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In my last post, I mentioned that I will be interviewing Tina with regards to her CITL program in London. So, are you ready for it? Now before we get started, allow me to introduce you to Tina:
Do you guys think that she looks like me? :)
So I asked Tina five very basic questions and I think that she answered all of them really well! It's always been other people interviewing me on such questions but never me interviewing others! This time, as the Founder of CITL, I get to hear this story from a different perspective, a different context, a different person. :)

1. Why did you decide to start up a Chess in the Library chapter in London?
Chess is fun and there are lots of kids interested in this game. However, the chess community in London was not very vibrant and there wasn't an organized place where kids can play each other for fun. When I heard about the Chess in the Library program, I thought that library is a great place for kids to play and the program would help promote chess in London, which is something that I've always wanted to do. 

2. What was the greatest obstacle that you had to overcome in the process? How did you accomplish it?Fortunately, I did not come across many obstacles to start the program. The librarians were very supportive and were happy to have this program in their library. 
3. What do you find most rewarding about this experience?After every session of CITL, I leave the library feeling very happy and proud of this program and the kids. The smiles on the kids' faces just light up mine. :)
4. You created a facebook group for the program in London. Tell me a bit more about its purpose.My volunteer team are mostly my friends in high school and Facebook is a good way for us to communicate outside of school and the library. Having a Facebook group makes us feel that we are part of this team, and it is a place that allows members can share their ideas about CITL.
5. Do you plan on expanding the CITL program to other branches of the London Public Library?
Absolutely. For some of the kids and volunteers, the Masonville Library may not be their most convenient location. In addition, by expanding this program into other branches, the game of chess can be spread to an even greater area. In fact, a parent of a participant of CITL really liked the idea of CITL and enthusiastically offered to start this program at the Byron branch. It is now officially our second location in London!


Did you hear that? Tina has already influenced a second library in London to host the program! After reading her responses from this interview, I truly think that I should conduct a lot more similar interviews with different volunteers! Details on the new London location will be posted soon!

I know that it's been so long since I wrote my last blog post but don't worry - Yuanling is back! :) 
The main reason for my prolonged absence on this blog is...graduation! Although I started CITL in grade 9, I am now in grade 12! Time flies, eh? Well, I needed to apply to many univerities and scholarships too, since tuition and residential costs are awefully expensive these days. Anyways, I'm 95% finished with all of my crazy applications and essay prompts so I'll be blogging on a bi-weekly basis again. Thank you for being so patient with me!
Alright, so the first post is going to be dedicated to our new program in London, organized by Tina Fang and her friends. Tina plays chess on an international level too! She recently represented Canada at the 2011 World Youth Chess Championships held in Brazil! The Chess in the Library family is super proud to have Tina as one of our newest members! 
I spoke to her several days ago asking about the program in London and was told that everything is running smoothly. There is a decent number of participants each week and the numbers are getting quite stable, which is excellent news! What I love the most is their fabulous self-designed poster:
simple and elegant
Tina also sent me a dozen pictures so that I can get the London CITL experience without having to spend 4 hours on the road getting there physically! Take a look：
Aww...this is simply my favourite picture! The 3 boys seem to be super excited about chess!
Time for some serious chess, eh?
Hmm...what to do?
Oh, look this way, boys! :)
Room setup; there are a lot more people in total than the ones you see!
The London program runs every Friday from 3:30-5pm. If you live nearby, feel free to drop by and take a look! You sure won't regret it! Here are the details of this location from our website if you need help getting there http://chessinthelibrary.com/node_map_london Support the London location!

I will be sending Tina several interview questions soon and in my next several posts, you'll get to gain a bit more insight in Tina and her CITL program in London. Stay tuned!

Welcome to the newest addition to Chess in the Library! Woodbridge library, part of the Vaughan Public Libraries, has recently joined Chess in the Library. The chess program at the library has been organized mainly by one volunteer: Charles Camilleri. Charles had already been facilitating the program for several months when he sent me an email inquiring about a large chess set for demonstrations. Although CITL did not have one to meet his purpose, we continued to correspond via emails which eventually led to Woodbridge Library joining CITL! The program runs from 6:45 to 8:00 every Tuesday evening and includes lessons as well as leisure play. Since joining almost a month ago, this new location has already helped improve and expand Chess in the Library. CITL will now be mailing out books among other chess resources in order to better accommodate session facilitators at CITL locations. Correspondence with the head librarian at Woodbridge library has indicated interest from other libraries in the Vaughan region. Who knows? There may be some more new Chess in the Library locations very soon!

Vivek Chachcha
Director of Communications, CITL

Happy New Year Everyone!

