Clare Chess Club reborn
New club part of growing network of chess clubs from Kentville to Church Point
The first session of the Clare Chess Club (reborn) took place last month at the Université Sainte-Anne library.
The event was, in fact, the rebirth of the former Clare Chess Club since five of the 10 who formed the new club are former members of the 1991 club: Lloyd Lombard, Norbert Jeddry, Delbert Thimot, Richard Landry and James Crombie.
Located on the campus of the university, the new club presents the students an excellent opportunity to come and play. Student Jolyn Arseneau did exactly that. He has quite a bit of experience playing chess and won his game against one of the top players from the 1991-92 club.
Those who want to test and improve their chess skills are invited to join members each Wednesday at 6 p.m. Chess players from nearby regions are welcome. David Noon and Andrew Eaton from Weymouth’s club and John MacKinnon from the Annapolis Royal club came to play and show that it is important to have a choice of chess clubs.
For the longest time, there weren’t many opportunities to play a challenging game of chess outside the Halifax region. Now, thanks to the university’s support, there are more choices for local chess players. The new club becomes part of a growing network of chess clubs from Kentville to Church Point.
Those who can’t make it to Université Sainte-Anne on Wednesday can go to Weymouth Mercantile (4559 Hwy. 1 in Weymouth) on Monday evenings or Annapolis Royal or Bridgetown on Thursday evenings.
Lombard, founder of the original chess club in Clare, said there were more than 600 million people who played chess in the world in the last year. These include 350,000 active players in 185 states and nations. There are also more books on chess published than any other sport in the world. The idea is not to win, but to learn more, according to him.
Chess is a passionate game and for those who seek to improve, the Clare Chess Club hopes to provide the challenge and the opportunity. I’ve often heard “I’d rather lose to a player stronger than me than to constantly win against someone who is weaker.”