The Greater Toronto Chess League

Hi everyone. Great news today: our new website is up and running! Check it out at www.chessinthelibrary.com. And while you're there, check out the forum and make yourself an account so you can join the discussion! While the majority of the content is untouched, the new update brings a new, classier look to the website. The new CITL website has complex CSS formatting and efficient JavaScript thatyutongluohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17548997294142445772noreply@blogger.com0

For those of you who lives in Toronto and visits the public libraries on a regular basis, you must know how large and busy the North York Central Library (NYCL) is. There are always a group of people playing chess against each other on the tables outside, but it had never been a formal program.

I've been talking to the Youth Service Specialist, Elsa at NYCL about starting up the chess club since the very beginning of this year. The starting date was first settled for May 1st, then due to tight room bookings and all sorts of problems, we had to push it back to the end of October.

Actually, during this period of time, the teen zone at NYCL is undergoing big renovations. We don't even know when it will be complete. However, thanks to Elsa, we're still able to run the program there before renovations end. The only problem is that we'll be moving around a lot, in different rooms each week. We'll have weekly sessions that runs each week plus a monthly session that runs once a month (weekly sessions will be cancelled on those days). Weekly sessions can hold up to 15 participants while monthly sessions will be accepting 30 people.

If you want to register for the program at NYCL, make sure to read the schedule below carefully!

North York Central Library
5120 Yonge Street
Toronto, ON
M2N 5N9
416-395-5535

Open from 1:30-4pm every Saturday on the following dates:

October 30- Room 2/3 (weekly)
November 6- 3rd floor, SR (weekly)
November 13- Room 1 (monthly)
November 20- 3rd floor, SR (weekly)
November 27-3rd floor, SR (weekly)
December 4- Room 2/3 (weekly)
December 11- Room 1 (monthly)
December 18- Room 2/3 (weekly)

Hope to see you all there on October 30th! What is a better way to celebrate early Halloween than to play some chess at NYCL? :)

As you all know, Chess in the Library couldn't have been possible without the help of our generous donors and sponsors. Among all these heart warming people, there is one family that has always been particularly special to us - the Southam family.

Elsa, Peter and David Southam were the first ones to contribute chess items to CITL. In July 2009, my fellow teammates Michael and Yutong joined me on a trip to visit these lovely people. I've blogged about it last year and if you didn't see the post, I've linked it here. They donated to us 20 chess trophies, a few chess books, sets and the money for engraving the plates.

A few weeks ago, I was honoured the opportunity to pay the family another visit. They brought back from the US more things to donate to Chess in the Library! Among the huge bag of items were a few very new chess books, 2 chess clocks and 2 large recreational chess/checkers/backgammon sets. There was one book that really caught my eye:


Disney's Chess Guide! Learning chess with Donald and Mickey is so cute ^_^

Just a random page in the book. This one explains how to move a Bishop!
Notice the colourful disney pictures used here~

There is also a comic section in the book about "chess land". Absolutely adorable!

Well, the Southam family doesn't just bring us those good news. There's one more! They've agreed to fund the annual trophy that will be given to the library team that wins the Open Section of our CITL Annual Festival each year! Isn't that exciting? The annual trophy would be placed in that library for a year and then transfered to the next winning library the year after. Branch names will be carved on the plates and it will certainly provide extra excitement to our festival!

So thank you so much Elsa, Peter & David! Words alone cannot express my appreciation for everything you've done for us. You guys not only made our dream come true, but also the ones of our little chess enthusiasts . :)

\The first thing I did when I returned from the Explore French program in Three Rivers was to visit the Chess in the Library program at Bridlewood. Last time I went, I didn't take a picture of the awesome chess display they had on their shelf. It's AMAZING!! Check it out:


this is the shelf that lies behind the check-in & out counter at Bridlewood


According to the program organizers Stanley Su, Linda Fu and Mary Xu, an average of 18-20 kids show up every week to play chess in the library. All the little chess enthusiasts in the pictures below were beyond excited to play the game for 2 hours straight! :)

Room overview

program co-leader Stanley (first on the right) teaches the kids how to play

organizer Mary (last one on the left column) explains the rules of chess to the younger girls

Bridlewood's Chess in the Library program has been running smoothly since the first day it started. New members are still trying to join the club each week, but then again, the space is limited. Well, first come first serve! We hope that after Bridlewood's success with the program becomes more solid, more branches in Scarborough will join the network.