At the inaugural meeting of the new executive board, one of the resolutions we adopted was to have more regional tournaments, on top of our big annual Chess in the Library Festival. Just before Christmas, CITL and Humberwood branch of the Toronto Public Library organized such a regional tournament.


Competitors played four rounds under the Swiss system. The turnout was great and almost everyone was at a comparable level, which has led to the unusual occurrence of a 5-way tie for second place!

One of the striking things I found during the tournament is the sheer enthusiasm of the grade-school participants. While we didn’t have a skittle room, between rounds players challenged each other to quick games, and some even stepped forward and challenged us – the TDs. Neither losing nor winning dampened their enthusiasm and most of them continued to express appreciation for a game well-played. I have to admit that I was very impressed. Some of the qualities we try to develop through CITL program are accountability, respect for one’s opponents, and general sportsmanship – and it seems that Humberwood branch has been very successful with teaching these values.

Regional tournaments allow players from neighbouring areas to meet and compete against each other, thus widening their chess circle of acquaintance, finding more players at their level, and forging new friendships. I remember thus meeting one of my best chess “rivals” when I was a kid playing at a relatively small tournament.

As in all CITL tournaments, regionals tournaments too are CMA rated, and thus provide another opportunity for players to more accurately gauge their rating without having to pay for admission. Another nice boon is that the atmosphere is warm and friendly, as in a regular CITL club meeting. Thus, children get to experience the excitement of a tournament without the often crippling pressure accompanying them. This makes regional tournaments the perfect place to introduce children (and their parents) to the wonderful world of competitive chess.

With so much going for it, I hope for a few more regional tournaments in 2012. The Humberwood Regional wouldn’t have been possible without the kind support, great enthusiasm, and amazing management skills of the Humberwood librarians – especially Vivien and Eunice. If you are a librarian or volunteer and would like to organize a Regional tournament at your branch, please contact CITL Executive Team for more details.
The prizes for the tournament were purchased with your donations. We thank everyone who has supported CITL so far – you make it all possible!


The Winners of Humberwood Tournaments are
First Place: Raymond Quan with 3.5 points.
Second place: Mann Parekh, Jaanani Sivarasacumar, Gaajen Sivarasacumar, and Diana Lin; all with 3 points.

Congratulations and well-done!

Hey all,
I've been volunteering at Malvern every other week for the past while, with just Peggy (Aaron has left), and it's been great. We have a dozen or so kids coming in every session. Many of them are returning from previous sessions, but we always get a few that are new drop-ins. Some of the kids are getting significantly better. We have young children who didn't know how to play at all. Not a single rule. Now they're playing full games with each other. I think that's the goal of CITL, to foster the development of skills among these wonderful kids.
Recently however, I've also been going around to various libraries in the Scarborough area in an effort to get some more programs running in various branches. Agincourt, Woodside Square, Steeles... all the staff have been wonderful to talk to, but scheduling and space are always the key to a new program, and not all libraries can accommodate our program. I'm hopeful that we will have a program at one of these libraries soon!

When I founded this organization two and a half years ago, I hadn't the slightest idea that one day, this very program will be not only expanding to the rest of Canada but also to other countries. I clearly remember that my initial goal was to expand the CITL program to 30 Toronto Public Libraries and then to several other cities in Ontario. Once that seemed to be feasible (as of today, 17 Toronto Public Libraries have hosted this program), I dreamt of spreading the program to other chess popular (relatively speaking, haha)  provinces such as British Columbia and Quebec. When we went nation wide in Oct 2010 with a program in Victoria, B.C. (see blog post Officially a Nation Wide Program Now!), my goal was only to reach out to the other 11 provinces in this country and that is something we are still working on, even after the expansion to Calgary, Alberta.

It was approximately two months ago when Kellar Wendell, a librarian from the Washington D.C. Public Library system contacted us inquiring some advice on running the CITL program. After a long telephone conversation with Wendell, I found out that they only had 3 chess sets in the library and was currently doing a casual drop-in based chess club.

My first response was, "How do you run a chess club with ONLY 3 chess sets?". Wendell continued to tell me that like Toronto, the major of Washington D.C. implemented some budget cuts that not only inhibited the purchase of library materials (let alone chess sets...) but also limited the service hours to two nights a week. Evidently, in that situation, it is extremely difficult to run a prosperous chess program without outside support - and that's us!

