Toronto Estonian Chess Club 65th Anniversary Chess Tournament Estonian Life

Eestlased Kanadas | 09 Oct 2015 | EL (Estonian Life)Eesti Elu

The Toronto Estonian Chess Club is celebrating it’s 65th anniversary this year with a 5 round Active Swiss system tournament (30 minutes per player)on November 15th, 2015, at the Estonian House at 958 Broadview Ave. Please contact Jaak Jarve at 416-222-9445 or email to pre-register. Cost of the tournament is $10.00, coffee and pirukad will be available for the players. On site registration opens at 12:30, with the first round starting at 1:00 pm.

The Toronto Estonian Chess Club was formed on September 27, 1950 in a room in an Estonian Evangelical Church at 4:00 pm in the afternoon. On this date the original members present were; Erich Kalmar, Eduard Rose, Oskar Jõulu, Helmut Sandström and Uno Wesingi. Erich Kalmar was elected as president. In 1954 Erich Kalmar was also elected as the president of the Overseas Estonian Chess League. Under Erich ‘s leadership the Toronto Estonian Chess Club won many team matches in the early 50’s and 60’s. Erich Kalmar passed away in 1973. Hans Jurman ran the club until 1976 when Lembit Joselin took over. Lembit Joselin brought the activity of the Estonian Toronto Chess Club to great heights in the 80’s and 90’s. It was through Lembit’s initiative that the Active format of play in chess tournaments in Canada took hold. In the 90’s the Toronto Estonian Chess Club organized many fall Active tournaments where many top Canadian GM chess players would take part among the many novice players also.

These tournaments were attended by over 100 participants. Lembit Joselin passed away in 2006. The Toronto Estonian Chess Club was run by Toivo Kõhelik and Jaak Treifeldt until 2012 when Jaak Järve assumed a leadership role . Currently the club has friendly game chess evenings on the first Wednesday of every month at the Estonian House (starting at 7:00 pm), and holds two Active chess tournaments each year one in the spring and one in the fall. In recent years the club has organized simultaneous chess tournaments at the Estonian Children’s Summer Camp during the St. John’s Day celebrations in the end of June near Elora, Ontario.
Chess is referred to as “the game of kings”. Throughout history chess has been played by many great figures such as Isaac Asimov, Napoleon, Beethoven, Orson Welles, Seve Ballesteros, Charlemagne, Harry Houdini and countless others. Chess is taught in many schools around the world as part of their curriculum of studies. Chess is in itself a search for truth. It teaches logistics, patience, time management, spatial relationships and best of all humility. Win, lose or draw, the player has always been enriched somehow through the game. We await all players who want to celebrate with us our 65th anniversary with our November tournament.
Jaak Jarve

Eestlased Kanadas

Missing our onu Leo