In the past week I have been working on CSS containers. Though there's still tiny visual problems with it, I think the general format is completed. Here is how it looks.This container thingy is a more dedicated way to organize a website. Using these containers instead of tables allows for better visuals and more formatting options. As seen here we have a nice bar at the top with the heading, and yutongluohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17548997294142445772noreply@blogger.com0

I found an interesting article on the Your Ottawa Region newspaper today titled "Chess champ cleans up at Open". Guess who's it about? Joey, our new program leader in Ottawa of course! :) Check out the article below (the last few paragraphs are about Chess in the Library! ^_^) :

Chess champ cleans up at Open. Chess sensation Joey Qin poses with his chess board in his home. Joey placed seventh overall in the Canadian Open Chess Championship.

Joey Qin is 14 years old and heading towards his first year of high school. In his sport of choice, it’s not uncommon for him to compete against athletes more than twice his age – and win.

First introduced to the game when he was seven, Joey Qin is a rising star in the chess world and he just keeps getting better.

Gordon Ritchie, a pillar of the Ottawa chess community, used to play Joey before he became too strong of a player. Now Ritchie refuses to play him because the teen’s calibre of chess is too high.

“He could beat 90 per cent of chess players in the country,” he said. “Joey is an outstanding chess player.”

The last tournament Joey competed in was the Canadian Open Chess Championship. The international tournament draws the best players from across the world.

Joey placed seventh overall in the nine day tournament and cleaned up in his age division.

Joey attributes his success in the chess world to studying past games – with the help of his dad – and knowing how to read his opponent.

“We look at their playing style and what to be aware of and what to target,” he said. “Their opening can tell a lot about them.”

Despite the wins, it’s the love of the game that keeps Joey staring down the chess board.

“I like concentrating on things and solving problems. Chess is everything glued together that I like,” he said.

In between tournaments, Joey is trying to give back to the community in a way that’s meaningful to him – chess lessons at the local library. The program is called Chess in the Library and is a volunteer based program that is currently only available in Toronto.

“Chess really is a great game and I want to share my experience with others,” he said.

The program is for players of all ages and strengths who want to come out and learn the game.

Only one library – the Ruth E. Dickinson branch – will be offering the program to start but Joey maintains hope that once people show interest, more branches will come onboard.

“It’s time for him to give back to the community,” said Lily Qu, Joey’s mother. “That’s why I’m glad (Marilyn Shanks) is giving him the chance to promote chess.”

The program will run Saturday afternoons starting in September.

Credits to Jamie DoggartC. Source: http://www.yourottawaregion.com/news/local/article/855419--chess-champ-cleans-up-at-open

More details about the Chess in the Library program in Ottawa will be posted soon. Any support you would like to contribute to the program in Ottawa is very much appreciated. :) Thank you!

For the banner I decided to make it simple yet effective. The old one feels blurry and is just getting old. This time it's about to get real classy. Oh of course the new logo will be in it too. I had a hard time deciding which font to use for the "Chess in the Library" text. After frustration and desperation after scrolling through every font I had, (I never realized there were so many fonts to yutongluohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17548997294142445772noreply@blogger.com0

It's been a while since my last post, and during this time I've been working very hard on the website. But I must admit I underestimated the work to be done. So far I've only finished the banner and the navigation bar. It wasn't as smooth as it could have been, and in the past month due to Summer School the progress has been slowed down. But regardless I have the confidence to mark the deadline yutongluohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17548997294142445772noreply@blogger.com0

Well, it's been a quick 2 months that have gone by at Pleasantview Library, with lots of fun and learning in chess. This program sure is great! As summer has come, our attendance has cooled down a bit overall, with about 12 or so kids coming in every Saturday to get their weekly fix of chess. We tend to not hold too many swiss tournaments anymore, as the kids often come and leave at erratic times. Instead, we hold loosely-organized round robin type games and often let the kids play double chess as a fun tactics-strengthening experience and/or explore books on chess by themselves or with others. It's great for the kids and they seem to like it.
Thanks for reading!

