The joys and problems of an organizer. After the stressful setup where the clock seemed to be moving twice as fast as normal,small glitches with volunteers, and Pascal and Larry showing up much earlier than expected, I was almost paranoid that the near perfect setting of the Kitchener City Hall council chambers would be spoiled by a poor start to the event. However GM Pascal Charbonneau has all the qualities of a great champion. A botched opening message by yours truly and some last minute adjustments were handled by Pascal like water off a ducks back and he turned the afternoon into a first class performance! Only one person managed a hard fought draw which went over 40 moves. New member at the KW Chess Club, Julia Lacau from Romania celebrated her birthday with a very interesting draw, only two weeks after defeating David Raheb (for the only win) in a University of Waterloo - KW Chess Club team match! Julia will be a welcome addition to the top 10 women in Canada and is already one of Kitchener-Waterloo's top players.

The event finished very smoothly (after most of the participants showed up late as well as the press) and the press provided stellar coverage.

Pascal was very gracious in analysing several games afterwards and very friendly to all participants. I managed to pass around a guest book to record all the participants thoughts and best wishes to Pascal and it was only filled with very positive comments (whew! - what a relief)Pascal not only autographed but personalized many items when requested including posters and medallions. The biggest joy of this organizer was a many hour relaxation and talk over dinner with Pascal and Larry after the event. For a second I thought Larry was developing a heart but then it occurred to me that he was probably a recent graduate of a quality course in customer appreciation. Pascal of course (and Larry) were very witty conversationalists and very entertaining and it was only at the end of a very pleasant evening that I enquired and found out that they had a 6am start this morning and at least a 10 hour road trip to Kapuskasing! Needless to say I am very impressed by our Canadian Chess Champion.