The purpose of CITL is essentially to help promote chess, anywhere, any time, as long as there is a demand for the game. Any library that joins the CITL network is considered family and we will do everything we can to make sure that their CITL program becomes successful. Thus, I sent Wendell our CITL handbook and told him many of our success stories in Canada, including marketing strategies and such. I also sent his library 7 chess sets so they could have a capacity of 20 participants, which is the minimum for any CITL location in Toronto at least. Here is the info for our new CITL location:


Deanwood Library
1350 49th. St. N.E.
Washington, DC 20019Phone Number: 202-698-1175Info: Open from 7pm-9pm on Fridays.

If you live in Washington D.C. and love playing chess, do come out and support the chess program at the Deanwood Library! :)
In only 2 years and 5 months, CITL made its first step into the international market in our neighbour country, the United States of America. This is truly a milestone for our organization as it really shows us that with our passion and drive for success, the sky is our limit. More importantly, it made me realize that even if I go to the States (or anywhere outside of Canada) for university, I can still continue running the program there. CITL will follow me wherever I go and maybe, just maybe, you see CITL in Europe, Asia and all the other continents of this unifying world.

To those of you who attended the 2nd Annual Chess Festival, you should remember that we have several TVs and newspapers covering the event. One of them was WIGUP TV, represented by Averie MacDonald, a very sweet young lady who travelled a great distance just to get to the festival venue. Aside from having a little chat with me whenever I was not anxiously running around and making sure that everything is going well, Averie interviewed several CITL participants who represented different libraries. Her articles would have been published on WIGUP TV's site long ago had it not gone under "construction" for many months since the festival.

However, it was last week when I received a pleasant surprise from Averie - the articles have been officially published! I must say that they were all very nicely written and engaging! I want to take this opportunity to thank Averie for helping us promote chess in Canada! :)

I did not copy and past every paragraph that Averie wrote below so if you want to see the ENTIRE 3-article series with pictures, then do check out the following links (will also be posted on the right side bar under CITL in the Media) Otherwise, just keep reading this extra long post!:

1. Chess 101: http://wigup.tv/en/news/news_wire?id=174
2. Chess in the Library Turns Two: http://wigup.tv/en/news/news_wire?id=170
3. Meet the Chess Champs of Tomorrow: http://wigup.tv/en/news/news_wire?id=171

Averie began her 3-article series with an introduction to chess in general, quoting some of my philosophies haha. The article was titled "Chess 101".

What can chess do for me?
According to Canada's top female chess player, Yuanling Yuan, chess can do a lot for a young person. Chess can make you more patient..."The biggest benefit that chess brings to kids is allowing them to develop patience and develop endurance," says Yuanling, "because Chess is a game where you really have to sit there quietly and play for a long time. My longest game was like 6 hours, believe it or not!" 

Chess can help you focus in school...
"Especially as you get to high school, sometimes your classes are pretty long, so for (kids) to be able to sit there and listen to the teacher and concentrate and absorb all the information... that requires patience and other abilities that chess players have," says Yuanling, "I think that's the biggest thing that chess brought me, I'm always able to focus for a very very long time." 

Chess can help improve your memory...
"When you play chess, you have to think a few moves ahead... So in order to do that, you have to develop a very good memory," says Yuanling, "and that helps with language I think. Say you're learning a second language, a good memory really helps because you're able to pick up the words faster." 

Chess can help keep your mind sharp for your whole life!
"Chess increases kids' academic performance and it decreases seniors' chances of getting Alzheimer's disease," says Yuanling. "There are a lot of benefits to chess that people don't really realize!"

Her next article was called "Chess in the Library Turns Two!", which is exactly the purpose of the annual festival.

On Saturday, June 25th at the North York Central Library in Toronto, Yuanling and her volunteers celebrated their two-year anniversary with a huge chess festival for kids of all ages!

"This is one of the few times in the year when all of the volunteers and participants get to come together in one place and enjoy a day of chess," said Yuanling.

The festival started off with a speech from Canada's top overall chess player, Grandmaster Mark Bluvshtein, and some funny videos showcasing memories from the past two years.After that, it was time for the main event, a free chess tournament for the best players from the Ontario library teams. Players squared off in three categories: Grade 3 & Under, Grade 6 & Under, and the "open" category, for Grade 12 and under and kids who wanted to take on players above their grade level.

Once they were finished each round, participants could do chess quizzes to win a prize, attempt some tricky chess puzzles, or play on a life-sized chess set (with pieces as big as some players!) 

"For me, looking at these young kids reminds me of when I was little," said Yuanling once the festival had begun. Yuanling started playing chess at 7 years old and is now the top female player in Canada.
"It's really something that makes me feel that all my effort that I put into this program was worth it." 

