Plenty of new and old faces stopped by and engaged in friendly games with our club members
On Saturday, 10th September, Anstey Chess Club participated with their own stall in the annual Anstey Summer Gala. Almost a last minute decision, Ben and Boris utilised the two weeks prior to the event to organise a basic stall consisting of a table, a couple of chess sets with boards and clocks, and some advertising material in what appeared to be a learning experience for them. Having participated in the annual Anstey event a few years back, Ben anticipated a quiet afternoon, with the expectations for himself and Boris to be able to handle the stall effortlessly. However, the Anstey community proved both of our team members wrong, as both the visitors and the other participants showed great interest in the local chess club due to their respect and love for the game of chess. Luckily for “El Presidente” and “The Toaster” who were wearing their Anstey Chess Club branded t-shirts, Julian “Mr. Engine” and Oskar “El Capitan” stepped in and demonstrated their immense passion for the game of chess and the club.
Our top-rated player and the second team captain (at least for another week) helped with setting up the stall and moving things around, and Oskar even went back to his home to get some chairs, as Ben and Boris in their typical style forgot that they need to sit somewhere. While the chairs were being supplied, the latter two set up the table, losing their posters and signs a few times in the process, and in anticipation of using the cover for the sets, as heavy clouds were still hanging in the sky. Oskar and Julian returned promptly with the chairs and around noon the four members of the Anstey Chess Club sat comfortable waiting for people to come around.
People passing by started looking at the slightly improvised stall and before long, the games started, unsurprisingly, with the great Mick “Squish” Squire back playing OTB against Julian. Our teammate and one of the founders of the club only stopped “for a quick game”, only to see his better half to do a couple of laps around the stalls while he was trying to hold on the aggressive attacks from “Mr. Engine”.
More people started visiting the club stall, with Brian and Dan giving Boris and Julian very good games, while Nick who used to play for the team in the past even checkmated “The Toaster”. At the beginning of the gala there was also a two-minute silence for Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II followed by a beautiful performance of the national anthem. The games on the stall started getting even more frequent and a good-sized crowd gathered around as the youngsters from Anstey went on to play first themselves, and then each had a go at playing “Mr. Engine” and some of them – “The Toaster” as well. Julian went even further by offering reward to the adolescents if they were able to defeat him.
Ben was happy to discuss junior chess with many parents as they were looking to get their children more involved in the game, mainly for the many benefits and soft skills which the game develops, such as decision-making, problem-solving, strategical and logical thinking, pattern recognition, visual memory, etc. Prompted by their parents, several juniors had a go at playing proper OTB chess against “El Capitan”, “Mr. Engine”, and “The Toaster”, and we are looking to welcome a good part of them in the upcoming junior sessions held every Saturday in Beenies Soft Play in town. In-between the games with the many young participants, our club members played also some of the adult visitors of the gala, including firefighter Dave who gave “The Toaster” a good game, only to narrowly lose due to the time pressure. At some point during the busy period John “The Torturer” stopped by to say hi as he was also visiting the Gala. As the saying goes: “Time flies when you’re having fun.” and with all the fun going around, Boris could not believe his ears after upon asking Oskar about the time, the latter replied that it was 16:35 and the gala had pretty much finished.
A happy Anstey Chess Club gala team finished with a blitz display from Ben and Julian over two games and then packed up. Our members left the event happy after meeting so many great people not only from the local community, but also visitors from as far as Cambridgeshire. An amazing afternoon and a great learning experience for our club, as we are looking to come back next year with more boards, more advertising materials and a lot better prepared over the upcoming year.
Big thank you to Julian and Oskar for their great help and support for this year’s event after they volunteered their services. Thank you to Boris for getting the table from Newtown Linford and printing out posters and signs, as well as helping greatly with the stall layout. The biggest gratitude as always goes to Ben who continues to work really hard for the good of the club and his members. “El Presidente” did not spare any effort and time during this hectic period and in spite of his busy personal and professional life, he managed to organise the stall, the posters, a big sign and even refreshments for our team.
Anstey Chess Club 