Officially a Nation Wide Program Now!

I would like to make a quick announcement about the excellent news I received a few weeks ago. It was a long story because the original email that was sent to me from Brian Raymer somehow ended in my junk folder. It wasn't until 2 weeks later when I was checking my junk mails that I saw a message about Chess in the Library in Victoria.

My first reaction was - WHAT!??????? I honestly couldn't believe my eyes. After all, I really didn't contact anyone in Victoria about this at all. Was it magic?

So I opened my email and I saw a short message from Brian Raymer saying that the Chess in the Library idea has spread to Victoria and a local library there called the Juan de Fuca branch will be hosting a chess program starting in late September. They hope to call it "Chess in the Library" and Brian asks me if I mind.

I was so thrilled to hear this news that I read the email 10 times to make sure I wasn't dreaming. Making the program nation wide was my ultimate goal for CITL and now it's coming true a few years ahead of my expectations.

Here is some info of the program in Victoria that is also listed on our website:

Juan de Fuca Library
1759 Island Highway
Victoria, BC
V9B 1J1
250-391-0653

Open from 6:30pm to 8:00pm on Wednesdays, starting on September 29th, 2010. Session ends October 20th. If you live in Victoria, please support the program by spreading the word about this!

On behalf of my team, I want to give Brian Raymer and the Victoria Junior Chess Society a HUGE THANK YOU for doing all of this. They are the ones organizing the program there but the fact that they also want to join the Chess in the Library network is just incredible.

I know that the idea was originally mine and I founded the Chess in the Library organization but in the end, the program and the organization belongs to ALL of us because the one thing that pulls us together is our mission of promoting chess in Canada. That's all it matters.

I know that there are many other chess clubs in Canada that are ran in public libraries. If anyone would like to join or network, we welcome you will open arms! The power of a team is much greater than an individual. If you want to promote chess, why not do it together with us?

As of now, CITL has 14 locations in total. 12 in Toronto, 1 in Ottawa and 1 in Victoria~ For a complete list of locations with detailed information, please visit our website at www.chessinthelibrary.com

Milestone: 100% Going Provincial Wide

Last weekend, it was an honour for me to participate at the 2010 Montreal Open. The tournament was simply A-M-A-Z-I-N-G! However, it was not only for the tournament that I went, but also for Chess in the Library.

The tournament site was gorgeous!

The paper boards that they printed were really nice.
Perhaps we can also do this for CITL to save some money on equipment.

In Montreal, I met up with Joey, the high school freshman who made CITL possible outside of our headquarters, Toronto. So where is this place that I speak of? Well, you've seen it before on my blog, just a little mention here and there. However, now I'm announcing this as our official 12th location - OTTAWA!

Ottawa is my lovely hometown where I grew up and spent most of my childhood. It's where I first stepped into the chess community in Canada at the age of 7. I've had so many great memories at Ottawa - RA Centre, my chess friends, the tournaments, the nice people...the list could go on forever.

Joey and I go way back. We first knew each other in grade 1 or 2 but I don't remember the exact year. We used to learn and play chess together along with many of our other chess friends there. Now look at both of us, all grown up and already masters!

Joey and I at the tournament site. 2 years younger than me and he is so tall!

Me playing my game...

Very focused~

So we talked about a lot of CITL related things there during our lunch breaks. He updated me on CITL in Ottawa and how it is officially confirmed! So now the CITL location in Ottawa is also listed on our website www.chessinthelibrary.com:

Ruth E. Dickinson Library

100 Malvern Dr.
Ottawa, ON
K2J 2G5
613-580-2796

Open from 1:30pm to 3:00pm on Saturdays, starting on September 18, 2010

Yes, that's right, the grand opening will be held at the Ruth E.Dickinson Library this Saturday! When I was in Montreal, I brought Joey 18 chess sets, a demo board as well as 8 chess books from our storage in Toronto. The main sponsor of the program in Ottawa is Gordon Ritchie, who donated $100 to support the innovation. Thank you Gordon!

Finally, please do take a look at this ---> http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=92x1EoAG908. It's an interview that Joey and I did at the Montreal Open with Don from Godesschess. The interview is mainly about Chess in the Library and our milestone in Ottawa. The ending is cut off because we just happened to run out of batteries. :( Sorry!

Last but not least, I got a message from Joey today saying that registration for the program in Ottawa on the Ottawa's libraries website opened yesterday and it was full with many still on the waiting list in the first 5 minutes! That really amazes me because I honestly didn't expect that the program would receive such a huge interest from Ottawa citizens. Great work Joey and I'm looking forward to seeing that blog of yours coming out soon~ ^_^

The Day We've Been Waiting For - NYCL Confirms!

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? :)

Once Again, the Southam Family Brings Good News

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 . :)

A Typical Friday Night at the Bridlewood Branch

\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.

Introducing the Program Leader in Ottawa - Joey Qin!

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!

Expansion to Ottawa in Progress

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! :)