Spring Open Tournament Canceled!

Due to logistical issues, the Chess in the Library Spring Open Tournament will no longer be taking place on March 28th. We are very sorry for your inconvenience, and the tournament will be canceled unless further noticed. Have a good day!

CITL Spring Open Tournament

Hello all chess players! Though we recently held our East Region Tournament, CITL is bringing to you our Spring Open Tournament on March 28th. Unlike our other tournaments, this tournament will be CFC rated, and so we want all serious participants to compete. The tournament will take place at Senator O’Connor College School, at 60 Rowena Drive, free parking will be provided. The tournament will be taking place from approximately 10AM-4PM, and cash prizes will be awarded to top 3 competitors. However, there will be an application fee of $30 for participants, and $20 for juniors. We will be asking Mike Ivanov, a professional chess player, to compete in this tournament. If you have any questions on rules for this tournament, please read the rules at http://chess.ca/handbook, or if you have any questions about this tournament, you can email info@chessinthelibrary.com. If you would like to sign up the tournament, please go to Www.tinyurl.com/CITLspring2015. Have a good day everyone!

East Region Tournament 2015

Calling all chess players, Chess in the Library is about to host our annual East Region Tournament! The tournament will take place on February 28th 2015, from 11AM-4PM at Fairview Library. It will be a very exciting day filled with tons of rounds of chess against many other competitors of your age group. Top 3 competitors from each section will receive medals, as well everyone will be receiving a certificate for simply participating! Feeling hungry? No problem! Chess in the Library will be selling pizza and drinks to all competitors for lunch. We will also be doing a raffle sale, the winner will be receiving a chess set for their family! What are you waiting for? Sign up for this fun filled day right now by simply clicking on tinyurl.com/CITLEastRegion2015 to register! See you all there.

West Region Tournament!

Have all of you chess players been deprived of a competition for too long? Well don’t worry, because our annual West Region Tournament is coming up very soon! On Saturday December 20th, from 11AM to 4PM, Chess in the Library will be holding the tournament at Eatonville public library. It will be a fun filled day, including several rounds of chess, tricky puzzles, and life size chess pieces for all competitors to play. If you get hungry, we will also be selling pizza slices and pop. All you need to do to be a part of this awesome event is to sign up for free at tinyurl.com/CITLWestRegion2014. Don’t miss out!

New Executive Team 2014-2015

Over the past year, Chess in the Library’s Executive Team has done an amazing job of maintaining and expanding the program. However, with the new year, many of them will be leaving their roles and moving on to the next chapter of their lives. As such, the baton must be passed on to a new generation of Executives. It is with great pride that we announce the Chess in the Library Executive Team for 2014-2015:

President: Mohit Verma

Vice-President: Jeffrey Li

Treasurer: Rosie Chen

Volunteer Coordinator: Ming Chan Zhang

Webmaster: Zelin Liu

Elected by Chess in the Library volunteers, these individuals will take on all of the roles involved with running this organization, and we have no doubt that they will take good care of the legacy left by their predecessors.

A new Executive team also means a new Junior Executive team! This year, we received a very diverse and capable cast of applicants. Without further ado, here are your Junior Executives for the year 2014-2015:

Junior President: Kristen Li, Vian Chan

Junior Vice-President: Yi Ling Wu

Junior Treasurer: Rebecca Zhang

Junior Volunteer Coordinator: Ashray Jani

Junior Art/Web Designer: Pooja Maniar

All of the new executives are committed to continue Chess in the Library’s mission to spread chess and offer opportunities to bond and have fun to our host communities. We look forward to an exciting year!

Junior Executive Applications

Are you going to grade 9, 10 or 11? Do you want to experience the leadership internship of a lifetime? Apply to be a Junior Executive today! There are 5 open position:

Junior Executive President
Junior Executive Vice-President
Junior Executive Treasurer
Junior Executive Volunteer Coordinator
Junior Executive Arts/Web Designer

For each position, you will be working an internship with the respective executive member for the coming year. There is a lot of work involved but also although of room to learn, grow bonds and gain leadership skills. It is an experience you do not want to miss out on!

If you are interested in applying, e-mail us at info@chessinthelibrary.com or contact one of our executive members to get a copy of the application form. Completed forms are to be mailed to info@chessinthelibrary.com. All forms are due Friday, August 8th at 11:59pm! After going through the forms, you will be called for an interview that will take place before the end of August.