After four intense rounds of competition, it was finally time for the 76 competitors to head home, but not before the trophies were handed out! The top prize, a gigantic golden trophy, was given to the host team-- North York Central Library-- for winning first in the open category. But winner or not, each participating team walked away grateful for the chance to play.Happy Birthday Chess in the Library!

 I just love how Averie adds in her own comments of "with pieces as big as some players!" and "a gigantic golden trophy", haha! Anyways, I am saving the best for the last because my favourite article of the 3 was the one with the interviews of the participants. Their responses are just so cute - exactly what kids should be like. This one was titled "Meet the Chess Champs of Tomorrow".

While on site at Chess in the Library's second annual festival, WIGUP.tv sat down with some competitors to get the inside scoop on what's so great about chess, they even shared some of their top-secret tips! 

Name: Jaanani Age: 10Plays chess at: Humberwood Library (Toronto)Has been playing chess for: about one year

What do you like best about chess? "Every time you're playing it, you somehow find a new strategy that you never really knew could be so useful." 

Why should other kids learn to play chess?"There's some people that really hate school and don't want to study, but still want to be smart... (I would tell them to) play chess because it's the fastest way to learn." 

What's your number one chess tip?"The most important thing is always staying confident that you're going to win. And don't scared just because (your opponent) is older because I have versed someone in grade 11 and beat them, and I'm only in grade 5." 

Name: Jayden Age: 12Plays chess at: Brookbanks Library (Toronto)Has been playing chess for: about 4 years. 

What's the best part of a chess game?"Probably the gameplay or taking other people's pieces, because it makes you feel like you're going to win." 

Why do you play chess?"For the fun of it! It's good to pass time and it's also really interesting." 

Melalee GordonAge: 11Plays chess at: Downsview Library (Toronto)Has been playing chess for: two years 

What's the best part about playing chess? "You get to have fun with your opponent, and you get to try your hardest. It's not like checkers or cards... because when it comes to chess you're moving (your piece) all around the board that has 64 squares, so there's many possibilities of moves. It's more long-lasting." 

How do you feel when you're playing chess?"I feel confident in myself because I think I may have a chance to win, I may not, but it's just about having fun and doing your best." 

Do you have any tips for new chess players?"If you're new to chess, you should go to a chess club. There, you can get people to help you and experience the wonders of chess!"Melalee says to remember these tips when you're playing chess: 1. protect your king.2. keep your focus on the centre of the board.3. use all your pieces.4. don't give away any of your pieces.

It was several weeks ago when journalist Gereon Kalkuhl infomed me, completely unexpectedly, that he has written a German Wikipedia page on me and Chess in the Library! Boy, that sure came as a huge surprise!

Interested in learning more about his motive, I asked Gereon what made him decide to write a Wikipedia page about me and CITL, especially in German. This is his response, word for word:

"The reason why I wrote the article in German is simply that German is my first language.Journalistic work is fun for me. Newspapers and magazines often have inacurate information about chess players. By writing these articles I provide some facts about chess personalities. The article about you I wrote because I like the idea of Chess in the Library and I thought we didn't have enough biographies about Canadian chess players. The only other female chess player from Canada that has an article on de.wikipedia was Nava Starr. I could have written about Natalia Khoudgarian, Dinara Khaziyeva, Johanne Charest, Dina Kagramanov, Diane Mongeau, Smilja Vujosevic or Vesma Baltgailis, but since you lead the Canadian FIDE list..." - Gereon

You can see the article here: http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yuanling_Yuan. I will also post the link on the right sidebar, under CITL in the Media.

Although I don't understand a single word of the article, the fact that it is there, English or not, is heart-warming. I am touched not because of the sight of my own bibliography, but rather the short paragraph on Chess in the Library. The fact that this organization has become nation-wide, and now aware to Germans across the world, is simply unbelievable. I did not write this blog post earlier because it took quite some time for me to actually believe that I'm not dreaming!

You can see a list of Gereon's other articles here: http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Benutzer:Gereon_K.

I want to take this opportunity to give a big THANK YOU to Gereon for helping us spread the word on CITL to the millions of Germans out there!

It was only several days only when I heard from Brian Raymer and Shannon Kenning with regards to the great news of revitalizing the Chess in the Library program at the Juan de Fuca Library after a year of inactivity.

The new session began on Wednesday September 28, 2011 and will continue every Wednesday until November 30, 2011. The first session attracted 16 participants which leaves only 2 more spots in the program open. Below are the details for this location:

Juan de Fuca Library  1759 Island Highway
Victoria, BC V9B 1J1
250-391-0653Open wednesdays from 6:30 PM to 7:45 PM till November 30.I'm so excited to see the program restarted in the west end! Although I had a chance to visit Vancouver this summer for Shad Valley, I have never been to Victoria. However, it is definitely one city already marked down on my "future travel list"! When the day comes for me to fly over to Victoria, I hope to meet the legendary Brian Raymer in person as well as the amazing librarian, Shannon, who made all this possible!

