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50 years ago and hundreds of years before that chess was mostly played at coffeehouses in the Western world.
In Toronto, the locale was Yorkville Avenue. There we had chess at Club 71 near Bay street where we also had live music. There was a great deal of live music on Yorkville - at the Riverboat Cafe near Avenue Road there was Gord Lightfoot every night. And half way down the street was Neil Young!
Soon afterward the big business interests took over the street hoping to assimilate the bohemian atmosphere but then they competed for the space and all the rents went up driving away the artistes.
Now it's time to renew coffeehouse chess. We will start with one cafe and initiate others around the city. Very soon the cafes could be like a farm league for more serious clubs and tournaments.
So we begin with the Toronto Coffee and Tea House at 685 Lansdowne next to the subway station. We will have many chess players, live music and very good coffees and teas. For the first time there will be Jamaican Blue Mountain coffee - for many years considered the best coffee in the world. Every year most, but not all, the crop is bought up by Chinese, Korean and Japanese buyers.
I am advertising this event to the regular clients of the Cafe, on ChessTalk and on chess meetups (another farm league for serious players) >>>>>>>>
http://www.meetup.com/Toronto-Chess/events/153973242/
As you can see there, the event is scheduled for this Wednesday evening. Also, it is expected that most of the participants will be beginners at chess but that is what we want. This is to be a mostly social event and I expect the male/female ratio will be about 50 - 50. If we get a good turnout on Wednesday, the event will be repeated weekly.
Now what I will need to promote similar events in different parts of the city will be good quality photos of people having a good time. Egis did such a great job taking photos at the 50th Anniversary of Rapids that I approached him first to see if he was available this Wednesday evening. Unfortunately Egis is not available Wednesday.
So we still need someone with a camera to take photos for use in approaching additional cafes around town to set up similar chess cafes.
Anyone?
In Toronto, the locale was Yorkville Avenue. There we had chess at Club 71 near Bay street where we also had live music. There was a great deal of live music on Yorkville - at the Riverboat Cafe near Avenue Road there was Gord Lightfoot every night. And half way down the street was Neil Young!
Soon afterward the big business interests took over the street hoping to assimilate the bohemian atmosphere but then they competed for the space and all the rents went up driving away the artistes.
Now it's time to renew coffeehouse chess. We will start with one cafe and initiate others around the city. Very soon the cafes could be like a farm league for more serious clubs and tournaments.
So we begin with the Toronto Coffee and Tea House at 685 Lansdowne next to the subway station. We will have many chess players, live music and very good coffees and teas. For the first time there will be Jamaican Blue Mountain coffee - for many years considered the best coffee in the world. Every year most, but not all, the crop is bought up by Chinese, Korean and Japanese buyers.
I am advertising this event to the regular clients of the Cafe, on ChessTalk and on chess meetups (another farm league for serious players) >>>>>>>>
http://www.meetup.com/Toronto-Chess/events/153973242/
As you can see there, the event is scheduled for this Wednesday evening. Also, it is expected that most of the participants will be beginners at chess but that is what we want. This is to be a mostly social event and I expect the male/female ratio will be about 50 - 50. If we get a good turnout on Wednesday, the event will be repeated weekly.
Now what I will need to promote similar events in different parts of the city will be good quality photos of people having a good time. Egis did such a great job taking photos at the 50th Anniversary of Rapids that I approached him first to see if he was available this Wednesday evening. Unfortunately Egis is not available Wednesday.
So we still need someone with a camera to take photos for use in approaching additional cafes around town to set up similar chess cafes.
Anyone?
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