournament was played", but something richer than that.