From the very first day that I founded the Chess in the Library program, I've set myself and my team the goal to expand this program to other cities and provinces. Although I do live in Toronto right now, my hometown is actually our national captial - Ottawa. If we do host this program at another location outside of Toronto, Ottawa would be our first target. Last month, I was overwhelmed to recieve an email from Joey Qin, a young master with a CFC rating of 2340 while only in grade 8! It was about his interest in expanding the Chess in the Library program to Ottawa. :)

Welcome to the team, Joey!

Joey has already confirmed the program with the counselor in Ottawa and the proposal is currently being reviewed by the librarians in Ottawa. I hope that everything works out and we'll be able to see the program in action by September.

Since we're expanding to a new city, we need to buy more chess sets. The previously donated 100 chess sets are pretty much all distributed among the libraries in Toronto (there are 10 locations). I hope that everyone can support this new innovation by making a donation to the fund for the Chess in the Library program in Ottawa! Contact me if you would like to make a contribution. Thanks! :)

Sorry for not uploading photos for the past 2 days...Our french camp went on a field trip each day for the past 3 days. So I didn't get the chance to touch a computer until now...

Grade 3 Section Individual Champion: Catherine Li
Grade 6 Section Individual Champion: Jonathan Chan

Open Section Individual Champion: Magas Yusuf

Grade 3 Section Team Champion: North York Central Library

Grade 6 Section Team Champion: Brookbanks Library

Open Section Team Champion: Fairview Library

Complete Set of the Grade 3 Section trophies

Complete Set of the Grade 6 Section trophies

Complete Set of the Open Section trophies
Close up Picture of the Open Section 1st Place Engraving
There is a trophy for the top 3 individuals in each section. They were presented by David Southam, the representative of the Southam family who donated their trophies to us. The old engraving plates were taken off and replaced by new ones. I personally think that it's a really good idea to redistribute one's trophies to the next generation if they are no longer in use. I know that they are people who treasure their trophies because they bring back old memories displays their accomplishments but on the other hand, I also know people who just keep their trophies in their closets. It is not easy for the Southam family to give away Todd's trophies and because of that, my team and I were really touched when they made such a decision. If there is anyone who would like to redistribute their trophies through the Chess in the Library program, we would honour your contribution by engraving the plates with your name on it. ( e.g. Middle line: Todd Southam Award). Message me if you're interested! :) Team prizes were presented by the referees for each section. Medals were given out to the top 3 teams in each section. Each team consisted of 3 players so we bought 27 medals using the donations. A big thank you to our donors!

The opening ceremony was the favourite moment of the entire festival. Below are all the people who made a speech, excluding me and Elsa (there`s a picture of her in the report). Below are the description of each speaker with their photos underneath.

David Southam, representative of the Southam family who donated Todd`s trohpies to us. The Southam family is one of our first donors and it really means a lot to our entire team. The trophies are really nice - mostly marble based and ìf you want to see all of them, you`ll have to wait a few days. Thank you so much for coming David, and a BIG THANK YOU to the entire family for their support.

Magas Yusuf, past leader of the Brookbanks Library. The Brookbanks branch is our very first location and after I left to expand the program to other locations, it was Magas who took over the big responsibility. As of the first participants and volunteers of the program, Magas`s support will always be remembered.

WFM Hazel Smith who played an important role at the Pleasant View Library before last September when she had to go to university in Waterloo. Hazel organized the puzzle competition at the Pleasant View branch and became a role model for the kids there . Having another Olympiad member on our organization team is truly an honor.

Kevin Wu, present leader of the Pleasant View Library. After Hazel left, Kevin took over and currently, that branch has one of the highest participation rates. Being only in grade 9 (the youngest member of our team), Kevin has demonstrated everything required to be a leader. His speech during the opening ceremony was one of the best prepared.

