I had no idea that this evening would turn out to be interesting beyond my imagination. Initially when my cousin invited me for an evening at the London Chess classic meet (obviously in London), I had accepted mainly so because it would be an opportunity to meet and catch up with him.
Being a weekday, I had to plan my day so that I finish work and head to London city (40 min by train). On the morning of the "day" , I was not feeling well , so decided to take it easy. Being inside the cozy confines on my room, I took care of "important and urgent" official emails and then started to contemplate if I should go for the evening meet. At one point, sleep got the better of me. I woke up feeling better and made up my mind to go for the evening meet.
I reached the venue (Olympia center) after an hour's journey, hopping trains 3 times. Made my way upto the conference area. The place was filled with Chess board of all sizes.
People from different parts of the world, 10 yr old to 70 yr old could be seen in groups discussing Chess, strategy, games etc. Needless to say there was a coffee shop at one end of the hall with rows of chairs and tables, most of which were occupied. Not to forget, a shop selling Chess related materials (chess books, puzzles, chess boards, DVD's etc), some of them at a reduced price. I did pick a couple of books :-)
Chess games at different levels were on and the seriousness and concentration on everyone's face was evident from the silent room filled with people.
The most interesting part that held my interest was a talk about Astronomy which was presented by 3 senior chess players. It was interesting to see the connection between astromomy and Chess. For the first time I had come across a seminar on astronomy in a Chess meet. I am still wondering as to what is the common link. The room was 70% filled with audience and online audience listening in/watching , thanks to the technology. The 1 hour session went on for an hour and 20 minutes with folks making it an interactive one.
Finally, definitely the cream of the evening was a meeting with one of the prominent/famous/well-known name in the world of international chess arena who shared his interest in astronomy during the session. The pic should be good enough.
Being a weekday, I had to plan my day so that I finish work and head to London city (40 min by train). On the morning of the "day" , I was not feeling well , so decided to take it easy. Being inside the cozy confines on my room, I took care of "important and urgent" official emails and then started to contemplate if I should go for the evening meet. At one point, sleep got the better of me. I woke up feeling better and made up my mind to go for the evening meet.
I reached the venue (Olympia center) after an hour's journey, hopping trains 3 times. Made my way upto the conference area. The place was filled with Chess board of all sizes.
People from different parts of the world, 10 yr old to 70 yr old could be seen in groups discussing Chess, strategy, games etc. Needless to say there was a coffee shop at one end of the hall with rows of chairs and tables, most of which were occupied. Not to forget, a shop selling Chess related materials (chess books, puzzles, chess boards, DVD's etc), some of them at a reduced price. I did pick a couple of books :-)
Chess games at different levels were on and the seriousness and concentration on everyone's face was evident from the silent room filled with people.
The most interesting part that held my interest was a talk about Astronomy which was presented by 3 senior chess players. It was interesting to see the connection between astromomy and Chess. For the first time I had come across a seminar on astronomy in a Chess meet. I am still wondering as to what is the common link. The room was 70% filled with audience and online audience listening in/watching , thanks to the technology. The 1 hour session went on for an hour and 20 minutes with folks making it an interactive one.
Finally, definitely the cream of the evening was a meeting with one of the prominent/famous/well-known name in the world of international chess arena who shared his interest in astronomy during the session. The pic should be good enough.
