Canadian Open Chess Tournament

Enjoying a long and exciting weekend down at the Westin Harbour Castle Hotel showcasing my chess sets at the Canadian Open. Mark Bluvshtein, who holds the distinction of becoming both the youngest Canadian IM and the youngest Canadian GM in history, played with one of my chess sets on Friday night for his Chess Simultaneous Exhibition, where he played 16 other players at once. The man is beyond good. It was very cool.

Oh, and by the way Mark won the match. He did say that the board provided some challenge to him.

Quick picture of the booth, with Roddy and Wendy playing in the background.

Huge thank you to Linda and Jeff, who found the display case for the boards. It's awesome!

Half done and still working on ... will be finished today

New board finished

Just finsihed a new chessboard (from maquette of the Canadian geography) in oil. Have the winter pieces made, and now working on the summer pieces. It should be in cool when dry. Just needs a blue keyline, but it has to be drier to completely polish. This piece specifically narrows the landscape to be less defined between the squares, but still allows for traditional play. It'll be a "moving landscape" when being played: very cool.

So now I'm finishing the next one I have on the go (sorta working on a few at once at the moment).

New Board, small 10x10"

Hmm Mostly Finished

So I'm mostly finished and am just getting to posting now. Still have the white border to finish, but am hestitating as the original plan was to take this on Wednesday to New York with me, so that I could play a few times with my friends down there over the weekend. But if I do paint the border, or niggle any more, it won't be touch dry and I'll have to forget the whole idea. Sigh. Decisions, decisions. It's probably too big to take on a plane anyway, I suppose. And I'm havng a problem deciding what to bring, and I'd need larger pieces if i take this board ... but I've not finished the smaller board that was my second option ...

Doesn't it just annoy one when people waffle? I'm waffling; annoying even myself. I need new shoes to go to NYC anyway, and a really small hairdryer. I should go out into the world, even though I don't really feel like it. It's snowing again, which is kinda pretty I suppose.

Work in Progress

New chessboard currently in progress. Oil on wood, and wasn't able to finsih it this weekend (started yesterday).

Catching up after catching the flu

Yes, just checking in and updating some pics as I'm getting over the flu. Really, it's been quite some time since I've been this sick. And I know that six days is nothing compared to the 3 weeks most people have been out with this one, but for me to be sick this long is weird. And I don't likes it. Still can't sleep though; spent last night sleeping in the chair in my studio because it's the most comfortable spot I could find. Lying down is dismal - just impossible to breathe.

But I got new medicine yesterday evening and today was better. Look, it's 8:00pm and I'm still semi-vertical. I can even read still. Back in the studio plotting again. Definitely on the mend. Looking forward to going to NYC next weekend to visit friends and wander the art shows.

What does one wear at art shows? Do you think anyone cares really?

Another little square for the new "candies and sweets" chessboard in progress ... and

... and the finished clay chessboard. This ones a little different. Haven't really sorted out what I think yet. Still have to take some photos with the pieces on it, that might help sort out thoughts.