Yolanda Zhang, current leader of the program at the Fairview Library. Being one of the few girls involved, Yolanda had done a lot to encourge he Fairview players to come to the festival despite the fact that their current session has ended (next session starts in Septemeber). One by one, Yolanda called the top 10 players on the list and succeed in convincing most of the players to join the celebration Michael Kleinman, oh boy, I could write a whole page on this description. Chess master + leader. Michael was the second person to join the team after me. He always wanted to do something like this to give back to his community so Chess in the Library was perfect for him. We`ve went to meetings together, picked up donations together and right now, he`s leading the program at the Northern District. Michael has contributed so much to the program and I really, really appreciate everything he`s done for the program since the very beginning. Kostya Golovan is the program leader at the Maria A. Shchuka Library. He is honestly one of the most responsible guys I know. I was informed by the librarians that Kostya NEVER missed a single chess club meet. Now that`s something incredible!
Alexandru Florea, another top junior chess player in Canada. He is currently leading the program at one of the farest TPL branches in Toronto - the Humberwood Library. It seriously took me 2 hours on bus just to get there one way! We`ve been always wanting to do the program there but until Alex came along, the only barriers we had were volunteers. I`m pretty sure that without Alex, CITL at Humberwood wouldn`t be possible.
Xiaohan Du, a pure math genius. Taking grade 11 IB math while in grade 10 is truly something rare. Anyways, Xiaohan is not in the organizing team anymore, but he was one of the first ones to join us. He also tried to open up the program at the Deer Park Library but due to the demographics there, we didn`t get enough participants interested in chess. Nonetheless, Xiaohan still came to celebrate the anniversary with us and I`m sure that he`ll always be a part of the program a bit here and there.

For now I am focusing on the new design of the website, as the forum is done with only visual changes to make. I plan on of course designing the look of the website first, than the look of the forum. Forum should fit the website, not the other way around. As for the look now, I feel the colors is a bit too light. For the last couple of days I've been trying to get SiteGrinder working. yutongluohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17548997294142445772noreply@blogger.com0

Guess where I am right now? Three-Rivers, Quebec! :) This has nothing to do with the title above, but I thought that I might as well share the awesome news with everyone. I`m there for a french program called Jexplore and it`s such a wonderful place to improve your french. Si vous êtes seize ou dix-sept ans avant de juin 2011, vous pouvez inscrire pour le programme l'été prochain! :)

Anyways, back to the main topic - Bridlewood`s Grand Opening. Last Friday, June 25th, 2010 was the day that the Chess in the Library program officially became a part of the Bridlewood Library in Scarborough, Toronto. It was a huge success as our maximum capacity was reached (24 spots) and there were 4 more kids who waited for their turn.

I mentioned a few months ago that our next project would be to make a kid-friendly brochure that explains the basic rules of chess. Due to the craziness of the past few weeks (culminatings, exams, CITL festival, packing for Jexplore, etc) we only managed to create a handout. This handout was given out to all the particpants and their parents to enhance the learning experience. I clearly remember that there was one little girl who kept telling her opponent that the Rook was a strong piece because the handout said so. She was soooo cute! :)

Our volunteers and future leaders of the program at Bridlewood are Stanley Su, a 1500-1600 CFC chess junior who will be going into grade 9 next year and Mary Xu, an IB student of Victoria Park C.I. Stanley had his first experience of teaching a public group and although he wasn`t confident leading the group at first, time helped him to adjust his comfortableness. There is always a first time for everything and I strongly believe that one day, Chess in the Library will help Stanley become a great public speaker. Stanley and Mary, welcome to the team! Bienvenue à l'équipe!

Overall, everyone had a great time at the program and it seems like at Bridlewood, we don`t need to worry about participants, we need to worry about space! :)

The Chess in the Library 1st Annual Festival was held at the North York Central Library on Saturday June 26th, 2010. The event was a huge success for our program as it attracted more than 50 participants representing each oof our 10 locations plus one - the North York Central Library.

The festival kicked off with a grand opening ceremony in which 11 people spoke on behalf of the Chess in the Library organization in one way or another. Being the host of the event, I spoke first behind a podium and welcomed everyone to the festival. David Southam, brother of Todd Southam, whose trophies were redistributed in the tournament was the second one to address the audience. He spoke of Todd`s story and proudly explained why their family chose to donate to us. Next was Elsa Ngan, the Youth Services Specialist who spoke on behalf of all librarians that are involved with the Chess in the Library program. Elsa is also one of the organizers of the festival and without her, nothing would have been possible.

