THE 2013 RVCC I LOVE CHESS FESTIVAL !

On Saturday March 23 at St. John's Lutheran Church the Roanoke Valley Chess Club held an interesting series of events, entitled the 'I LOVE CHESS' Festival. The primary purpose of the event was to help raise funds for the Roanoke Valley Chess Club through a large book sale.

In order, the events were :
  1. A GAME-IMPROVEMENT LECTURE, with FREE Chessbase software passed out to all participants. This lecture was on the subject of Knight Endings. It was prepared weeks in advance and was delivered by National Master Russell Potter. Free discs were given to the participants in Chessbase format, for study at home.
  2. AN EXCELLENT MEAL composed of gourmet pizza and select deli sides and beverages. Select deli items were served with pizzas freshly-baked by Goodfellows pizza. Beverages included ice water, Starbucks coffee and both sweet and unsweetened tea.
  3. A SIMULTANEOUS EXHIBITION WITH FREE PRIZES awarded to those players who either win their game, draw their game or are among the last to finish their game. Out of 11 games, Master Potter won 10 games and lost 1. The single loss was to club Treasurer Eric Diaz. In the Toughest To Beat category, Ms. Shannon Hinchy finished in 3rd place, Emily Tenzer in 2nd place, and young Aiden Taylor in 1st place. The toughest to beat winners all won nice Olympic Neck medals and Eric Diaz won a nice 'I Beat The Master' trophy ! Mr. Potter said that it was a ' pretty tough crew' and that he had few easy games. Congratulations to all the participants !
  4. the largest BOOKSALE in the history of the chess club ! The booksale was a big success. We sold 75 books out of our For Sale collection. We also gave away 12 books in a book drawing. All said, the club cleared over $300.00 and made enough to buy some badly – needed chess sets and bags for the club ! Hooray !
The participants said that they very much enjoyed the day's events.

Yeoman service was rendered by club President Mike Huff and Vice President Ray Megginson in setting up the equipment at the church as well as making misc. arrangements. Great job guys !

Special thanks are due to Master Potter, who did most of the event advertising and overall organizing. He also did a much-appreciated job as the game-improvement lecturer, giver of the Simul. as well as the informal booksale 'auctioneer'. Outstanding service, Russ !

Special mention should also be given to new club member Frank Myers, who bought the largest number of books at the booksale. Thanks Frank !

As a follow-up to the Festival, the RVCC Board of Directors has decided to offer a weekly chess book sale to anyone attending the weekly meetings of the club. The club meets every Saturday from 1:00-6:00 pm in the Roanoke Natural Foods Co-Op on Grandin Road SW.

The club meets every Saturday unless there is a sponsored club event at another site for that Saturday.

( Submitted by the Officers of the RVCC )