CITL Quiz Answers

CITL Quiz

1. CITL's logo is blue.
2. When the quiz was created, CITL operated in 20 library branches. However, a 21st library confirmed its participation in the program just before the festival!
3. WIM Yuanling Yuan is President of CITL.
4. For a list of branches, please visit http://www.chessinthelibrary.com/
5. CITL operates in Ontario, Alberta, and B.C.
6. CITL started operating in 2009 at the Brookbanks branch.
7. Brookbanks won the 2010 CITL Festival.
8. Answers may vary.
9. Barrie (this is when CITL had 20 branches).
10. Answers may vary; most said they like chess!

Fun Chess Quiz

1. b) Thousands of years ago (though we had a good joke going about chess being invented 'yesterday')
2. c) GM Viswanathan Anand
3. a) Hedgehog Chess
4. c) Italian
5. d) More than 250 moves (actual number = 269 moves)
6. b) Encyclopedia of Chess Openings
7. d) A rook on the 7th rank
8. a) GM Bobby Fischer
9. c) Blind Chess
10. b) Knight
11. d) Bulgaria
12. c) 400
13. c) draw
14. c) veterinarian
15. a) cat

CITL Festival + Quizzes

The Chess in the Library Festival yesterday was awesome! We have an amazing, new executive team, and a great year to come. Everyone should pitch into this program - we're hoping to build a nationwide movement for the benefit of kids, families, and chess fans everywhere!

Website: http://www.chessinthelibrary.com/

I had the honour of hosting the CITL activities. We had a puzzle contest, a CITL quiz, and a fun chess quiz. The puzzles were derived from http://homepage.ntlworld.com/adam.bozon/ChessPuzzles.htm (some were slightly modified, since we had five levels of difficulty). I will be posting the quiz questions here. Answers will be posted in a few days.

Thanks so much to Lennart, Stefan, and other volunteers who helped set up the puzzles/quizzes + assist the kids. Thanks to WIM Yuanling and CITL sponsors for providing twelve chess book prizes. With your help, the events were very successful.

Thanks also to GM Mark Bluvshtein for making a stellar speech on behalf of volunteers...including a joke about broccoli :) Eat broccoli and play chess!!! Mark's blog: http://markbluvshtein.wordpress.com/

Congrats North York Central Library for taking home the big trophy! Both the library and the trophy are beautiful - a good match!

Now for the quizzes:

CITL Quiz

1. What colour is CITL's logo?
2. How many library branches does CITL currently operate in?
3. Who is President of CITL?
4. Name three branches and leaders of those branches.
5. Name three provinces CITL operates in.
6. What year did CITL start operating and what was its first branch?
7. What library branch won last year's festival?
8. Find the names of five CITL participants + something cool about them!
9. In what town did CITL most recently open?
10. What's one thing you like about CITL?

Top score at the festival: 10/10
Second highest: 8/10

Fun Chess Quiz

1. When was chess invented?

a) Millions of years ago
b) Thousands of years ago
c) Hundreds of years ago
d) Yesterday

2. In May 2011, who was the top ranked chess player in the world (FIDE rating 2817)?

a) GM Garry Kasparov
b) GM Magnus Carlsen
c) GM Viswanathan Anand
d) GM Hikaru Nakamura

3. One of the following is not a true chess variant. Which is it?

a) Hedgehog Chess
b) Bomb Chess
c) Bug Eyed Monster Chess
d) Chicken Chess

4. “Scacchi” means chess in what language?

a) Greek
b) Spanish
c) Italian
d) Chicken Language

5. The longest game of chess ever played lasted how many moves?

a) Between 100 and 150 moves
b) Between 150 and 200 moves
c) Between 200 and 250 moves
d) More than 250 moves

6. What does ECO stand for?

a) Educational Chess Organization
b) Encyclopedia of Chess Openings
c) Early Childhood Opportunities
d) Easy Candle Oils

7. What is a “pig” in chess?

a) A player that eats too much before a game
b) An isolated pawn deep in the opponent’s territory
c) A move that wins a lot of material
d) A rook on the 7th rank

8. Who said “chess is life”?

a) GM Bobby Fischer
b) GM Anatoly Karpov
c) GM Mark Bluvshtein
d) GM Alexander Alekhine

9. What did the USSR (around Russia) ban in 1930?

a) Simultaneous Chess
b) Correspondence Chess
c) Blind Chess
d) All Chess

10. Which chess piece was once called an “asp”?

a) Pawn
b) Knight
c) Rook
d) King

11. Which country was the first to issue a stamp with a chess theme?

a) Poland
b) Armenia
c) United States
d) Bulgaria

12. How many possible positions exist after white and black make their first move?

a) 200
b) 300
c) 400
d) 500

13. The first game between astronauts in space and people on earth ended in a:

a) win for the astronauts
b) win for people on earth
c) draw
d) crash

14. GM Judit Polgar’s husband held what type of job?

a) magician
b) construction worker
c) veterinarian
d) plumber

15. GM Alexander Alekhine found what kind of animal to be good luck?

a) cat
b) dog
c) rabbit
d) elephant

Top score at the festival: 7/15
Second highest: 6/15
Top score by a volunteer: 8/15

THANKS AGAIN TO EVERYONE WHO MADE THIS EVENT POSSIBLE! KEEP SUPPORTING CHESS IN CANADA!

