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Churches help out Our Place for Easter
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Chess giants contesting title Grand Pacific Open, provincial championships help put Victoria on map in chess world
Services offered, supplies paid for by region’s faith groups
Erin McCracken News staff
Roszan Holmen Love of the game and the chance, however small, to play one of the world’s leading chess players spurred Howard Wu to register in the largest annual open chess tournament in Western Canada. More than 100 players from five countries, four Canadian provinces and six U.S. states have registered to compete in the sixth Grand Pacific Open, happening today through Monday at the Hotel Grand Pacific, 463 Belleville St. For Wu, the highlight will be either playing against or watching Hikaru Nakamura, an international grandmaster ranked No. 1 in the U.S. and sixth in the world. “There is a chance (to play against him), depending on how I end up doing in earlier rounds,” said Wu, a Gordon Head resident and national chess master. At the Open, participants play six rounds of games until one player is left. “Once we sit down, it would just be like playing any strong player, although the result would probably be different,” Wu said, laughing. “But you approach it the same way. It’s just the honour and privilege to play against someone at that level.” He also planned to root for two junior players he coaches. They are among more than 150 kids from kindergarten to Grade 12 from around the province who are competing in the B.C. Chess Challenge today (April 6). The high registration numbers for the junior provincial championships and the Grand Pacific Open signals that Victoria is on the map in the chess world. And that means a bright future awaits. “It’s good for the success of our event in future years,” said Brian Raymer, event organizer and president of the Victoria Junior Chess Society. “We have a high number of returning players and we always get a few new ones every year.” Spectators are welcome to attend for free. For details, please visit grandpacificopen.com. emccracken@vicnews.com
News staff
Don Denton/News staff
Saanich resident Howard Wu is one of more than 100 players, including several top-ranked masters, competing in the Grand Pacific Open international chess tournament in Victoria this weekend.
One month into his new position as executive director of Our Place Society, Don Evans is forging partnerships to help keep the doors open and the meals flowing to people in need. “When I came in here, and I saw that they were closed on weekends and holidays, I realized that we were going to be closed for four days during Easter,” he said. The society runs a deficit, so paying staff overtime to open on a holiday would be difficult, he said. At the same time, he added, “it was difficult for me to think that many of these people might have a hard time finding a meal during those days, so what I did was just reach out to the churches.” He received a great response. Nine faith groups in the Capital Region stepped forward to pay for, prepare and serve three meals on Good Friday and Easter Monday at Our Place. Others are also getting involved. “There have been a few staff that said they would like to come in and volunteer for those days,” Evans said. PLEASE SEE: Weekend meals, Page A6