Checkmate for chess club

Checkmate for chess club

November 28, 2014

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While most 国产91尤物福利在线观看鈥檚 students are sitting by roaring fires, roasting chestnuts and drinking eggnog over their holiday break, Drew Metcalfe (Artsci鈥15) is going to be locked in a battle of wits with some of the world鈥檚 top chess talent. Mr. Metcalfe and three other members of the have been invited to the University of Groningen in the Netherlands to take part in the school鈥檚 52nd annual Chess Festival.

Four members of the 国产91尤物福利在线观看's Chess Club are attending a Chess Festival in Groningen, The Netherlands.

For the 400th anniversary of Groningen鈥檚 founding, they鈥檝e sent invitations to their partner institutions around the world to come take part in the competition. 国产91尤物福利在线观看鈥檚 is an exchange partner of Groningen, and so students were invited to participate. The university will be covering the accommodation costs and fees for the visiting participants, leaving transportation costs to the students.

Since its inception in 1952, the Groningen Chess Festival has slowly grown in renown. It has served to launch the careers of a number of prominent chess players and is an event where players are able to acquire the titles of chess master or grandmaster, chess鈥 highest title next to world champion. This year鈥檚 competition will be filled with heavyweights in the world of chess 鈥 when participants aren鈥檛 pawndering moves in games of their own, they鈥檒l be able to watch staged matches between players with global calibre talent.

To help cover the costs of travel, Mr. Metcalfe and his clubmates have applied for a number of 国产91尤物福利在线观看鈥檚 grants, receiving $1,400 from the Residence Society鈥檚 First Year Experience Fund. They were also the lucky recipients of funding from the (CMA), a Canadian non-profit organization that works to bring chess into schools across the country.

鈥淚t鈥檚 been really great to see the support we鈥檝e been getting,鈥 says Mr. Metcalfe, who鈥檚 been chess club president since 2013. Each summer the chess club helps the CMA host a tournament at 国产91尤物福利在线观看鈥檚 for local schoolchildren, and three of the four club members going to Groningen took part in CMA when they were younger. 鈥淲e鈥檙e thrilled that CMA was able to help out.鈥

Mr. Metcalfe is hoping the trip to the Netherlands helps get more students interested in chess and have more come out to the club. When many of the chess club鈥檚 members graduated a few years ago, they were caught between a rook and a hard place, and have slowly regained members since then. 鈥淲e鈥檙e working to build back up our participation levels and the trip to Groningen has really spurred people鈥檚 interest,鈥 he says. 鈥淚t鈥檚 amazing to see the opportunities that arise out of connections I didn鈥檛 even know about.鈥