Then followed my favourite moment of the festival - the speeches of the Chess in the Library program leaders at each library. They are Magas Yusuf. WFM Hazel Smith, Kevin Wu, Yolanda Zhang, Michael Kleinman, Kostya Golovan, Alexandru Florea and Xiaohan Du. Each little story of theirs made me simile. I was honestly really touched when they spoke of how and why they joined the organization team for Chess in the Library. It made me feel that we`re truly a team that shares the same passions and visions, not just them volunteering like they would at a school cafeteria just for volunteer hours. To those names that I mentioned above, I just want to thank you so much for everything you`ve put into this program since last June. Your speeches will always be in my heart and I will forever cherish that moment. Words alone cannot describe how touched I was...

The main event of the festival was a individual and team chess tournament. There were three sections: Open, Grade 6 & Under, Grade 3 & Under. The system was an invidual swiss, but team scores were totalled in the end to see which library was the best in each section. Unfortunately, we only had the time to play 3 rounds because the library had to close at 5pm (we started the games at 2pm). Nonetheless, that did not affect the participants as each one of them fought hard for their team. Although the games are CMA rated, the tournament site was not even close to being as loud as scholastic tournaments should be. Thanks to the availibility of another meeting room nearby, we kept the parents and kids waiting for the next round busy with our side events - a puzzle competition and a giant chess set activity. Both side events were extremely popular and 3 book prizes were handed out to the the best puzzle solver in the end.

Mostly everyone stayed for the awards regardless of how did they in the tournament. The atmosphere was filled with excitement and anticipation. The top 3 individual finishers in each section received a trophy and the top 3 teams (consists of 3 players each) were awarded with medals. Book prizes (random draw by Elsa and Gal) were also given out to 5 lucky winners! When one team won, all members from that library would cheer for the winners. It`s been a while since I`ve heard that much cheering for chess! A big thank you goes out to the Southam family and other individuals who donated the trophies and book prizes for this event. Finally, a special shoutout to Erik Malmsten, the Greater Toronto Chess League Secretary for sending out a news release for the festival. Unfortunately, all reporters were taken by the G20 and G8 Summit, but I really apprecaite the effort. Next year, we are determined to have news reporters on site! :)

To all the volunteers, librarians, sponsors and donors who are involved with the Chess in the Library program for the past year, THANK YOU!!!! Thank you for the contribution, the support, and most importantly, your faith in us. Happy 1 year anniversary, Chess in the Library!

--------------------------------------------------
Tournament Results:
Open Section Individual Winners

1. Magas Yusuf
2. Steven Xia
3. Calvin Tang

Grade 6 Section Individual Winners

1. Jonathan Chan
2. Jeffrey Li
3. Jaden Wang

Grade 3 Section Individual Winners

• Catherine Li
• Benjamin Lin
• Colin Ruan

Open Section Team Winners

1. Fairview Library (896.0) - Cnt: 3 6.0

• Keith Tang (1046) 2.0
• Calvin Tang (922) 2.0
• Tariq Haji (720) 2.0

2. North York Center Library (810.5) - Cnt: 4 5.5

• Steven Xia (970) 3.0
• Mario Umana (unr.) 2.0
• Alexander Kim (651) 0.5

3. Brookbanks Library (782.5) - Cnt: 3 5.0

• Magas A Yusuf (906) 3.0
• Sayanthen Sathyakumar (659) 1.0
• Tonia Tong (unr.) 1.0

Grade 6 Section Team Winners

1. Brookbanks Library (826.7) - Cnt: 7 8.0

• Jonathan Chan (992) 3.0
• Jaden Wang (712) 3.0
• Kevin Kang (776) 2.0

2. Pleasant View Library (697.5) - Cnt: 4 7.0

• Jeffrey Li (964) 3.0
• Catherine Lu (431) 2.0
• Robert Wang (unr.) 2.0

3. Gerrard/Ashdale Library (0.0) - Cnt: 4 5.0

• Bao Tian Fu (unr.) 2.0
• Michael Kwan (unr.) 2.0
• Callum Denault (unr.) 1.0

Grade 3 Section Team Winners

1. North York Center Library (644.7) - Cnt: 4 7.0

• Catherine Li (659) 3.0
• Mathanhe Kaneshalingam (753) 2.0
• Jonathan Hong (522) 2.0

2. Pleasant View Library (696.0) - Cnt: 3 4.5

• Benjamin Lin (696) 3.0
• Kalan Raven Samaroo (unr.) 1.0
• Tian Yu Zhang (unr.) 0.5

