Elmira man to take on challengers in simultaneous chess games

Bill Atwood Observer Staff

EDSS WILL BE THE

SCENE of skill and critical thinking as Elmira’s resident chess expert, Scott Kuehl, will take on students and teachers over their lunch hour on May 6 in simultaneous play. The event will see Kuehl take on several opponents at once in multiple games.

According to Kuehl, there are two types of simultaneous play; the first is where one player physically walks around and makes moves at each game, the second is called “blindfold chess,” where the player doesn’t actually see the boards and they make every move from memory.

“Only so many people actually can do that,”

Kuehl explained of the latter form, noting the record number of blindfolds simultaneously is 75.

“Seventy-five opponents, at the same time, remembering all those positions on every board just in his mind. Person- ally, I think he’s crazy. I can’t do that. I know I can’t do that, but a simultaneous, that I should be able to do because the board is right there in front of me,” he said.

Kuehl first got introduced to the game by his dad and grandfather when he was a kid.

“I was basically a nerd at school. We actually did have a travel chess team, and the three or four of us would travel to various other schools that also had a team and you play. I don’t know if such a thing even exists anymore,”

Over time, he became quite skilled at the game.

“I was the one that usually would win. If everybody else would lose, I would still win. It’s basically the only time I ever got to shine in the limelight.”

Kuehl is using the upcoming event to promote chess in southwestern Ontario. He’s been a booster of the game for years.

“Even though chess is starting to open up in Ontario, there still isn’t

GALEA: Displaying your smarts

You can see a lot of these at birdfeeders in most small towns.

If that same bird, however, were to hear your call and immediately run off towards safety, then it is an “incredibly stupid” bird. To a non-hunter, this might seem counterintuitive. In fact, most people would probably think that the bird was smart or even crafty to hear an artificial call and run away. But we turkey hunters know that what we’ve encountered is a bird that is actually so incredibly stupid that it didn’t understand how good our calling was.

These incredibly stupid birds are the ones most non-hunters see close up all the time.

Generally speaking, a crafty old bird is what we hunters prefer. That’s because they are the only kind a hunter harvests. If you doubt that, just ask any successful wild turkey hunter to retell the story of his or her epic hunt –provided you have an hour or so to spare.

He will immediately describe a bird that would have made Stephen Hawking look like a C-plus student – one that only the most skilled of hunters could outwit. I’m talking about a crafty old bird that understands his guzintas.

As in, five guzinta 10 twice and so forth. The kind of student the teacher brings an apple to.

If the story is to be believed, outsmarting this turkey requires an advanced degree in ornithology. I mean, we are talking about a bird that reads Dostoevsky while on the roost. Hunting this bird and winning is akin to playing chess with a grandmaster. You must think three moves ahead.

Sure, the hunter who bags this bird will conveniently forget to mention that it fell in love with his rubber turkey decoy. Or that it was seen the day before pecking at its own reflection.

Instead, the hunter will suggest that the turkey “knew something was wrong” but the set up and calling were too good for it to resist. He or she will then detail all the things they did flawlessly, including waking up at just the right time. They will also take credit for calling just the right amount and knowing exactly when to move. (When your legs cramp up.)

And, in the end, they will proudly tell you they are smarter than a bird. Ninety per cent of the time that’s true. As for the other 20 per cent? Well, that’s debatable.

very much in southern Ontario. There’s an event this year in Port Elgin, one in Collingwood, other than that [there is] the odd

→ FROM 11 more than two a game this year with 56 in 23 regular season games and 29 in 11 playoff games. He was also the Wolves’ captain this season and took home a gold medal with team Ontario at the Canada Games.

“There was some growth in the game and he’s been given some more positive responsibility, both in the dressing room and on the ice. His work ethic in the offseason is great, and how he works in practice throughout the year is incredible,” said Wolves coach Tyler Ertel.

Ertel knew Martin, a 5’11”, 170-pound righthanded shooter, would be a high pick before the season even started.

“He’s been special for a while, so, yeah, no surprise. I did not expect him to be in the running for number-one overall and he was just a hair away from being selected number-one overall, which is amazing,” he said.

This season helped prepare him for the OHL, Martin said.

“You always gotta show up, and in the OHL you’ve got to show up even more, because there’s a lot of talent in the OHL and you don’t show up and you’re gonna be walked over and on their radar all year, and the team became worried that he might not be available when their turn to pick came up.

“Just because of how good a second half he had. It was such a performance in that second half and the playoffs and everything that you can just kind of see him taking off in the rankings. You’re just never sure how the draft is going to play out, so we’re really excited.”

Rafts said Martin is the complete package of kids are becoming better at a young age than when he was a child, Kuel said.

“Nowadays, you’ve got kids that are being tutored and are not just good but very good at the game. It’s so much younger in age, with the internet and being able to get a hold of tutors and stuff like that. I wasn’t capable of that when I was that age, because, of course, the internet didn’t exist,” he added.

In 2021, American Abhimanyu Mishra became the youngest ever grandmaster (the highest title for a chess player) at just 12 years, 4 months and 25 days old, beating the previous record set in 2002 by Sergey Karjakin, who was 12 years and 7 months old.

In his efforts to grow the game, Kuehl will be hosting his third Horse and Buggy Chess Open at the Woolwich Memorial Centre on August 12 and 13. Any player that defeats him during the May event will receive free entry into the summer tournament.

“You don’t want to put pressure on a player…our expectation is he’s going to come in and make an impact on our team next year, whether that’s right out of September or it takes until October or whatever it’s going to be.

I don’t think he’s the type of player that’s going to sit back and try and just quietly get himself on the

Playing with 20 year olds will be a different experience, Martin acknowledged.

“I think if I’m surrounded by players, that’s a good atmosphere for it. I can make a difference in a hockey game but I still have to work my tail off and do what I can, keep going like in the last couple of years.” where they needed to be.

“Just a kid that wants the puck on his stick in big moments, and I think getting to know him and his family a little bit better off the ice, you get a real sense of just how bad this guy wants to be a player,” Raftis added.

The GM has an expectation that he will make an impact for the Soo next season with the plan the team has in place for him, however he also acknowledges there will be an adjustment period.

If Martin continues on the current trajectory, Ertel would not be surprised to see Martin as first-round NHL draft pick in two years, and later donning the maple leaf at the world juniors.

“This kid is a very, very special human being and a very special player. We’re all very blessed to have him come from this community and especially more of a smaller town farm boy – this is quite an amazing story. I can’t say enough good things about him,” Ertel said.

CROKINOLE: Contingent heading to US tournament

→ FROM 11 basketball or volleyball, you’d always have to wait to get older. But I knew with crokinole, right away, as soon as I started playing it when I was 11, I knew that immediately, I could theoretically be the best player in the world. So I was kind of attracted to that idea of a competition that was super accessible right from the beginning.”

Reid Tracey, Jeremy Tracey’s son, will also be participating in the New York tournament. He says he is excited to play with new people, and that this is his first stateside tournament.

“It’s awesome that anybody, kid, man, woman, child can partic- ipate in this game,” said Paul Brubacher, another member of the club who’ll also be going to the tournament in New York.

“It’s very manageable for anybody to put in some time and become decently skilled at the game. They could have a pretty competitive game, even with a top player,” said Walsh.