This has been a thing since November 30th. The ECF's CoViD advice page has not yet noted the change.
In England, you must wear a face covering in the following indoor settings (examples are given in brackets):
- shops and supermarkets (places which offer goods or services for retail sale or hire)
- shopping centres (malls and indoor markets)
- auction houses
- post offices, banks, building societies, high street solicitors and accountants, credit unions, short-term loan providers, savings clubs and money service businesses
- estate and letting agents
- premises providing personal care and beauty treatments (barbers, hair salons, tattoo and piercing studios, nail salons and massage centres)
- pharmacies
- premises providing veterinary services
- retail galleries
- retail travel agents
- takeaways without space for consumption of food or drink on premises
- public transport (aeroplanes, trains, trams, buses, coaches and ferries), taxis and private hire vehicles
- any car or small van during a professionally delivered driving lesson, a practical driving test, or during one of the practical tests for giving driving instruction, and in all HGV lessons and tests
- transport hubs (airports, rail and tram stations and terminals, maritime ports and terminals, bus and coach stations and terminals)
You should continue to wear a face covering in other indoor places that are not listed above, which are crowded and enclosed and where you may come into contact with people you do not normally meet.
There is a specific exception for hospitality settings BUT the wording implies that this is because of practicalities, not because wearing a mask is a bad idea:
Face coverings are not legally required in hospitality settings given that they cannot be worn while eating and drinking (see the ‘When you do not need to wear a face covering’ section below).
There is also this:
Face coverings are not required in hospitality venues such as cafes, restaurants and pubs, and nightclubs. Face coverings are also not required in any venue, or part of a venue, that is being used wholly or mainly for eating and drinking.
which could be interpreted as the exception that proves the rule - a part of a venue that is NOT being used wholly or mainly for eating or drinking (so, a chess club playing area) is mask-mandatory.
Can the playing area of a chess club qualify as a hospitality venue rather than as "part of a venue"? If a rugby club's bar shuts at 8pm, does it stop being a hospitality setting? Is someone playing chess but not drinking under different requirements than someone with a pint next to them?
Is it reasonable for a league to ask a team from a "masked" club, say a club meeting in a church hall - to attend an "unmasked" club on a certain night (or else lose the match)?
If an 80-year-old player's only social activity is a weekly visit to the chess club (wearing a mask), then he gets "pinged" due to his attendance at the club, then gets seriously ill, can the player's relatives demand compensation from the club for their decision to designate their playing area mask-optional?