The Chess Association of WA will host the speed tournament to mark the upcoming release of Disney’s Queen of Katwe, which tells the true story of Phiona Mutesi, a young girl from the streets of Uganda whose world rapidly changes when she is introduced to the game of chess.
The special pop-up tournament will involve 40 registered players fighting it out to be the grand champion.
Association secretary Norbert Muller, of Woodvale, who has been with the association since 1980, said the |five-minute games would give cinema-goers a taste of the competition.
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READ NOW“It puts a lot of pressure on; you win whether by checkmate or if your opponent runs out of time,” he said.
Mr Muller said he had seen the popularity of chess dip in recent years.
“In my experience, it has declined a bit due to the internet, but you can play chess on your computer with people from around the world,” he said.
“But if you are losing on a computer game of chess and you don’t like it, you can just turn it off. Serious chess players prefer to play over the board with their opponent in front of them.”
He said Australia finished 30 out of 200 countries in the Chess Olympics this year.