THE FREE PRESS
        PEOPLE
Page A19                                                   THURSDAY,     NOVEMBER   2, 2000                                       PHONE  564 0005
  Krause: ‘You do the work and you've spent your life doing the work not to get recognition, it’s just who you are and what you do.’
    CNC works to make a connection, again, with chess
   The Community
  NOTEBOOK  ♦-------------------------
 ► Here comes Red Nose
   Operation Red Nose got more than 1,300 passengers and almost 500 cars safely home last year during the festive season.
   Their campaign kicks off this week to remind people not to drink and drive, with Operation Red Nose there to get you and your car home for you. Stay tuned to local media for the release of the ORN hotline number that will be up and running during the spirited holiday season.
 ► Hiking meeting
   Caledonia Ramblers Hiking Club holds their annual general meeting on November 3 at 7:30 p.m. at Van Bien Training Centre (311 Wilson Cres).
   For anyone interested in the local hiking club, this is a chance to meet the members and learn more about the group’s activities.
   Call 564-8887 for more information.
 ► Crafts at St. Mary’s
   St. Mary’s Craft Fair 2000 takes place November 4 and 5 on the corner of 12th & Gillett. Open 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. both days, it is a fair full of crafts, food, raffle items and plenty of Christmas shopping ideas.
 ► Heart health for women
     On November 16 at 5 p.m. the Coast Inn of the North hosts a “Women & Heart Health Symposium” specifically addressing the body-mind connection. Dinner and guest speaker. Call 565-7350 or 565-7448 for more information.
  ► Silent auction at PGCC
     The Business & Professional Women’s Club holds their 5th Annual Silent Auction on November 15 at the PG Golf & Curling Club starting at 5:30 p.m. (cocktails) then dinner at 6 p.m.
     Cost is $23 members, $25 non-members. All funds to assist women with their education. Bring a friend, men very welcome.
  ► Help with parenting
     Northern Interior Health Unit hosts a parenting group from 10 to 11:30 a.m. (1st and 3rd Thursdays of month for under 12 months, 2nd and 4th Thursdays of month for 1 - 5 year-olds).
     Free child care provided. Call 565-7311 for more information.
  ► Western Elks
     The Elks hold their Western Days November 13 to 18.
     Fun and games, pie eating contest, pancake breakfast (November 18 from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m.), barn dance (Nov. 18 at 9 p.m.) with a live band and much more.
     Call 961-1713 for information.
      Chess is a centuries-old game. Though only 20-something himself, Chris Gee also has some history with the game, and it led him to uncover some of CNC’s connections with chess. He learned almost everything he knows about chess from his father, who was once an instructor at the College of New Caledonia where he is now a student. He knew his father once ran a chess club, but it did not exist anymore. He decided he would revive the club, which he did last year. They hold their annual tour nament on November 19.
      But it was fate, not calculation, that uncovered the top prize for this year’s CNC chess champ. While Chris was going through some archival catalogues he discovered something that was not there in the records last year — a CNC chess trophy. Apparently the archivists finally caught up with data entry, or it fell out of some unexamined box somewhere.
      “It has been over 20 years since someone has had their name on it. I thought it would be nice to try and revive that,” Chris says, delighted at his find. Only three names adorn the plaque - Antione Verheyen in 1974, Rick Evers in 1975, Kirk
  Morgan in 1976 - until now. Ironically, they were members of his father’s chess club all those years ago.
     Chess is a game of such scenarios. It is the combination of slivers of luck flaking off from great chunks of strategy. Within this power-playing is a lot of mental depth and a lot of action. Internal action.
     “When you’re just sitting around watching it it is boring, but sometimes when I’m playing a game my heart pounds so hard it feels like I’m going to burst something,” Chris says. “The masters are like good hockey coaches. They aren’t watching the players, they are watching and analyzing the patterns within the game. They manipulate the patterns to suit him or her. Me, I just push the pieces around.”
     And he always studies the game. There are books mapping out, move for move, great matches of the past. He reads these for strategy lessons. He plays players he knows will beat him, to learn from the best tutor of all: defeat.
     “It is almost impossible to play chess without learning something, and it is often better to lose,” Chris says, but adds
  that the CNC club is just a place to play around. It is not competitive, particularly. "It’s just for fun. It is about beating yourself or rising to the occasion. Chess is all about forethought. The initial moves, which seem trivial and haphazard, if they aren’t considered very carefully you will end up regretting them later. It is strate-gizing. It’s a skill you learn and get better at.”
     He then notes that chess and mania are closely related. The very, very best chess masters at the top edge of the game are also often on the edge of sanity. Chris doesn’t expect that kind of player at the CNC tournament on November 19, but “there are a couple of really strong players in town. I hope they come to play, and from there maybe get involved in the club by offering some instruction opportunities.”
     Games begin at 11 a.m. in the double knock-out tourney. Registration is the hour prior, and there is a limited entry. Fee is only $5 and cash prizes are offered, along with the distinction of being the first name added to the CNC Chess trophy since 1976. For more information call Chris at 563-5607.
 Story Frank Peebles Photography Doug Brown