By Thomas Li
On Sept. 29, for the second time ever, CHESSanity teamed up with the Holocaust Memorial and Tolerance Center, creating another memorable Chess-In-The-Park event for many years to come.
It has been a decade since the first notable Chess-In-The-Park was hosted, where CHESSanity yet again hosted its event on the historical grounds of the Holocaust Memorial and Tolerance Center, a museum in Glen Cove known for exhibits that teach the history of the Holocaust, educating many on the dangers of anti-Semitism, racism, bullying and intolerance.
After the departure of Weijie-Jay Li to Stanford, the responsibility of CHESSanity was passed onto me.
Despite being the only student from The Wheatley School and not residing in Jericho like the others, I knew I could continue CHESSanity’s legacy. Judging from how well things have been going since then, I think it’s safe so far to say that I was right about myself.
On the day of the event, we were hoping that it would not rain as badly as last year, when a perfectly fine day turned into a rainy storm in just a matter of hours.
Luckily, despite the small drizzle at the start of the event, the rain eventually faded away and we managed to host our first Checkmate Hate event outside on the grounds of the Holocaust Memorial and Tolerance Center.
We started smoothly after the rain subsided, and our volunteers put in lots of hard work preparing the event. They used all their willpower to bring all the tables, chairs, chess sets, clocks, and other important things outside.
This was one of the reasons why we were so grateful it didn’t rain. If it did, it would have been a repeat of last year. Last year, when it rained heavily, our volunteers had to use all their effort to move everything set up outside back into the museum, where they would be soaked entirely from the rain. Fortunately, this time was a different story.
In addition, Michael Li, now a chess national master, who came up with the idea of this event with the Holocaust Memorial and Tolerance Center, did an excellent job of planning it once again, and I see him doing great things in the future.
As a former competitive chess player, I can see how the younger generation of chess will eventually receive more inspiration from others, just as I did from other older chess players who used to volunteer at CHESSanity.
As a chess candidate master myself, as I see the younger generations building themselves up to become great players, I cannot help but see myself in them when I was younger.
Seeing that young ambition to continue learning gives me no doubt that the future generations in CHESSanity will do great things. Especially from this event, where after both the blitz and bughouse events went smoothly, and many gift cards were given out for prizes, we see how this chess community never fails to continue increasing their enthusiasm for the game.
After leaving for college, I hope to pass the legacy to the next generation of players.
Thomas Li, a senior at The Wheatley School, is a chess candidate master, and current president of CHESSanity, documenting the continuation of the legacy of CHESSanity.
