We’ll plan to conduct casual chess this week and may or may not organize the games with a free, unrated tournament. Please come out and join us!
Chess Palace, CA
In this installment of “The Chess Tourist,” I visited the Chess Palace in Garden Grove, CA. It’s amazing to me that a chess club could maintain a dedicated location in an area where the average 1,000 s.f. home sells for close to $1,000,000 for nearly 30 years, but they’re doing it!
I was greeted outside the entrance by the owner, who invited me to enter a 40 moves in 2hrs with 30 mins s/d time control tournament. I had to pick up a colleague at the airport and was unable, but did play a club player named Frank in a couple of games. Unlike my visit to the St. Louis chess club, I didn’t have much difficulty winning both matches.
There was a young lady on the top board named Emily Zhang who was wearing a U.S. Chess Olympic jacket and reminded me of a young player named Rochelle Wu, formerly an AL resident. She was said to be pretty strong and was obviously holding her own in a strong field of tournament participants. Her biggest tournament challenge seemed to be maintaining contact with the floor with her feet in the desk chair she was sitting in.
The owner, who’s name escapes me, explained that the chess club has been in existence for 30 years and he came into the role as the owner/operator after a chance discussion with the previous owner who had planned to disband the club and sell the location. He mentioned that his son and daughter grew up running the club on the weekends and had learned a great deal from the experience. They’re now both in college, so he and his wife run the club.
The Chess Palace had a chess shop with a sizable offering. I picked up a tournament style magnet set for a reasonable $10. I am usually glad I stop in to play chess while I travel, and this was no exception.
Volunteer Appreciation Dinner
On December 11th, the Huntsville Chess Club held it’s first annual volunteer appreciation dinner to honor those of the club who have sacrificed their time to ensure that our club continues to grow and operate in a manner deserving of its membership. In attendance were Chris and David Hayes, Pam and Bill Melvin, Willie Sandifer, Larisa and Joel Friedman, Tomas Nielsen and his fiancee Vicky, and Patrick Dowd. Quite a few others were invited, but unable to attend. Please be sure to thank our great volunteers. Without them, our club would not be as successful as it has been!