Totally Thursday - Tournament Announcement

Consider attending the 2nd Annual CITL Festival, being held at North York Central Library this Saturday. I will be there all day helping with activities, so come pick up a happy face pin if you're around! As usual, I will only have free pins for the first five people who submit the coupon above to me at the event. Coupons will be available for the CYCC and Canadian Open soon!

For more information about the CITL Festival, check out Yuanling's blog: http://yuanlingyuan.blogspot.com/

Library Update

Chess in the Library News
- new photos can be viewed at http://www.chessinthelibrary.com/
- Gerrard/Ashdale Library (1432 Gerrard St. E) will host the CITL program on Saturdays starting April 24 (2 - 4 pm)

Support Canadian Chess!

Fifth Library Now Up and Running!

The Chess in the Library program has successfully expanded to a fifth library!

Fairview Library (near Fairview Mall and Don Mills Station) had its first meeting yesterday, and a new library leader has been declared, Jesse Wang. His group is currently looking for volunteers.

http://jesse-wang.blogspot.com/

35 Fairview Mall Dr.
Toronto, ON
10 am - 12 pm (Saturdays)

Other News from CITL...

- Also recently opened, Northern District Library (40 Orchard View Blvd. Sat. 10:30 am - 12:30 pm) is running smoothly.

- Unfortunately, Pleasant View leader Yutong Luo has moved and will no longer be able to participate in the program. As a volunteer at PV, I worked with Yutong, and the time and effort he put into each week will always be remembered. Best of luck to him in the future. Pleasant View will remain open under the leadership of Kevin Wu.

- The Chess 'n Math Association has agreed to provide three months of free rating for CITL tournaments.

- CITL will now provide brief lessons, puzzles, and simuls during the first 20 minutes of each meeting.

- New PDF flyers available (contact Yuanling)

- Goal for 2010: 15 locations

http://yuanlingyuan.blogspot.com/
http://www.chessinthelibrary.com/

Chess in the Library update

Posted by Yuanling Yuan:

"For all of you who has been following our progress, we have HUGE news for you! First things first, the Chess in the Library program has suddenly jumped from 3 libraries to 6 confirmed libraries! They are (in order of starting date): Brookbanks, Pleasant View, Maria A. Shchuka, Deer Park, Northern District and Fairview. The program at Deer Park library will be starting on the same date as Maria A. Shchuka library, which is Nov 7th, 2009. Michael's blog has more interesting information regarding the Deer Park library. Check it out! The other two libraries, Northern District and Fairview, will be starting next January. Please visit our website http://www.chessinthelibrary.com/ to see the exact starting dates and addresses for all the new libraries.

Second, I would like to announce that we have received another donation toward our program. My team and I all really appreciate it. This donation isn't a large amount, but it represents support and trust, which are far more important. Seeing more and more people using their actions to show us that they care about the program is one of our biggest motivations in making this program bigger and better. You can read the full report regarding this donation at my blog.

Last but not least, we might add a new feature to our program. For a long time now, my team and I (especially Michael) have been discussing about a new aspect for our program - teaching. Every week when we go to the libraries to organize the program, we see a couple kids making illegal moves and agreeing on checkmates that are clearly not checkmates. We explain to them the rules every time but it then starts to get repetitive. The same issue would come up more than a few times because due to the lack of time, we only briefly explain the concepts and the kids simply cannot remember it. Thus, giving some lectures once every week or two for the first half an hour would be very effective to their chess improvements. We want to help them improve as much as possible. Of course, this isn't something that you can think of one day and start doing the next day. Our biggest challenge is, how are we going to teach the kids? We can't teach using a standard board, we need a demo board at each library.

Adding this new feature to our program not only will increase the amount of our participants, it will also increase the average chess level. As much as my team and I want to teach the kids, we simply cannot do so at the moment due to the lack of demo boards. Let us know what you think of this idea! If you like the idea of this new feature and wants to support it by making a donation (a demo board, money, anything!), please contact me at yuanling_1@yahoo.com. Your donation will be greatly appreciated by the kids (mainly them) and us!!"

3rd library plans announced

The Chess in the Library program will begin running at Maria A. Shchuka district branch (Eglinton and Dufferin) on November 7!
http://www.chessinthelibrary.com/

Chess in the Library

I've lost count of the number of weeks since Pleasant View began, but nonetheless, it was great to go back and see everyone this past Saturday. All the kids were well-behaved, and despite the start of the school year, the number of players has generally been stable. I want to thank everyone...players and organizers...for making me feel so welcome and for inviting me to participate in a couple double chess games. I will definitely look into returning in the future.

