Top Ten!

Top 10 things to bring to a chess game:

1. pen/pencil
2. scoresheet
3. board & pieces

4. clock

5. water bottle

6. tylenol
7. kleenex

8. a smile :)
9. a teddy bear :) (if anyone remembers, awhile back, I used to have a lucky teddy bear)
10. yourself!

Smiley graphics: http://www.cybergifs.com/faces/indexr1.html

Tournament Update (Mainly Ontario)

Juniors

TOMORROW!!!
Scholastic Grand Prix Event #2
- January 31, 2010
- Marshall McLuhan Catholic S. S., Toronto
- 10 am - 11 am registration, 11:15 am start
- $25
- http://chess-math.org/pdf/tor_jan_31.pdf

--> corresponding Grand Prix event in Montreal (Feb. 7) http://chess-math.org/pdf/mtl_feb_07.pdf

Knights of Chess Sunday Rated Tournaments
- Every Sunday
- 5635 Yonge Street, Toronto
- 2:30 pm, tournament starts at 3 pm
- $15 per tournament, family discounts available
- http://chess-math.org/pdf/childrens_sunday_instructional_chess_info.pdf

Oriole Chess Club Junior Tournaments
- February 7, February 21, March 7, March 21
- Oriole Community Centre, Toronto
- 12:45 pm, tournament starts at 1:15 pm
- $8 for members, $12 for non-members (per tournament)
- http://chess-math.org/pdf/oriole_winter_2010.pdf

Swansea Chess Club Saturday Rated Tournaments
- Every Saturday
- Swansea Town Hall Community Centre
- 12:30 pm, tournament 1 - 4 pm
- $15 per tournament, family discount available
- http://chess-math.org/chess/ontario.php?fonction=begin-ON-Toronto-SwanSea
- http://www.chessforchildren.ca/

Scholastic Tournaments in Ottawa (Feb. 14 & Feb. 21) and Winnipeg (Feb. 7 & Feb. 28)
http://www.chess-math.org/calendar/?date=2010-02

York Region Tournaments for February & March!
http://www.optimistchess.com/

2010 Quebec Junior
- March 12 - 14, 2010
- $40 before March 8, $50 on-site
- http://www.chesstalk.info/forum/showthread.php?t=2646

World Amateur Chess Championship
- March 19 -25, 2010
- Skokie, Illinois
- titles, scholarships available
- http://www.worldchesschamps.com/

Ontario Girls' Chess Championship
- May 22, 2010
- Fieldstone Day School, Toronto
- $28 per player
- http://www.freewebs.com/ogcc/

OYCC/CYCC
http://www.chessreg.ca/
http://www.cycc.ca/
The Canadian Youth Chess Championships will be held in Windsor from July 6 to 9.

North American Youth Championship
- August 16 - 22, 2010
- http://www.chesstalk.info/forum/showthread.php?t=2593
- http://www.chesstalk.info/forum/showthread.php?t=2650

For more information on lessons, ratings, news, and tournaments outside of the GTA, visit http://chess-math.org/

Juniors & Adults

CMA February Active (25 min. time control + increment)
- February 6, 2010
- Strategy Games, 701 Mt Pleasant Road, Toronto
- Six rounds starting at 10 am
- $20 BY TOMORROW (Jan. 31), or $30 after that date
- limit 24 players
- all equipment provided
- http://chess.ca/ontoronto.htm

CMA February Blitz (5 min. time control + increment)
- February 7, 2010
- Strategy Games, 701 Mt Pleasant Road, Toronto
- 1 pm
- $15
- limit 24 players
- all equipment provided
- http://chess.ca/ontoronto.htm

Guelph Winter Pro-Am
- February 6 - 7, 2010
- Guelph University Centre, Guelph
- 10 am, 1:30 pm, & 6 pm Saturday, 10 am & 2 pm Sunday
- $55 Pro section, $35 other sections (add $10 for all on-site entries)
- all equipment & snacks/refreshments provided
- Pro section plays for cash, other sections play for trophies
- http://www.chesstalk.info/forum/showthread.php?t=2674
- http://www.chess.ca/ontario.htm

2010 K-W Winter Open
- February 19 -21, 2010
- Kitchener City Hall, Kitchener
- 7 pm Friday, 10 am & 3 pm Saturday and Sunday
- $70 in advance, $80 cash on-site, $15 discount for juniors (17 and under) and seniors (65+)
- all equipment provided
- http://www.chessreg.ca/kwwo10/online_reg1.htm
- http://www.kwchess.com/

London February Open
- February 27, 2010
- Hillside Church, London
- 10 am
- $20
- http://www.chess.ca/ontario.htm

