A Falsehood....

[Larry Bevand]

At the NAYCC, a bright youngster I was talking to, knew all the chess providers on the Toronto chess scene. Yes Toronto is huge and the Chess'n Math Association (CMA) has gone from great to terrible to great again...we are only as good as the folks who work for us. In 1993 when we opened, there was no one else on the scene providing chess lessons to youngsters for a price....except perhaps Roman Pelts who was teaching at a couple of schools. We rapidly grew...but never to our real potential. Montreal still dominated in this field for us. In September 2010 I hired Francis Rodrigues to handle things in Toronto. In 3 years we now dominate the Toronto scene again! We provide a quality product at a reasonable price...and we care!

Back to this bright youngster...at his school he has a provider that his school is not satisfied with. He knows all the players in the market place. So we chat. I am impressed with his knowledge...this kid is probably 12 years old...so he says to me...I am considering the Chess'n Math Association and the Chess Institute of Canada as a chess provider for our school in September. Okay...I have no problem with that. So I ask him...what are you thoughts on this...he responds ...well...I am leaning towards Chess Institute because at the end of the day...they sponsor Chess'n Math anyway THROUGH SPIRIT OF MATH. WOW! So I asked...where did you here that? He said, Ted Winick told me that!

I like Ted. I know he is a great salesman. He has made a lot of positive contributions to chess in TO. BUT this is a falsehood. Ted with his wife have a franchise with Spirit of Math in downtown Toronto. Chess'n Math has partnered with other Spirit of Math franchises (never the downtown operation) to sponsor our events. The Spirit of Math Franchise that Ted and his wife own, have never sponsored any CMA event.

After this experience, I have asked Francis Rodrigues, the CMA Regional Director for Toronto, to contact Spirit of Math Headquearters to set the record straight....and to make sure this does not happen again.

I want this to be clear. Chess Institute is a seperate body from Chess'n Math in every respect and we wish them well.

But let's tell the truth please :)

Larry

[Alan Baljeu]

Re: A Falsehood....

Maybe, just maybe, Ted said they support chess and math, not Chess'n'Math.

[Erik Malmsten]

Re: A Falsehood....

At the NAYCC, a bright youngster I was talking to, knew all the chess providers on the Toronto chess scene. Yes Toronto is huge and the Chess'n Math Association (CMA) has gone from great to terrible to great again...we are only as good as the folks who work for us. In 1993 when we opened, there was no one else on the scene providing chess lessons to youngsters for a price....except perhaps Roman Pelts who was teaching at a couple of schools. We rapidly grew...but never to our real potential. Montreal still dominated in this field for us. In September 2010 I hired Francis Rodrigues to handle things in Toronto. In 3 years we now dominate the Toronto scene again! We provide a quality product at a reasonable price...and we care!

Back to this bright youngster...at his school he has a provider that his school is not satisfied with. He knows all the players in the market place. So we chat. I am impressed with his knowledge...this kid is probably 12 years old...so he says to me...I am considering the Chess'n Math Association and the Chess Institute of Canada as a chess provider for our school in September. Okay...I have no problem with that. So I ask him...what are you thoughts on this...he responds ...well...I am leaning towards Chess Institute because at the end of the day...they sponsor Chess'n Math anyway THROUGH SPIRIT OF MATH. WOW! So I asked...where did you here that? He said, Ted Winick told me that!

I like Ted. I know he is a great salesman. He has made a lot of positive contributions to chess in TO. BUT this is a falsehood. Ted with his wife have a franchise with Spirit of Math in downtown Toronto. Chess'n Math has partnered with other Spirit of Math franchises (never the downtown operation) to sponsor our events. The Spirit of Math Franchise that Ted and his wife own, have never sponsored any CMA event.

After this experience, I have asked Francis Rodrigues, the CMA Regional Director for Toronto, to contact Spirit of Math Headquearters to set the record straight....and to make sure this does not happen again.

I want this to be clear. Chess Institute is a seperate body from Chess'n Math in every respect and we wish them well.

But let's tell the truth please :)

Larry

Hi Larry, if you want the truth maybe you should email Ted first before posting. Ted is at his national chess camp this week. I don't know if he has much to do with the CIC anymore, his focus is on the math school and they have excellent teacher training. I think Yakos runs the chess school and all teachers are trained by Tal. Teds' emphasis wasn't on chess per se, but teaching life skills, especially to inner city schools, so you had different markets.

Francis has done a great job as seen by increasing numbers at the monthly 1-day tournaments and I hope that some of those experienced tournament players will also play in CFC-rated events. CMA has been great at creating employment for local chess players. I wonder if CMA lessons have changed over the years, with teacher feedback, and recent teachers being ex-students. I was intrigued by the Dutch booklet I bought at Strategy Games and wondered if there are more modern ways of teaching being applied.