Chess In The Park 2.0

After the success from our first “Chess in the Park” event from last month, Impact Chess hosted the second edition - “Chess In The Park: 2.0” - last Sunday, August 7th. Like last time, the event took place at Turning Basin Park in Princeton where refreshments were provided and entry was free to the public. Most exciting of all was the simultaneous exhibition, or simul, this time given by International Master Eddy Tian, who is a sophomore at Montgomery Township High School and is currently ranked in the top 3 best chess players in the US for his age group. He’s been playing chess since he was 7. He was the 5th grade national champion in 2017 and has also won the NJ Scholastic about 5 times. Eddy also has 1 GM norm. 

The event started at 2 P.M, and despite the hot and humid weather, over 100 people showed up over the span of four hours. IM Tian played a whopping 62 people in total during his simul, and as more and more people started showing up, Eric Wu, Impact Chess’s founder and president, played a simul of his own. Only one person was able to beat Eric, and she was congratulated by the crowd and awarded a giant prize. After the simul, the players played friendly games against each other and Tian played bughouse with participants. 

The “Chess in the Park” events provide a fun and free way for young kids to improve their chess ability and gain an opportunity to play against other players and chess masters like Eddy. The event introduces more locals to chess, forming a community of both experienced and new chess players alike. With the enthusiasm from our past two events, Impact Chess will continue to host “Chess In The Park” every month as well as tournaments and other events.

Written by Joanna Hou and edited by Tianna Wang