A Day At the Chess Club and Scholastic Center of Saint Louis
November 24, 2010 • General
There seem to be diverging views in the world today on whether people who are in roles of importance (I’m not dumb enough to think I’m a celebrity!) should give people insight into their life via sites such Myspace, Twitter or Facebook. Either it is all publicity or cheapening, but there seems to be no middle ground these days. Countless people have asked me what exactly I do at the Chess Club and Scholastic Center of Saint Louis or what my specific role is. I will try to shed some light into what an average day at the club is like.
As I am not an official employee but a contractor, I am not required to be at the club at 9AM like the full time staff (the club is NOT officially open http://saintlouischessclub.org/about-us). However, I generally show up relatively early around 10-11AM. Usually, I will spend an hour or two hanging out and discussing various upcoming projects/plans on anything related to chess. The afternoons tend to become significantly more hectic as I was in 2 ½ hours of meetings just two days ago on US Championships planning and another interesting tournament idea which will be releasing news about shortly. Once the club opens at 3PM, I usually chat briefly with the locals who drop by the club almost every day (A big shout out to Dale)! Sometimes as was the case yesterday, people from out of town come by the club. I had the great pleasure of meeting several amateur chessplayers from Kentucky and Seattle, while signing various boards and cards. Seeing and talking to these people who follow your every tournament is truly inspirational and gives me motivation to continue my quest towards becoming World Champion. I will also give the rare fan a treat and play a few games of blitz. The other really fun activity which happens from time to time is when schools take a field trip to the CCSCSL. A few weeks ago, a local group of home schooled kids who play chess came by which gave them all an opportunity to play against GM Ben Finegold and myself in a tandem simul. Between all these exciting activities, there is almost never a dull day at the club!
For more info:
http://saintlouischessclub.org/Scholastics/Our-In-School-Programs
As a sidenote, 13th World Champion Garry Kasparov will be at the club on November 29 from 4-5PM while this is going to be followed up by a Nigel Short lecture&simul starting at 6PM. I should be on hand at the club during these hours as well, so I recommend to anyone in the general area to come on by!
That’s all for now as I need to get in my morning workout and pack (lightest packing job ever) for my short weekend trip to Oslo, Norway. Hopefully, I’ll see some friendly faces at the club today as people start arriving (I had lunch with Nigel yesterday) for the 2010 Thanksgiving Open which begins on Friday.
For more info: http://saintlouischessclub.org/content/2010-thanksgiving-open
Once again, thanks for all the support and have a safe and Happy Thanksgiving!
Hikaru
Saint Louis,USA
11.24.10
Wish i could drop by the club. Please tweet if you ever come to play around Atlanta area.
Hi! Do you like playing GM Short?
I played 5 blitz games against Nigel earlier. He’s quite an interesting person!
see, thanks for answering!
Thank you for answering,wish you become World Champion!
I am so glad you are posting to our Blog again! I have been following chess and your games for a few years,
The chess club gig sounds great, to be able to make a living doing what you love is a rare gift these days.
I think the knockout tournament format is a good one for you, and foresee you challenging for the WC soon, in the meantime enjoy the ride and keep us in the loop!
thank you.
On his blog, Magnus says he played 40 3/2 games with you after the World Blitz, what were the results?
On his blog, Magnus says he played 40 3/2 games with you after the World Blitz, what were the results?
Get opinions from GK on various public-relations type questions, like the one you began with in this blog post…good luck!