2010 RA Spring Open
- March 5 - 7, 2010
- RA Centre, Ottawa
- 7 pm Friday, 1 pm & 6 pm Saturday, 9 am & 2 pm Sunday
- $80, discounts listed on the website link (one discount ENDING SOON)
- CFC and FIDE rated
- http://www.eoca.org/PDF/2010%20RA%20Spring%20Open.pdf
- http://www.chesstalk.info/forum/showthread.php?t=2668

Hamilton Winter Open
- March 13 - 14, 2010
- Hamilton Wentworth District School Board
- 9:30 am, 2 pm, & 6 pm Saturday, 11 am & 3:30 pm Sunday
- $45, juniors $15, $5 discount for registrations by March 12
- http://www.chess.ca/ontario.htm
- http://www.chesstalk.info/forum/showthread.php?t=2600

4th Annual Grand Pacific Open
- April 2 - 5, 2010
- Grand Pacific Hotel, Victoria
- See round schedule online
- $70 registered and paid before March 1 ($50 for U1400), $80 registered before April 1 ($60 for U1400), $90 on-site ($70 on-site for U1400)
- add $16 for non-CFC members
- side events have a small fee
- http://grandpacificopen.pbworks.com/FrontPage

2010 Ontario Open Championship
- May 22 -24, 2010
- 918 Bathurst Street, Toronto
- 10 am and 4 pm each day
- $80 before March 1, $90 after (must register before May 17), $60 for K - 12 or summer term university students, another $10 discount for seniors (65+) and titled (WFM/FM/WIM/IM) before March 1, free for WGM/GM before March 1
- limit 200 players
- http://chess.ca/ontoronto.htm

2010 Calgary International Chess Classic
- May 20 - 24, 2010
- CFC and FIDE rated, norms possible
- http://www.calgarychess.com/2010CICC.html

Canadian Open
http://www.chess.ca/misc2009/2010CANOP.pdf
The Canadian Open will be held in Toronto from July 10 to 18

Serbian Bosna Open 2010
- 109800 euro prize fund
- May 2010
- http://www.chesstalk.info/forum/showthread.php?t=2655

Victoria Active Fundraiser (to support the olympiad teams)
- February 20, 2010
- Victoria Chess Club, BC
- 9 am, tournament starts at 10 am
- $10 pre-register and pay before Feb. 15, $11 pre-register by Feb. 15, $13 at the door
- http://victoriachessclub.pbworks.com/Active-Fundraiser-For-the-2010-Olympiad

Shirov is coming in February!
Feb. 11 in Ottawa, Feb. 18 in Scarborough
http://www.chesstalk.info/forum/showthread.php?t=2386
http://www.chesstalk.info/forum/showthread.php?t=2640

Results across Canada - congrats to all participants

Montreal Pere Noel (December 26 - 30, 2009)
1st: GM Bator Sambuev (5.0/5)
2nd - 5th: FM Louie Jiang, Kishor Ramaswamy, FM Sylvain Barbeau, Hugues Masse (4.0/5)
More results: http://fqechecs.qc.ca/index.php?typ=actu&catagorie=209&id=2750
Photos: http://www.chesstalk.info/forum/showthread.php?t=2549
Games: http://www.chesstalk.info/forum/showthread.php?t=2527

2010 Canadian Post-Secondary Championship (January 15 - 17, 2010)

Teams:
1st - Toronto A
2nd - Ottawa A
3rd - Waterloo A

Individual:
1st board - Minhea Voloaca (Ottawa A, 5.0/5)
2nd board - Kevin Chung (Waterloo A, 5.0/5)
3rd board - Haizhou Xu (Toronto A, 5.0/5)
4th board - Jeff Willms (Waterloo A, 4.0/5)

- Detailed report, including reserve section results: http://www.chesstalk.info/forum/showthread.php?t=2604

RA Winter Open (January 22 - 24, 2010)
Top section winner: GM Bator Sambuev (5.0/5)
U2400 winners: Minhea Voloaca, Hugues Masse, David Gordon, Nikita Kraiouchkine (3.0/5)
U2200 winners: Alain Regnier, Michel Desjardins (3.0/5)
*U2400 and U2200 were paired together*
U2000 winner: Serge Gagnon (4.5/5)
U1800 winners: Alan Tomalty, Gerhard Roth, Joe Burton (2.5/5)
*U2000 and U1800 were paired together*
U1600 winner: Jayson Huang (4.5/5)
More results: http://www.chesstalk.info/forum/showthread.php?t=2648

For more chess-related information, visit http://www.chess.ca/

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/

How many squares?

Here's a question to trick a lot of chess fans out there....

How many squares are there on a standard 8 x 8 chessboard?

