Chess-in-the-Street 2008 - a big success!!!

[Tim Bouma]

Chess-in-the-Steet, 2008 Edition was a big success once again this year!!

On both days we had great participation. As part of WESTFEST, the game of had great exposure to the public at large.

Chess-in-the-Street will also be part of a TV show - Matt Dunigan's Road Grill (a travelling BBQ show on the Food Network). Matt and his crew spent a good half-hour shooting scenes using the giant chess set, and then went on to barbequing venison for an upcoming episode.

Even our local MP couldn't resist. Paul Dewar (NDP Ottawa Centre) sat down to play a few games with the kids.

On Saturday, there was threat of rain but it gave away to fine weather to favour Dave Gordon with the simul 20-0-0.5.

On Sunday, we had Misha Voloaca play blindfold chess on the street. Misha persevered through an intense thunderstorm and downpour of biblical proportions. He stayed in the middle of the street, while his opponents executed moves with rapid sorties from the bus shelter. You can see photos of Misha at the link below.

Unfortunately, after a second downpour we decided to call it a day. This deprived Stijn De Kerpel the honour to do the Sunday simul. But it was all good fun - especially watching the rook pawns swimming down the a-file during the height of the storm.

Thanks again for everyone who helped out this year, notably,

• Tim Bailey
• Garland Best
• Stijn De Kerpel
• David Gordon
• Mike Holmes
• Gordon Ritchie
• Myron Samsin
• Brad Thomson
• Misha Voloaca

Also thanks to Chess n' Math (i.e. Larry Bevand) for lending me the Giant Chess Set. As always, the set was a big hit and guaranteed that Chess-in-the-Street would be a big success.

You can see photos of the event here:
( http://www.facebook.com/album.php?ai...a&id=565498168 )

Thanks again to everyone who helped out - we'll be back next year!

Tim Bouma

[Gordon Ritchie]

Re: Chess-in-the-Street 2008 - a big success!!!

I can testify to how popular the chess-in-the-street display was on the weekend. Despite a downpour of biblical proportions, during the brief intervals of relative calm the kids (and their parents) swarmed the site. A great initiative, Tim. Congratulations.

[Garland Best]

Re: Chess-in-the-Street 2008 - a big success!!!

It was fun to attend, and definitely attracted a lot of interest, including a organizer from another festival inquiring if we can do a similar event. Tim, my hat's off to you for organizing this for the past 3 years. Sign me up for next year.

The rain definitely made life interesting Sunday afternoon. Among the more surreal moments:

1) Our "blindold" chess master (great typo on the sign!) Misha in the middle of the street, under the sun umbrella, unable to move while the rain came down. Meanwhile Peter Arseneau is also in the middle of the street, staring intently at the board, as if unaware that he is being drenched. The Scotch Gambit is interesting, but that interesting?

2) Watching the giant chess pieces bobbing their way downriver, in the street gutter.

Simply unreal.