Bay Area is a metropolitan region that surrounds San Francisco, and includes many „chess places“ like Berkeley, Concord and Fremont. I had the pleasure of visiting the latter at the beginning of August. The famous coach Ted Castro from the
Norcal House of Chess invited me for my first chess camp on American soil. It took five days and was well attended, and ended with a simul on twenty boards. The club was very active this year, and before my participation two other GMs- Varuzhan Akobian and Ray Robson also did camps there. These events are extremely popular in USA, the kids use their summer time to get better in various activities. Chess is one of them, but a camp is not only the pure accademical work. The children are also having sports activities, and various competitions. In the Norcal House for example, they were collecting points for participating in the lectures, puzzle solving competitions, wins in training games. Disciplined students win additional points. Points are turned into „things“ and „things“ are transformed in various goods (Lego constructors, Barbie dolls, or mere candies) at the end of the day. This is the sweetest part when kids can taste the fruits of their efforts.
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