Cleaning up my basement :)

[Larry Bevand]

Anyone who has seen my basement knows that this is way overdue :) The only reason I finally did it was that I need a new oil tank and the company said...clean out your basement first :)...and they were being polite :)

Anyway, I didn't do everything (Afterall we are still in relatively good weather territory :) but...here are a few things I did come across that were noteworthy.

1 - A picture of Capablance...autographed by the man himself.

2 - A large picture of Vlad (known as Walter in those days) Dobrich from 1973 winning a trophy that was presented by La Presse...we will put it up in our Toronto space on Mt Pleasant...Vlad was in his early 20's at the time.,,,maybe Vlad can fill in some of the details :)

3 - A flyer announcing one of the most awesome chess trips I have ever taken:

"A Chess Tour to the Soviet Union plus Helsinki Finland...Presented by Finnair...Escorted by Mr Jonathan Berry February 23 - March 7, 1987...price includes:

Return airfare Toronto-Moscow, Leningrad-Toronto
Round trip transfers between airports and hotels
Inter-city transportation by air, first class accommodation and all meals within the USSR
All sightseeing excursions in the USSR
Three theatre performances in the USSR (In Moscow we chose to go to the Moscow circus much to the dismay of our guide...ahh those uncultured Canadian chessplayers :)
Prearranged chess matches
One night first class accomodation in Helsinki with breakfast

We went to Moscow (including the Moscow Chess Club...aweosme!). Tbilisi (the people were sooo warm :) Leningrad (where I ran off from the group as a fellow from there took me to a a Pioneer Palace :) and then to Helsinki and home again...the cost for this 13 day all inclusive trip was...$1,445!

I believe we were about 15 chessplayers on this incredible trip...maybe Jonathan can fill in some of the blanks :)

Larry

[Paul Beckwith]

Re: Cleaning up my basement :)

Forget the oil tank and convert to natural gas. You will reduce your annual heating bill by a factor of 2 or more...

[Francis Rodriguez]

Re: Cleaning up my basement :)

Serendipity.......

I spent 10 hours (really!) in CMA's Toronto basement today
too, putting the final touches to our state-of-the-art chess
club "The Chess Studio", which opens later this week at our
facility - Strategy Games - on 701 Mt. Pleasant!

Still under wraps, more info on its rich features and unique
USP (pics too) will follow. A small corner is being sectioned
off for a mini-museum - trivia, pics, stats, models ("The Turk?"),
memorabilia (Vlad?:-), and Larry's Capa pic would fit in nicely,
seeing as we almost named it the "Capablanca Chess Club!"

I'm looking to historian Dave Cohen's input here though. The
much-rumoured regular Friday-night Blitz Open will commence
on the 24th Sept. at the Studio from 6:30 pm, computerized
of course:-), and if you're not in the prize-money 4 hours later,
hang around for Vlad's the next morning at Mom's Cafe!

Francis.

[Larry Bevand]

Re: Cleaning up my basement :)

Anyone who has seen my basement knows that this is way overdue :) The only reason I finally did it was that I need a new oil tank and the company said...clean out your basement first :)...and they were being polite :)

Anyway, I didn't do everything (Afterall we are still in relatively good weather territory :) but...here are a few things I did come across that were noteworthy.

1 - A picture of Capablance...autographed by the man himself.

2 - A large picture of Vlad (known as Walter in those days) Dobrich from 1973 winning a trophy that was presented by La Presse...we will put it up in our Toronto space on Mt Pleasant...Vlad was in his early 20's at the time.,,,maybe Vlad can fill in some of the details :)

3 - A flyer announcing one of the most awesome chess trips I have ever taken:

"A Chess Tour to the Soviet Union plus Helsinki Finland...Presented by Finnair...Escorted by Mr Jonathan Berry February 23 - March 7, 1987...price includes:

Return airfare Toronto-Moscow, Leningrad-Toronto
Round trip transfers between airports and hotels
Inter-city transportation by air, first class accommodation and all meals within the USSR
All sightseeing excursions in the USSR
Three theatre performances in the USSR (In Moscow we chose to go to the Moscow circus much to the dismay of our guide...ahh those uncultured Canadian chessplayers :)
Prearranged chess matches
One night first class accomodation in Helsinki with breakfast

We went to Moscow (including the Moscow Chess Club...aweosme!). Tbilisi (the people were sooo warm :) Leningrad (where I ran off from the group as a fellow from there took me to a a Pioneer Palace :) and then to Helsinki and home again...the cost for this 13 day all inclusive trip was...$1,445!

I believe we were about 15 chessplayers on this incredible trip...maybe Jonathan can fill in some of the blanks :)

Larry

A city evaluator is coming to my house tomorrow to see if they can increase my municipal taxes :). So it is a good excuse to do some more cleaning in my basement.

I came across the "XXX Canadian Correspondence Chess Championship 1974-75" by...our own J.K. MacDonald. It is copy number 169 of 250 copies that were printed.

One of the participants was Stephen Boyd who now lives in France but came to Toronto this summer to give a FIDE Arbiter course.

Here is what he wrote back then:

"I am a twenty-year-old third year student at the University of Toronto majoring in mathematics and philosphy. I have been playing OTB (over the board) chess seriously for six years and correspondence chess for four. In correspondence play, my main achievement (before this tournament) has been winning the Junior Championship twice. OTB, I'm a member of the U. of T Pan-American Inter-Collegiate Championship Team. We won the Championship in Atlanta and Louisville in succeeding years. I placed fifth in the Canadian Junior Championship of 1974 and tied for first in the Toronto Chess Club Championship of 1974"

[Hugh Brodie]

Re: Cleaning up my basement :)

I was on that 1987 trip to the Soviet Union as well. Of course - it was winter there as well (with Tbilisi being a mild +5 C, but Leningrad -20). A group of us took the metro (fare: 5 kopeks, or 10 cents at the time) from our hotel to Red Square close to midnight one night - it was deserted, but perfectly safe.

We were fed lots of potatos and apple juice - as well as caviar - but not much variety.

We went into a large Mosciw bookstore, and could find no chess books.

We bought some souvenirs in Tbilisi in a store with a brand new digital cash register. The clerk instead used an abacus, and gave us our change.

The Saturday night action in Tbilisi was at the main post office - everyone went there to make long-distance phone calls.

[Gary Ruben]

Re: Cleaning up my basement :)

That book has the tables for the first 29 championships as well.