There should be coverage of WYCC Team Canada, especially Joseph Bellissimo U8 Champion, in the Wednesday September 10th edition of the Toronto Star. Let's hope it can bring sponsorship to enable us to send a team captain to Vietnam.
Ellen Nadeau
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There should be coverage of WYCC Team Canada, especially Joseph Bellissimo U8 Champion, in the Wednesday September 10th edition of the Toronto Star. Let's hope it can bring sponsorship to enable us to send a team captain to Vietnam.
Ellen Nadeau
That's great news Ellen. I had a chance to speak with that TS reporter yesterday when he called the CFC office. He was quite impressed by young Joseph who beat him over the board. His call was prompted when young Joseph told him we couldn't afford to send a coach. Well done Joseph, out of the mouths of babes......our young champions are some of our best ambassadors!
We talked briefly about the education benefits of chess. There is a compilation of articles (104 pages) assembled by our previous youth coordinator, Patrick MacDonald, documenting the education benefits of chess. I sent him a printed copy to him expresspost yesterday. Hopefully it will be in time for him to review for his article. You can find it on our website under "chess & schools".
Hi Bob:
I went to the CFC website under " Schools and Chess ". I read the Questions and Answers text. But I didn't see any reference to Patrick's 104 pages of material on the educational value of chess. What did I miss? Where is it? Thanks.
Bob
I'm not Bob, but here is the link:
http://chess.ca/misc2008/benefitsofchess.pdf
It is the link named "Download article on benefits of chess" on the CFC page here: http://chess.ca/schools.htm
I downloaded it and it does appear to be 104 pages...
Hi Kerry:
Thx - I'll go look again now.
Bob
While I have not seen a Toronto Star paper version yet, but at an online one I could not find anything.
However Mississauga has something about chess:
Friendly rivalry thrives in a new land
http://www.mississauganews.com/article/18663
"On any given Sunday at Erin Meadows Community Centre, in the light-filled common area between the library and pool, two gentlemen sit across from each other, engaged in an ancient battle..."
and concluding:
"Back at Erin Meadows Community Centre, new challengers are welcomed; Mughal always brings extra boards and pieces."
Hi Egis:
It is on the CFC website as Kerry said, under the topic " Schools and Chess " on the side of the screen. Then on that screen, one of the links is " Download article on benefits of chess ". It has Patrick McDonald's collection of articles.
Bob
P.S. There is also a Mississauga CC that has a number of members and meets regularly. ASFIK it holds CFC - rated tournaments now. Bob Gillanders could give you information on it.
Bob, I wrote about the Toronto Star article (corrected now).
Now about Patrick McDonald's collection: I would be more interested to know about chess and adults including seniors.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Bob Armstrong
Hey folks, here is Toronto Star article we were anticipating by Joe Fiorito. You can find it in today paper. I hope Joe doesn't mind me posting it here. Hopefully Joe will follow up with future columns from his emails from Joseph.
I drew white and played P-K4. My opponent replied in kind and it was all downhill from there. I did not do a whole lot wrong. My opponent did everything right.
And I may be just a wood pusher but I can tell you that I was whupped, soundly and roundly, by an 8-year-old.
Joseph Bellissimo is in Grade 3. He is the reigning Ontario champion of his age group. He won his age group at the Canadian championships earlier this year in Quebec City. He will compete in the world youth chess championships in Vietnam in October.
Joseph played a tune-up tournament recently in Scarborough. He said, "My rating is 1231. Probably I should have entered the under 1400 group but I entered under 1800. I wanted some competition."
How did he do? "I scored 3 1/2 out of five. I had a bye, that's half a point. I won three games out of four. Three of my games were against adults and one was against a university student. The game I lost was really hard." Players accumulate points based on performance. Joseph's rating has just jumped to 1346.
We played, we talked. He said, "I've been playing for one and a half, maybe two years. My dad taught me. I started liking it. I kept practising and we come to now. It's fun. I play every day."
His favourite player is Karpov. Mine is Capablanca. He said, "Capablanca is too positional."
Okay, then.
He also likes Mikhail Tal and Harry Pillsbury, which surprised me; if chess is like wine, to know Pillsbury is to appreciate terroir.
An aside: Pillsbury, an American, put on a blindfold exhibition in Toronto in 1899 – 12 games of chess, four of checkers and a game of whist at the same time. One of those snappy little matches is included in Irving Chernev's book, The 1000 Best Short Games of Chess. You could look it up.
Joseph said, "I have lots of books, some about openings, some about strategy, some about the middle game and the end game." His preferred opening? "I like the Italian. I like the Nimzo-Indian."
Oh, sure. Me, too.
Does he get nervous? "Not really, but for the big games you have to go your hardest. Now I have to practise more to try to be the world champion."
How does he feel about representing Canada? "It's pretty cool. I got my shots already; hepatitis A and B, typhoid." I told him about pho, the national dish of Vietnam. He said, "I love spring rolls."
What does Joseph play besides chess? He said, "I like sports ... hockey, soccer and baseball, all tied up. But chess is first." How does chess affect his schooling?
Pay attention now:
"Chess helps me in my marks because it requires lots of thinking. It helps in math the most; in science, a little; it helps in gym, because you're thinking where everybody else has to go; in music, my marks have been going up. In arts and sciences, it depends on what kind of player you are. If you are a positional player, it's art; if you are tactical, it's science. My arts marks are going up, too."
Joseph's father will travel with him to Vietnam. The Chess Federation of Canada is sending 12 youth champions and a dozen invited players. Alas, there isn't enough money, or enough sponsors, to send a team of coaches. By way of comparison, the French usually send one coach for every six players. If chess were hockey ...
Joseph promised to send regular emails from the championships in Vietnam.
Joe Fiorito usually appears Monday, Wednesday and Friday.
Email: jfiorito@thestar.ca