3. Brookbanks Library (491.0) - Cnt: 3 2.5

• Alex Hu (611) 1.0
• Hao Yang [liana] Liu (371) 1.0
• Maxwell Tong (unr.) 0.5

Congrats to all the winners and I hope to see you all at the CITL 2nd Annual Festival! :)

I've never expected the progress to be so fast. Yet out of boredom I have nothing to do but work on the website update. And yes, the forum is fully working. Though as for now it is not open to public yet because there is still extensive work to be done, but we have got a fully functioning forum! phpBB offers a very good free forum platform for building a community. It will be open to the public yutongluohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17548997294142445772noreply@blogger.com1

With the new logo and all the free time at hand at last, I've decided to make a gigantic website update. This update would include:brand new look including the logoa log in system where members and non-members could sign inforumschat rooma feed system for news, members with accounts can comment on the newsa possible puzzles pageThis is a big update and it would require some time. Please be yutongluohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17548997294142445772noreply@blogger.com2

Pre-registration list below (41 players so far):
Still waiting for more forms to come in....

Open Section
Team First Name Last Name BB Magas Yusuf Tonia Tong Sayanthen Sathyakumar Jonathan Chan FV Calvin Tang Keith Tang Tariq Haji PV Devon Chung Linda Fu HW Jagdev Kondal Rishit Patel NYCL Mario Umana Steven Xia Kim JoongSeob Alexander Kim
Grade 6 & Under Section
Team First Name Last Name BB Enes Spahiu Dylan Chen Cassidy Wang Saishankar Sathyakumar Kevin Kang FV Steven Gou Jerry Yang Flaviu Trifoi DV Vanyel Prosak Adesh Leaver HW Jagdeep Kondal Sukhveer Sahota Gurveer Sahota NYCL Amy Lee John Lee GE Bao Tian Fu Michael Kwan Callum Denault Andy Zng
Grade 3 & Under Section
Team First Name Last Name BB Alex Hu Haoyang Liu Maxwell Tong Evan Wong FV Colin Ruan Benjamin Lin NYCL Aarabhi Krishnakumar

I've been blogging about how the North York Central Library is going to run the program for a while now. Unfortunately, we cannot start the program there until this fall due to internal renovations. Now that's the bad news. We always start off with the bad one, right? :)

The good news is, we have a NEW LOCATION!!! It feels like ages since our last location opened, eh? Starting from next Friday, the Chess in the Library program will run at the Bridlewood Library from 6-8pm. I went to the library to do some promotions today and within only 2 hours, 20 people signed up! I must say that the people there are very enthusiastic about chess because when I told them that only 24 spots are available, some even called their neighbours and asked them to join! Incredible! :)

Instead of the usual set-up of a table with chess sets and flyers on display, this time we used a "mobile truck". Yeah, it sounds weird, doesn't it? Well, it's basically a short shelf that has rollers on the bottom so we can push it around. The librarians usually use it to store books and move it around the library. I thought that it was quite cool! Too bad I didn't bring a camera...I would've taken some pictures of the nice display we had there. Anyways, if you live near the Bridlewood library and would like to join the chess club, below is the info:

2900 Warden Ave.
Toronto, ON
M1W 2S8
416-396-8960

Hope to see you all there! Remember, there are only 24 spots available...

Some more entries in the past two days. 21 players and counting... Below are the library teams:
Brookbanks (BB)
Fairview (FV)
Downsview (DV)
Gerrard/Ashdale (GE)
North York Central (NYCL)


Open Section
Magas Yusuf (BB)
Tonia Tong (BB)
Sayanthen Sathyakumar (BB)
Saishankar Sathyakumar (BB)
Baotian Fu (GE)
Michael Kwan (GE)
Elliot Kwan (GE)
Mario Umana (NYCL)

Grade 6 & Under
Jonathan Chan (BB)
Enes Spahiu (BB)
Dylan Chen (BB)
Cassidy Wang (BB)
Kevin Kang (BB)
Steven Gou (FV)
Adesh Leaver (DV)

Grade 3 & Under
Alex Hu (BB)
Maxwell Tong (BB)
Evan Wong (BB)
Haoyang Liu (BB)
Joel Rodas Gutierrez (FV)
Colin Ruan (FV)