Hey everyone! I haven't posted here in quite a long time! Currently I'm volunteering at Malvern Branch, a CITL program that was opened this past summer. We meet every two weeks at 10:30-12 on Saturdays.
We've gotten a regular attendance of more than a dozen kids every week, and it's a real joy working with them. Some of the kids that Peggy, Aaron, and I have taught the beginning rules to during the summer are coming back as school starts playing solid games with each other! My sister came to play a few weeks ago and she's now very into chess as well... she wants to play a game with me every day! Just another bit of proof CITL is worth the effort we've all invested into it.
Some info about our program at Malvern:

Malvern Library

30 Sewells Road
Toronto, ON
M1B 3G5
416-396-8969

Open from 10:30am-12pm every other week

Through days, month or even years of preparation, young chess minds finally awaited the CYCC 2011, which took place July 6-9 at the Sheraton Hotel in Richmond Hill. It is probably the biggest event in the young chess community, as the top 3 finishers in each section receive the honor of representing Canada at the World Youth Chess Championship (in Caldas Novas, Brazil).

First stepping down the stairs of the hotel, players were checked off on the registered list, received knapsacks for those who registered early and were offered the option of buying a CYCC T-shirt. Then eager participants lounged against the wall, sharpened their skills in the skittles room and reviewed their games on the computer to prepare for the intense rounds ahead of them.

When the pairings were posted on the wall, these young chess bees furiously devoured this pot of honey. Jotting down the table number, opponent name and perhaps complaining about being paired with too strong a player. Before leaving, parents snapped the best candid shots they can of their kids starting their game, and hustled them onto the journey they've all been waiting for.

After the storm, arrives the calm. Players settled into their thinking caps and the entire tournament hall seemed to freeze in time, with the occasional interruption of 'adjust' and the sound of pressing the clock.

All this time, while observing these kids during my spare time through out my games, I contemplated the future of chess in Canada. Seeing an increasing amount of youth becoming interested in chess certainly shines a bright light on Canada's trek to chess glory. These kids will not only come to realize the intellectual excitement within this board game, but the life lessons it can teach with only 32 pieces and a chess board.

Linda Fu
Art Director, CITL

This news is a little outdated but I'm super excited to tell you all that in August this year, NYCL dedicated one of its stand-alone display cases just to chess and Chess in the Library! The display case was placed near the elevator on the third floor and it was there for an entire month, according to Gal.

It actually came as a complete surprise to me when I first saw it. Gal and I was at a meeting with Cameron, the new NYCL "chess manager" to book rooms for next year's festival. Speaking of that, we will have the NYCL auditorium for the ENTIRE day next year! Isn't that lovely news? This was something we've been trying so hard to accomplish for the past 2 days and because of Cameron, our dreams came true!

Anyways, after the meeting we went to the third floor (unintentionally) to put away the chess sets that were just being used for the Saturday program. I actually didn't even notice the display case when I walked by but then Gal suddenly exclaim:"Oh yeah, Yuanling, I forgot to tell you...look at this!" After that I practically was in shock for the rest of the day and it took me a good 10 minutes to examine each and every single detail on it. Take a look for yourself:
Front view - see the trophy??? :O
Side view
Back view - you can catch a glimpse of the 3rd floor front desk. If my eyes don't lie, then is that Tom I see sitting in front of the computer? Haha~
In the middle you can see the CITL Annual Trophy that was won by NYCL this year, so yes, they do have the bragging rights for it. The precious trophy is surrounded by many chess books and tiny chess pieces if you take a closer look at it. However, I am most impressed by the self-made paper chess pieces that are taped around the top of the display chess. It must've taken A LOT of time to draw and cut these out! Here's a close-up:
Don't you think that chess pieces are easy to cut! I've tried it many times before and boy, there are surely many contours! 
Nonetheless, the reason why I was in a shock for so long is because this is the first time that someone voluntarily did something great for chess under the influence of CITL. I didn't even know about this entire project until Gal and I accidentally walked passed it. This was the day I that had been waiting for ever since I founded this program. It shows how enthusiastic NYCL, the second largest library in Toronto, is about chess now, to the point where they take the time and effort to put this together. This display case must also be in high demand and to consider it a possibility of dedicating it to chess makes me thrilled, let alone a reality. However, the significance of this display case far exceeds what can been seen on the surface. It is a representation of a true beginning towards the growing popularity of chess in Canada!

