Ottawa Chess-in-the-Street

An announcement for an event that I'm organizing in my community

Hi everyone,
The details have been finalized and I am pleased to announce "Chess in the Street" to be held as part of Ottawa's biggest street festival WESTFEST, on Saturday and Sunday, June 10th and 11th, 2006.

The official announcement on the WESTFEST site :

"Chess-in-the-Street is an outdoor chess event that takes the game of chess from the parlour to the street. Chess-in-the-Street will have numerous activities appealing to everyone: from kids to adults and from those who have never played before to the seasoned tournament player. With each game you play, your name will be entered in a draw for prizes. Chess-in-the-Street will also have GIANTCHESS!, a giant-sized chess board on the street. There will be a Simultaneous Chess Competition in the afternoon each day, featuring a ChessMaster who will battle 15 simultaneous chess opponents. June 10th, 11th, 2006, 10 am through 4 pm Richmond Road & Roosevelt Avenue".

Some items of note:

First of all, this is an OUTREACH EVENT, not a tournament. The theory goes, that there are tons of people who are aware of chess, but not aware of what chess can offer to them (like the author, two years ago) The success of this event depends only upon the people discovering the wonders of chess in a novel and festive setting.

Second, the author would like to thank the gracious support of the producer of WESTFEST, who managed to squeeze us into this very popular event (expected attendance of 30,000-50,000.) To appeal to kids, a big part of WESTFEST, we have situated Chess-in-the-Street within the WESTFESTKIDSZONE to encourage kids, their parents and any brave adults to play with one another.

Third, the author would like to thank the Chess-and-Math organization (in particular, Larry Bevand and David Gordon) for their enthusiastic support and lending us the GIANTCHESS set for the occasion.

Finally, we're still looking for volunteers and sponsors to help - mostly to hang out and encourage people to play - we'll be having 8-10 boards open during the course of the day, and if there are sufficient and willing chess souls out there, we're planning to conduct simuls to wrap up each day. If you wish to help out, please let me know at: e-mail:tim.bouma@sympatico.ca
All in all, Chess-in-the-Street should be quite a spectacle. If it works this year, we may consider growing it into an annual festival event, including rated tournaments etc. But for now, the focus this year is simply to bring "Chess-in-the-Street".

Thanks to all, who have made this a happening, and thanks in advance to those willing to pitch in.