Upcoming Chess Tournaments!

JUNIOR TOURNAMENTS

Corinna Wan has posted new junior chess tournaments:

--> September 27, October 4 and 18 @ Oriole Community Centre
--> Chess 'n math rated
--> $8 per tournament for Oriole members, $12 for non-members

More information: http://chess-math.org/pdf/oriole_oct_18.pdf

Sunday rated tournaments on Yonge St. http://chess-math.org/pdf/knights.pdf

2009/2010 upcoming events: http://members4.boardhost.com/chess-math/msg/1252957845.html

2009/2010 lessons form: http://www.chess-math.org/pdf/toronto_lessons.pdf

ADULT TOURNAMENTS = the CFC website seems to have been affected by a virus, so please be patient. Here is what I have heard of so far:

Toronto Thanksgiving Open - October 10-12, 2009 http://torontochess.org/drupal/node/177

Chessca Open - October 31-November 1, 2009 *lots of extras now provided through sponsors!* http://www.chesstalk.info/forum/showthread.php?t=1920

Guelph Fall Pro-Am - November 7-8, 2009 http://www.chesstalk.info/forum/showthread.php?t=2074

3RD LIBRARY OPENING SOON

Maria A. Shchuka library, 1745 Eglinton Avenue (one block east of Dufferin St.)http://yuanlingyuan.blogspot.com/2009/09/3rd-library-opening-soon.html

More Libraries!

Two more libraries will host the Chess in the Library program starting in October and January.

Deer Park - Yonge & St. Clair
Northern District - Yonge & Eglinton

See http://michaelkleinman.blogspot.com/ for more details!

Pleasant View Week 5

Another day at Pleasant View full of new and returning faces. Lots of good games, and definitely a huge improvement in puzzle solving! The kids were so fast (even for the advanced puzzles) and kept asking for more. It's great to see such enthusiasm. Unfortunately, the organizers have not yet been able to secure a space for future weeks. This may result in a less frequent program at PV. Check the website http://www.chessinthelibrary.com/ for future notices.

As for me, I'll be heading off soon, so I leave my best wishes with the players and organizers. It's been a great month working with all of you, and I hope to see everyone again sometime down the road. Keep supporting Canadian chess!

Hazel's Library Jokes

Today, my mind is set in library mode, because well...that's all I have planned for now. Check back for library updates, and enjoy these jokes!

What do chess pieces like to do in a library?
Read "rooks"!

How is Chess in the Library similar to a restaurant?

Both have plenty of forks!

Top Ten

Top 10 reasons to visit the library tomorrow
1. Play chess
2. Promote the game
3. Support community programs
4. Support juniors
5. Solve chess puzzles
6. Chess sets are provided
7. Become a volunteer/organizer
8. Get cool prizes --> see http://www.chessinthelibrary.com/events.html
9. Nothing better to do on a Saturday morning... :)
10. May be my last time at PV before leaving for university :(

Tomorrow --> Saturday Aug. 28 --> 10 am to noon

Chess in the Library Website is Up!

The beautiful Chess in the Library website is up and running. Please take a look:
http://www.chessinthelibrary.com/

All credit to Yutong, Yuanling, and the rest of their website team!

Great News!

The Chess in the Library website is almost complete:
http://www.chessinthelibrary.com/
(designed by Yutong Luo)

Pleasant View Week 4

Another great morning at the library! The kids are starting to come earlier, and stay later (we had about ten kids voluntarily stay up to 20 minutes late to play double chess, and a couple of them even helped clean up!). There is clear improvement in their games as time goes by, and more puzzles are being solved. Actually, it's becoming difficult for us organizers/volunteers to keep up...but definitely the guys (Yutong, Aaron, and Sam) are getting better and more involved. Keep up all the good work, and spread the word!

Chess in the Library Tomorrow!

The library program will resume tomorrow. Everyone is invited!

Brookbanks Library (near Victoria Park and York Mills)
Pleasant View Library (near Victoria Park & Van Horne)

10 am to noon

Pleasant View Week 3

Once again, another great week at PV. Some new players, many returning players, and lots of excitement/jokes. The organizers did a very good job pairing everyone into groups, and our assortment of tactics (brought in by Yutong) kept the kids involved and rewarded...with yummy treats.

I am starting a list of memorable moments at PV:
Week 1: opening week + see the position posted on Yutong's blog
Week 2: returning players from week 1 meet their matches - "kids from Seneca", resulting in many great games and interesting positions
Week 3: introduction of tactical problems + table collapses and luckily, causes no damage...though it definitely lightened the atmosphere, as the kids found it very amusing.

Let the good times roll....!!!!

Chess in the Library Tomorrow

The library program will resume tomorrow, with lots of surprises in store for the children at Pleasant View. Come see for yourself --> Pleasant View Library (near Victoria Park & Van Horne) 10 am to noon. We're hoping for a good turnout. Everyone is invited!

Chess Poster 3