On March 11, the Conestoga Chess Club hosted a charity blitz tournament, raising $130 for the local nonprofit Diamond Rock Wildlife Rehabilitation Clinic (DRWRC). The clinic is a rehabilitation center for small injured animals, and will use the donation for their operations, such as providing animals with food and shelter. Club members paid $10 to enter and played chess against each other to win prize boxes.
Junior and vice president Bo Phillips decided to hold an event outside of regular club meetings and donate the tournament proceedings to a charity to support a good cause and improve member engagement.
“I thought for engagement and competition, it would be good to encourage people to come,” Phillips said. “We wanted to have this tournament for purposes of pulling a lot of people who sometimes don’t come to meetings.”
Phillips said he, along with junior and president Ratan Konda, chose to raise money for DRWRC to help them cover various expenses involved with managing staff and taking care of animals.
“They (wildlife centers) are all nonprofits, and when you consider people have to volunteer their time here to help these animals out, (the donation) definitely does help them quite a bit to have those resources,” Phillips said.
During the tournament, participants played five three-minute rounds against competitors with similar scores. At the end, senior Mohnish Elangovan, junior Allen Liang and sophomore Matthew Xiong won first, second and third places, respectively. Liang enjoyed playing in the club’s comfortable environment.
“One may see chess as serious business, where only the best prevail in this cutthroat competition. But for me, I was never in it for the money. It was truly for the friends I got to outplay along the way,” Liang said. “Plus, the money was going to a good cause. The chess speaks for itself.”
Konda felt that the tournament was a success, as it created an enjoyable environment and improved club participation. He valued how playing chess created a lively atmosphere and connected members through friendly competition.
“Overall, the tournament was a great experience. The best part about it was seeing everyone come together and having fun,” Konda said. “I’m really glad that we could do this event, and I hope that we can make it better and bigger.”
Vivaan Krishna Ponugoti can be reached at [email protected].
Ashley Wang can be reached at [email protected].