I have spectacular news for everyone: Chess in the Library now has nine operating locations in Toronto!

You may wonder, “What’s so special about the number ‘9’?” Well, for starters, we can now officially claim to outnumber both Walmart and The Bay, more than double the number of Tommy Hilfigers and Aeropostales, and TRIPLE the number of Gino’s Pizzas.

The point is, CITL is rapidly expanding. And while the expansion seems like a great thing, it does come with a few consequences. One of these, as I’ve realized, is our lack of “quality control” to go with it, which, unfortunately, even Gino’s Pizza has a department for.

Recently, in an effort to check up on the programs at each library, I visited Fairview. Expecting to see a small quiet group of kids playing chess as I’ve seen in other branches, I have to admit I was a little shocked by what I saw. When I walked into the program room, I found the kids screaming and chasing each other around the room; the volunteers, clearly short in number, were screaming “SHUT UP” at the top of their lungs; and the parents, who really shouldn’t even be in the already overpopulated room at all, were walking around and helping their kids win, making the volunteers’ jobs even more difficult.

When I finally walked through all the chaos (trust me when I say it wasn’t easy), I went to introduce myself to the volunteers. To my surprise, I was greeted by a “Who the hell are you?”

Well, after I awkwardly introduced myself to them, it turned out that the volunteers weren’t that bad after all. I suppose they were just a bit cranky from being amidst that boisterousness too long. I mean, who wouldn’t be?

Anyways, despite the mishaps, I’m glad that I made the visit. After discussing the situation at our executive meeting last week, we were able to provide them with five more chess sets and two new volunteers. Of course, we’ve also added a few new items to our agenda for the October volunteer training session. (Hehe)

From this experience, I’ve learned that although CITL is not yet perfect, what’s important is that we are improving and plugging the holes. And from what I see, we definitely are.

Aaron Zhang
Treasurer and Secretary, CITL

The Chess in the Library team has recently launched our very own blog this month, which will be updated on a weekly basis! :)

Originally, I encouraged many CITL volunteers to start up their own blogs in order to reflect upon their personal experiences when volunteering at the program like I do; however, none of them seemed to last very long. Well, not everyone likes writing and blogging, right?

Nonetheless, a great idea that the new CITL Executive Board has came up with is an official "CITL Executive Blog" that will be written by the CITL Executives currently in position. I will not be participating in the writing of that blog, since I've got my own to keep up with! However, it is a great idea in the long run because the day will come when I am no longer the President of CITL and I hope to see the organization running smoothly without me. The executive blog is one of the many things that will help CITL's name live on. That doesn't mean the end of my blog though! Even if I cannot always be the President, I will forever and always be the CITL Founder that will step in when help is needed.

My fellow executive members will take turn blogging once a week and they will sign their names at the end of each post so we all know which author to credit. Check it out: http://chessinthelibrary.blogspot.com/

If you have any comments or suggestions regarding the new executive blog, do send us a message and let us know! Our email is info@chessinthelibrary.com

School has started, and by now, most of us have entered our regular routine, whatever it may be. Some prefer to take a nap before they start their homework, while some prefer to procrastinate till 12 at night. Despite the differences in our individual schedules, we all have one thing in common: homework. Now imagine that other than your regular math, and science homework, you had homework for... chess!

The Armenian Ministry of Education recently made it mandatory for students age six and above to study chess in the classroom for at least two hours per week. Armenia is on its way to become a chess superpower with their top player, Levon Aronian, ranking number three in the world, and their national team winning at the biennial International Chess Olympiad in 2006 and 2008. With these new mandatory chess lessons, Armenia hopes to bring about a wave of talented chess players to enhance their army of professional chess players.

Despite Armenia's bad economic standing, Armenian Presdient Serzh Sargsyan and the Chess Academy of Armenia have decided to invest approximately $1.5 million in this program. The program is being implemented on the basis that it will nurture the students' intellectual development and teach them to think flexibly and wisely.

While the advantages of such a program are self-evident (intellectual development, recreational integration, etc.), the disadvantages seem to be non-existent.. at least at a glance. The economic repercussions of such a big investment are unknown but even without the economic prospect, the program may not necessarily be advantageous for the students.

Although details about how Armenia plans to go about this integration are yet unknown, one fact remains intact. If the students are required to study chess for two hours a week at school, that invariably means that the students lose two hours a week of school. Over the period of 12 years (age 6 - 18) this seemingly small number adds up to approximately 1080 hours. This means that students lose 1080 hours they might have otherwise spent learning any of the various subjects taught at schools.

