Special Simul Event at Brookbanks

Due to the fact that the auditorium room (the room that we use for the program) was pre-booked for last Saturday (Oct 3) way before this program became a part of Brookbanks Library, we had to come up with another solution. The final decision was to host a simul event on the main floor of the library, where people coming in and out of the library could see us clearly. Of course a couple of shelves and chairs had to be pushed aside, the tables had to be carried upstairs but it was definitely worth it!! The fact that it was in an open space made it superb for promoting our program. Tons of people came and asked us or the librarians about the program. They didn't even know that there was this chess program before! There were other teens who came up to us and asked if they could play! One thing I'm sure of - by hosting this special event, we just gained a couple of new members!

On the other hand, it was an exciting week for all the participants as well. Everyone who came to play received a key chain, a magnetic bookmark and 3 simul tickets. There were 12 chess sets set up and 4 people who were playing the simul (3 boards per player). They were Michael Kleinman, Kevin Wu, Brent Zhang, and me. The kids can choose which one of us to play and sit in a spot in front of one of the three boards. Book prizes would be given out to players who either drew or won a game. Unfortunately, nobody received such prize in the end. However, one kid was extremely close to getting the prize! Each person is allowed a total of 3 games (or else the simul will never end!), hence the 3 tickets. The tickets were also used for a prize draw at the end of the event. The lucky winner took home 2 comic books and a yoyo, all sponsored by the Brookbanks Library.

I thank all the simul players as well as all the library staff who made this exciting event possible. I believe everyone had an amazing time. There will be 3 more of these simul events coming up, with different simul players. Please check the "Events" page on our website www.chessinthelibrary.com to find out the exact dates they will be held on. Hope to see everyone at the next simul!