If you ever have any questions, want more information or any problems arise, please e-mail us at info@chessinthelibrary.com so we can help you out. Best of luck to everyone!

Please note, the selection procedure and/or the number of positions available may change depending on the quality and quantity of applicants at the discretion of the Chess in the Library Executive council.

2014 Annual Festival

Another year, another Annual Festival. On June 28,2014, we continued our tradition of celebrating fun and chess with our 5th Annual Festival at the North York Central Library. There were a ton of things to do! We had chess puzzles for chess players of all skill levels, simul with National Master Geordie Derraugh, a GIANT chessboard, and an exciting and competitive tournament. 

This year we also introduced "How Many Queens Are There?", where you (surprise) guess how many queens there are in a box. By a guess of only 2 queens off, Cindy Qiao won the prize for that activity, a chess book! With such a diverse mix of activities, there was something for everyone. 

This year's Volunteer of the Year was awarded to Ming Chan Zhang! Ming Chan has shown marvelous dedication to the program, always making it for every session on time, and ready to help out the kids. Ming Chan always ensures that all participants are both quiet but also having fun and is always eager to teach new participants how to play chess.

Of course, all of our other volunteers were amazing too, and without them we would not have had yet another successful Annual Festival!

At the end of the 4 rounds of playing, the closing ceremony for the 5th annual festival began. Before any awards were handed out, one of Chess in the Library's most supportive sponsors, Graeme Knight from Cool Chess Canada gave a few wise words about the importance of volunteering. The highlight of the speech is Graeme's quote from a 9 year old girl, "If everyone takes and no one gives, the world doesn't work." Chess in the Library is very thankful to not only have such supporting sponsors, but wise ones too! 

After Graeme's speech, it was time to give out the awards. Here is a full list of all of the winners along with some pictures. Medals were given to the top 3 players for the top 3 libraries in each respective section. Trophies were given to the top 3 players in each respective section. 

Libraries (Medals):

Grade 3 and Under             
1. North York Central Library
 1. David Yang
 2. Joey Qiao
 3. Ben Cheng
2. Bridlewood
 1. Sivan Xu
 2. Austin Xie
3. Downsview
 1. Jorge Jorda
 2. Kevin Maher
 3. Matthew Morales
Grade 6 and Under
1. Humberwood
 1. Tawsif Kamal
 2. Julia Rodrigues
 3. Diana Lin 
2. Downsview
 1. Julianne Jorda
 2. Joyce Jorda
 3. Julian Grande
3. North York Central Library
 1. Daniel Yang
 2. Kevin Li
3. Ruotai Yuan
Open
1. North York Central Library
 1. Arhant Washimkar
 2. Cindy Qiao
 3. Philip Tsang
2. Humberwood
 1. Raymond Quan
 2. Mantr Dixit
 3. Darryl Mohabeer
3. Brookbanks
 1. Benjamin Lin
Players (Trophies):

Grade 3 And Under

1. Charles Ran
2. David Yang
3. Sivan Xu

Grade 6 and Under

1. Tawsif Kamal
2. Julianne Jorda
3. Diana Lin

Open

1. Arhant Washimkar
2. Benjamin Lin
3. Cindy Qiao

There was one last award to give at the end of the day: the Annual festival champion. The giant trophy is awarded to the most successful library, who keeps the trophy to display for a year. This year, the library that won the trophy had never previously won it, so congratulations to... Downsview library. Here's a picture of the happy winners!

It was clearly a fun day for everyone. If you like to see more pictures of all of the excitement, check out the album on our Facebook page (https://www.facebook.com/pages/Chess-in-the-Library/201842119898047?ref=hl). At the same time, don't be afraid to give us a like! Also, if you have any questions about anything, feel free to e-mail us at info@chessinthelibrary.com.

Lastly, although the tournament was completely free, we always appreciate if you could donate in order to allow our organization to continue to promote chess across Canada. We accept both monetary and physical donations, if you're interested in donating, please contact us at sponsors@chessinthelibrary.com. Every little bit counts and we strongly appreciate any donation. Thank you for continuing to support Chess in the Library! We are looking forward to another great year.