Is it worth it? That is for you to decide.

Vivek Chachcha
Director of Communications, CITL

Tomorrow is the first day of school, which marks a new beginning. It also indicates the end of summer and, for many, a renewal after hibernation, a clarion call back to work.


The Executive Committee of CITL did not hibernate over the summer though. We have held many long meetings, preparing everything behind the scenes to make sure CITL will be even greater and better in the upcoming year.


For example, several new library branches have joined us since the beginning of summer. We have been visiting these locations during July and August and I can personally attest that the attendance have been nothing short of amazing, making our newest additions some of our most active clubs. 


Before the year is out—before Christmas even—you can expect to see several more new locations joining rank. Our wonderful new Director of Communications has been actively updating our website with the new information. He and our new terrific Arts Director are working on a complete make-over for the website and their drafts are very exciting. (By the way, if anyone reading this feels they can contribute to this effort, this is your call to arms!)


We have also been working hard on some sensational grand-scale events, that will enhance and enrich CITL. The final details still have to be worked out, but be sure to stay tuned.


All in all, this promises to be an exciting year for CITL, and we hope that soon you will be as enthusiastic about it as we are!


Gal Gross
VP, CITL

We recently received an email from the CITL program organizer in Barrie, Michael Zaghi telling us about how everything went. Below are some quotes from Michael himself:

"It looks like the CITL in Barrie was very successful and I really enjoyed my time working with kids and showing them some chess. The program in Barrie officially ended yesterday (Aug 21st) which was the timeline me and the manager decided upon before the program started. Over the past 6 weeks our numbers have ranged from 9-15 which isn't bad at all in my opinion."

For a small town like Barrie that has only ONE public library, the Barrie Public Library, the turn out for CITL is quite respectable! Unfortunately, Michael didn't take any pictures as he was afraid things might get complicated with parental permission, etc. It's so true though, because in Toronto, the libraries are very very strict with picture taking - each kid that we take a picture of has to fill out a media release form! When I went to chess tournaments anywhere on this planet, people take pictures of everyone but nobody had to sign anything haha. But it's alright, I'm already used to this by now. :)
Anyways, I'm just so pleased to hear the great news about Barrie! However, Michael will no longer be able to volunteer at the program anymore and certainly, we all want to see this program continue throughout the year. Michael hopes so too.

"I am going to try and see if I can get some volunteers to continue the program so I would consider it on hold for the time being since I would like to see it continue."

Michael spent a lot of effort convincing the librarians in Barrie to get this going so securing this location was 5 times harder than those in Toronto. I want to take this opportunity here to thank him for literally everything, EVERYHING he did to make CITL in Barrie possible!
So if you're living in Barrie and would like to contribute to the Canadian chess community by promoting chess, then this is your chance! Honestly, we would all be very grateful is someone steps up and takes on Michael's position after he leaves. Even if you're only available to do this for a month, it will mean a lot to us, the participants of the program and the chess community as a whole. Even if you spread the word about this program to your family, friends, coworkers, etc who might be interested in helping out, we will be more than appreciative, really. To those of you who read this post and took action, I sincerely thank you all! It's really all of you guys who made CITL so successful today, bit by bit, little by little, detail by detail. Email volunteer@chessinthelibrary.com if you're interested in helping out! :)

Two days ago, the new CITL Executive Board had its 2nd internal meeting, which lasted for 2 hours and 30 minutes. You might consider that a super long meeting, but you know what? This meeting was actually more efficient than our previous one, which ended after 4 hours! Well, everyone had a lot to say at the first meeting anyway...
So we all met up at the North York Central Library and walked to the nearest Tim Hortons, where we all made ourselves comfortable in the non air conditioned room with some ice cappuccino. Yum! Now down to business.
From left to right：Linda, Vivek, Gal, Aaron and me. What a coincidence - Linda and Aaron were wearing the same shirt haha~
We delineated our goals for the upcoming quarter and set deadlines for them. One of the three main projects that we are working is a completely new and updated website that will be more organized and visually appealing. Our Director of Communications Vivek as well as our Art Director Linda will be the main coordinators of this big project.
The website team hard at work...
The two other projects are more on a small scale as they will be completed in the next several weeks, especially before school begins. Gal and I will be creating a step-by-step CITL set-up manual for libraries who are potentially interested in joining the network. We will also build up our image by drafting a document explaining briefing the benefits of chess to children and seniors alike. This document will allow potential donors, sponsors and libraries interested in getting involved in CITL understand the true value of CITL's programs.
Finally, Linda will be designing 4 large CITL posters that we would be able to display at promotional sessions, workshops, or any CITL event. Can't wait to see how it looks! :)
So that's it for now. After the meeting everyone had written a long list of things to do along with their deadlines. I better start checking off those boxes on my to-do list! ^_^

