Two mall tenants offer space to chess players
Park Royal tenants Whole Foods Market and White Spot have stepped up and offered a group of chess enthusiasts a place to play after they were recently ordered out of the mall’s food court, chess player George Ingham said Friday.
“Whole Foods said yesterday they’d open up a spot for us and White Spot said today they’d open up a spot,” Ingham said.
“They said, ‘Make sure you guys come here if you have to.’ ”
A ragtag group has been playing chess regularly at Park Royal for decades, but the long-standing tradition recently came to a halt when mall management sent out a letter March 31 ordering the group to “cease the use” of the food court or face serious consequences because the food court must be kept free for paying customers.
Ingham said they met with mall management Thursday and were offered an outside space, but no long-term solution to the impasse was found.
Earlier, mall management suggested the group move their games to rented rooms in the West Van- couver Seniors’ Activity Centre, the library or the community centre, and pledged a one-time donation of $500 to help cover rental costs.
Chess player Terry Fellows said he regularly buys snacks and drinks while he’s in the food court, as do many of his chess-playing friends.
The group is an informal one, not associated with any club, and players include pensioners, teens, doctors, dentists, janitors, dishwashers and international chess competitors.
It also includes Ingham, the president of United Power, who turns 80 this month and has been playing at Park Royal for half a century.