CELPIP Listening Part 4 Practice Test: Giant Chess in the Park

NARRATOR: What began as a modest experiment in a Medicine Hat park has become an unexpected social phenomenon. Last spring, a retired carpenter named Walter Brandt built two oversized chess boards into the paving stones near the park's bandstand, with knee-high pieces carved from salvaged cedar. Brandt assumed the boards would attract curious children. Instead, the most devoted players turned out to be seniors, many of whom now arrive shortly after breakfast and linger until lunch. On weekday mornings, spectators routinely gather three deep, offering unsolicited advice on every move. Organizers say the appeal is partly physical: hauling the pieces across the board provides gentle exercise, and players spend hours on their feet rather than seated indoors. Margaret Olsen, an eighty-one-year-old widow, says the boards have transformed her routine. Before, she recalls, entire days passed without a meaningful conversation; now she has a standing rivalry with a former school principal who, she claims, has yet to beat her. Not everyone is delighted. A handful of residents have complained that the crowds obstruct the walking path, so Brandt is constructing a third board in a quieter corner. He has also begun hosting Saturday lessons, hoping to lure the youngsters he originally had in mind.