Last Friday, the Hart House Chess Club (HHCC) Welcome Back Pizza Party was a huge success, boasting a remarkably high attendance this year!! The Royal Game is very much alive and well among UofT students, as a whole range of different disciplines showed up to challenge each other at the Hart House Reading Room. Walking between the tables, one could hear chess enthusiasts complimenting their opponents’ tactics or exclaiming at an unexpected but brilliant move! Never a dull evening in the Reading Room.

At 6pm, attendees were treated with delicious pizza, snacks, chips, pastries, and light refreshments! After all, the best chess party is a chess PIZZA party. In between games, players were encouraged to submit their answers to the chess puzzle set up by HHCC execs for the chance to win a raffle prize. We are proud to congratulate returning HHCC member, BenJohn Libardo, for solving the puzzle and winning the prize!!

It was wonderful to see so many new members expressing excitement for the upcoming chess workshops for Upper Beginners and Advanced players! The novelty did not wear off – the following week after the Pizza Party, chess workshop attendance was double the expected amount! We strongly encourage interested members to join our AMAZING chess workshops this Fall semester.

Finally of course, none of this would have been possible without our HHCC execs, the wonderful support of the Hart House Administration, and the volunteer service of our amazing HHCC alumni friends – Edward Chan, Alex Ferreira, and Andrew MacMillan. We are so excited for this upcoming year and its impressive roster of fun chess events!