This must be Gent, Belgium. 2 major clubs: KGSRL and Jean Jaures and lots of smaller chessclubs. Every summer, during De Gentse Feesten, 1 of the most famous open tournaments there takes place: you have to survive one to know what I'm talking about.

How about Berlin. There is no other city in the world, which as as many chess clubs as Berlin. Not sure about the exact number, but it certainly is above 30-40 range. The are chess cafes, bookstores, and tons of tournaments.

When I still played there, over 15 years ago, they had an annual city team championship, 8 boards per team, up to 6 leagues deep, multiple divisions per league. Back than they had over 5,000 players play per round.

I believe that currently Berlin has three teams in the 1st Bundesliga and 6 or 7 in the 2nd Bundesliga. Not to mention all the GMs and IMs living there. Kramnik and Shirov used to play there. Today, the most popular is probably Aronian.

In this respect London beats Amsterdam, I am afraid. There used to be a couple of good chess book shops, but now there is only one. If it not has moved, it is a long walk or a long ride by tramcar from the centre. I suppose all Dutch order their chess books on Internet these days.

True. But having grandmasters doesn't necessarily mean you get to play them. I was thinking more about availability of good players for blitz games and such in certain places..so that if somebody wants to play he could just go to those places and be gauranteed a game.

I admit: Amsterdam can't match this, though it could call some GM's its inhabitants in the past (Timman, Rogers).

Amsterdam. From this city, which I don't like very much btw, one can reach all important continental  tournaments without much effort. There are also quite a lot of chess clubs. For chess London is too peripherical. 

Let's see... Moscow, St. Petersburg, anywhere in Russia.   



Hell, maybe even a place like Kiev.

Nex