Our 17th location in Toronto has just been confirmed 2 days ago after a short meeting with the librarians of Runnymede branch. The possibility of introducing CITL to this library, located in Etobicoke, was first brought up by a chess player in April this year. I was the special guest at the Ontario Girls Chess Championships this year and after the awards ceremony, a grade 9 girl who had won second place in her division approached me and said:"Hey Yuanling, do you think you'll be able to start Chess in the Library at Runnymede? I'd really like to volunteer!".
It's not so often that I get these requests from potential volunteers, you know. Surprised at the sudden request, I wrote down her email and told her that I will look into it. So who is this girl? She is Jennifer Ugodnikov, a young girl full of passion and enthusiasm for not only chess but also the community - a complete reflection of myself when I founded CITL back in 2009.
Several months later, in mid-July, I received an email from a librarian at Runnymede expressing their willingness of giving the program a shot! And that's how we got our 17th location in Toronto and 23rd CITL location nationwide. It's great to see more CITL programs in the west side of the city! So far we've got Humberwood, Richview and now Runnymede! :)
Your Prez and Vice Prez in front of the very pretty Runnymede branch! Close-up picture. Just look at the details on the both sides of the door! Gorgeous!
I want to thank Helen and Monica, the librarians at Runnymede who made the program possible on TPL's part and our future volunteers Jennifer, Pascale, Alexandru and 2 other girls whom I haven't yet met. So this branch will have 4 girls and 1 guy as volunteers! That's surely a first!
Group pic! From left to right: Me, Gal, Jennifer and Pascale. I love how there are more girls involved, hehe~ :)Below are the details of this new location that will be targeting children from grade 6-8:
Runnymede Branch2178 Bloor Street WestToronto, ON M6S 1M8 416-393-7697Open from 2-4pm on Saturdays, starting from Saturday October 8, 2011.

I should have written this post months ago but then someone kept forgetting to upload the pictures no matter how many times I reminded him (you know who you are). :)

Fortunately, I had a very similar experience recently so I figured that it wouldn't be too late to blog about this extraordinary topic now. Better late than never, right? So what exactly is this "ghetto chess" that I'm talking about? See for yourself:

a chess board drawn on a table at school and the pieces are represented by coins - how creative!

the very enthusiastic friends in my math class who drew the chessboard on one of the desk. From left to right: Shreyash, Sathvik, Sabin and Ike

So the story goes like this: one day, my friends finished their math homework in class and had a sudden rush to play chess! There was no chessboard, no chess set, absolutely nothing in the classroom. So the guys came up with a brilliant idea - drawing a chessboard on a desk! We laughed so hard at the finished product, haha...However, our ghetto chessboard didn't last long. Our math teacher walked by 5 minutes later and made us erase not only that specific desk but also the surrounding ones that had writing on them. We had an amazing time erasing the desks nonetheless. :)

Perhaps it's a coincidence that another variation of "ghetto chess" came up in the last several days. Check it out:

multiple chessboards drawn on pieces of paper

my cool friends who challenged me to a blindfold game on a 5-hour bus ride. From left to right: Amon, Jane and Joyce

So as some of you may know, I am currently in Vancouver for an awesome summer program focused on sciences and entrepreneurship. During a 5-hour bus ride to the UBC Okanagan campus from the UBC main campus located in Vancouver, 3 of my fellow Shads (that's what we call ourselves) challenged me to a game of chess. Amon asked everyone, yes, literally everyone on the bus, whether they had a chess app on their ipod. Unfortunately, just like my math class, the supply of chess sets and apps is really scarce. :(

In the end, they decided to play me on the paper while I played blindfold. What's even worse is the fact that they did not have any pencils so they couldn't just draw a chessboard and erase the pieces each time I made a move - they had to cross out the pieces and redraw them each time. Just look at the 2 pictures above! :)

Regardless, the reason why I decided to blog about this topic today is because these 2 "ghetto chess" examples mirror the way in which the Canadian chess community functions. There are so many people out there who are enthusiastic about chess but do not have the resources to enjoy the benefits of this game. It's almost as if these chess players are in poverty because of the scarce resources available to them. Chess in the Library bridges the gap for these people.

Through these 2 groups of people (my math classmates and my fellow Shads), I have seen people who love chess and while the circumstances don't allow them to play, they still figure out a way to do so. That's the chess spirit I love seeing!