As you probably figured out, (technically) it's not 64!

8 x 8 squares - 1
7 x 7 squares - 4
6 x 6 squares - 9
5 x 5 squares - 16
4 x 4 squares - 25
3 x 3 squares - 36
2 x 2 squares - 49
1 x 1 squares - 64

Total: 204 squares

For a brief explanation on how to solve for an n x n chessboard, visit http://www.mathforum.org/library/drmath/view/59206.html

On another "bizarre" note...

"The most incredible and bizarre draws"

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More available in this collection:

http://www.chessgames.com/perl/chesscollection?cid=1006424

http://www.chessgames.com/perl/chessgame?gid=1339137

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Upmark - Johansson, 1995 (10 moves)
Hohmeister - Frank, 1993 (12 moves)

Who Knew There Were So Many Bizarre Boards?

Star Trek 3D Set http://www.chess-theory.com/encprdo3886_chess_practice_reflections_debates_arts.php

(visit this site for more 3D boards)

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"Maze" http://www.familypastimes.com/Multi-Age/maze.html

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"Grand Chess" http://www.zillions-of-games.com/NewFeatures.html

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"Engagement Chess" http://www.quadibloc.com/chess/ch0204.htm

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"Grid Chess" http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grid_chess

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"Gothic Chess" http://www.chessville.com/gothicchess/gothicchessintro.htm

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"Neo-Chess" http://ancientchess.com/page/10.htm

(more variants on this site)

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"Shuuro" http://www.chesshouse.com/Shuuro_Chess_Set_p/e070.htm

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"Shogi" (Japanese Chess) http://www.chessvariants.org/shogi.html

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"Citadel" http://www.quadibloc.com/other/bo0104.htm

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"Hexagonal Chess" http://www.answers.com/topic/hexagonal-chess

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"Mini Chess" http://www.gamedujour.com/3995-mini-chess

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"Four Seasons Chess" http://www.chessvariants.org/historic.dir/4seiz.html

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"Toroidal Honeycomb Chess" http://chessvariants.wikidot.com/toroidal-honeycomb-combined-courier-chess

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More variants:

http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Category:Chess_variants
http://www.bunkahle.com/Schach/pieces.html

Other Bizarre Chess Boards!

"Trichotomy" http://sandfly.net.nz/blog/2006/12/trichotomy-a-chess-varient/

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Played with marbles http://homepages.di.fc.ul.pt/~jpn/gv/dob.htm

(this site also has other variants)

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Played with cards http://www.gamedev.net/columns/events/gdc2003/view.asp?SectionID=2

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"Melee" http://www.castlepointgames.com/melee.html

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Nine knights? http://www.quadibloc.com/chess/ch0402.htm
(this site also has many other cool variants)

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Four player corner chess http://blogs.indystar.com/geek/2008/08/

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Six player chess http://www.endprod.com/chess/6a.htm

(this site also has other variants)
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Three player hexagonal board http://www.mastersgames.com/cat/board/chess-3-player.htm

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"Waider's chess" http://www.quadibloc.com/chess/ch0501.htm

(this site also has many other variants of three-way chess)

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Star-shaped chess http://newton.umsl.edu/philf//nplchess/

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Four player chess http://www.academicchess.org/contact/linkspages/chess-variants.htm

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Expanded board "Super Chess" http://www.freepatentsonline.com/6702287.html

(use the search engine for more chess inventions)

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One player chess http://newton.umsl.edu/infophys/wuzzlers.html

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Five player chess http://www.quadibloc.com/chess/ch0205.htm

(a couple other amazing variants on this website)

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"Martian Chessboard" http://www.ee0r.com/tri-chess/

(this is the three-player version...the site also contains four-, five-, and six-player versions)

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Six player circular board http://kentropic.wordpress.com/

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Three player circular board http://www.douglaswilliamsmith.net/Trinity_Chess/Three_Player_Chess_Comparative_Review.htm (this site has a few other variants, such as trigon chess)

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Three player chess with hexagonal squares http://www.thetoyman.com/top_50_2009.html

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"Pikemen" http://www.playagaingames.com/games/pikemen/

(various setups)

Chess for Three Players!

Interesting concept!

Read more about it: http://somethinbizarre.blogspot.com/2009/10/cool-and-strange-chess-for-three.html

3000 page views!

A big thank you to all my wonderful readers! Keep supporting Canadian chess!!!!!

Hazel's Jokes!

What kind of marks do chess players get in school?

Answer: "Check"marks!

(and 'A's of course!)

A Nice Blog

Very cool stuff out of Australia!

http://lousyatchess.blogspot.com/

Happy New Year 2010!

May all of you prosper in the new year, and may all your resolutions come true!