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For Willowdale: Board 3 - Alexandr Strugach
(Michael Kimelman did not give a simul :)
Are you sure it was Strugach? I have the original sheet, and it lists Michael Kleinman (CFC#132631) on board 1 and Michael Kimelman (CFC#137889) on board 3.
I know it's confusing to have a team whose top 3 players are all called Michael, especially when Annex board 1 and Academy board 3 are called Michael, too, but fortunately they all have different surnames :)
I felt that the way the " club " teams were assembled made a mockery of the title : GTCL " Club " League - players with little connection to the club were conscripted to play. I don't know why SCC decided not to participate ( I am not on the executive ). But there was an announcement asking any member interested to speak to the executive - nothing happened. Seems the ordinary SCC class members were not very interested ( we do not have the number of elite players we had last year, and two of them played for other teams since SCC was not putting in a team ).
I still think a " Metro TEAM League " should be considered for next year. As I have said, I would actively lobby within SCC to put a team into sucha league.
Bob A
We're hoping to host a "GTCL cup" in the spring - a one- or two-night affair with teams playing at Active time controls. What do you suggest to encourage broader participation (get Scarborough and Mississauga - and maybe Hart House - involved, etc.)?
Maybe class sections, or a cap on average rating?
The K-W Active Teams is such fun - can we run something similar in Toronto?
Years ago the SCC participated in the city team event. I remember going to other clubs with a few other guys. I seem to recall York University, the club in the cafeteria at the Consumer Gas building and the other ones I don't remember. It's been too many decades ago. I still have some scoresheets from some of the games. I don't recall how many years it lasted but I don't think very many.
It was club members on our team and I think the other teams as well.
I don't recall how many years it lasted but I don't think very many.
The Toronto League probably has more than 100 years history with ons and offs. Erik M. wrote about the 1900-1910 period: "A team chess league was started between clubs."
The Toronto League probably has more than 100 years history with ons and offs. Erik M. wrote about the 1900-1910 period: "A team chess league was started between clubs."
There were a lot more clubs than we have now. There was one in a collegiate in West Hill and another one somewhere in Scarborough. I forget what they called that one. I was never there but they were active for quite a few years. Then there was the club in the cafeteria of the Consumers Gas building at Victoria Park just north of Hwy 401. I didn't play there either and used to be told that because I wasn't good enough. I told them I already spent too much time in that building. Those were only the ones in the east end of the city that I knew existed.
The correspondence club had 700 members. Probably 98% were adults. I was quite good at recruiting members for that. I used membership drives and incentives.
Today finding a chess club in Canada is like finding water in a desert. Sometimes easier to find a mirage.
Today finding a chess club in Canada is like finding water in a desert. Sometimes easier to find a mirage.
It is not so bad. All clubs are located in oases (towns and cities). J.Brown wrote that you can play every weekday (including weekends) in Toronto clubs, add Chess-in-Library and you could rotate a play-place every Saturday for a season :)
Jean, I have to agree totally with Bob Armstrong. If we were to have a club match, Scarborough vs. Mississauga, it would lose all meaning if it was simply their hired gun versus our hired gun. I would want it to be their real club members versus our real club members.
What is a "real club member" ? To me it is simply someone who has a membership. Period. If a player is a member, it is irrelevant whether he is dropping in at the club every week or not, or if he lives 1 km or 3000 km away from the club. From the moment that he plays chess representing a club, I cannot understand why he would not be considered a "real member".
Whether clubs want or not to hire or attract strong players to represent them is up to each individual club according to their philosophy and means.
The misunderstanding here is that many rank and file players see club/team competitions as just other open tournaments in which they can pay and play, which is why in many cases team competitons are short lived. Club competitions is about matching the best players from one club with the best of other clubs. Otherwise there is no point in club competitions. I cannot imagine a chess club not wanting to be properly represented.
You have several strong masters in your GTCL club tournament. You should be thankful for that and aim for more. Not put roadblocks in the way just to allow the "real" members to get in.
I think you are wrong re the relationship between parachuted in elite players playing for the club, and the enthusiasm of the ordinary class player members.
I did not write anything about "relationship" or "the enthusiasm of the ordinary class player members". At least give me a chance to be wrong and wait until I talk about something to tell me I am wrong about it.:)
Class players are not stupid. They know the elite players are not members of their club ( don't play in regularly rated tournaments ).
Who says they are stupid ? Since when someone has to play "regularly rated tournaments" to be a member of a chess club ? What is so unbelievable about a strong player being a member of a particular club, even without showing up every week ? Team competitions can and should be the activity of choice to attract strong players to a chess club. Otherwise strong players have no incentives to show up at a club if the only thing available is "regular rated tournaments" with inferior players.
So for them, the great club rivalry you talk about doesn't exist. What does it matter to their concept of club, that a lot of strangers " used " their club to get to play other elite players. There is no pride or shame in the ordinary club members for wins or losses in such a " club league ".
Of course these healty rivalries exist only through the proper channels : team/club competitions. So they have to be nurtured if they dont already exist. This is what makes a club grow in many ways.
As I said, I am happy to create opportunities for elite players to play each other. As I said, the GTCL should change the " club league " to a " Metro team league " where anyone or organization or company or club could enter their team ...
I agree with this except for one thing : teams should represent a chess club, whether real or virtual (like company X chessclub), with all clubs free to recruit the members they want or need... But why not a "club league" ? Isn't that another tool for clubs to attract members (especially strong players) and to spice up the club's life ?
It is not so bad. All clubs are located in oases (towns and cities). J.Brown wrote that you can play every weekday (including weekends) in Toronto clubs, add Chess-in-Library and you could rotate a play-place every Saturday for a season :)
When I was a junior in Winnipeg I could play at the club every evening. It was a permanent room in the back of a restaurant on Main St. and had permanent chess tables with the pieces in the drawer. Then it moved to a room in the basement of a hall where it was also open all the days of the week.
As far as I can tell, there are a number of players who are " members " of the clubs they are representing, in name only ( if they do have proof of paying a membership ). Some seem to have, as far as I can tell, very limited connection to the club, if any. So I object to it being called a " clubs " league.
I am all for the concept though - but I think there has to be a minimum connection standard to the club, before someone can play for them. Much the same way Scarborough CC has an " activity rule " for members to play in the top Championship Section ( have to have played 10 rated games since Sept. /11 ).
But I like to see elite players getting a chance to play each other. So why can't the League be simply a GTA Teams League. Clubs can enter their teams, but so can anyone else ( a corporation; a school club - highschool, primary school, university, community college, private institutes ); a community centre; etc. And even allow individuals to form their own team and name it and enter it. This would reach many more players than only the four current league members. We might even have trouble finding a space for all the teams if they all played in one place on one night, like now.
In a league like that, I would strongly lobby SCC to put in a team, where we haven't for this alleged " clubs " league.
Bob
I'd agree with you but probably you are on the losing end of this arguement with most people. People are in generally perfectly happy to cheer for teams of hired guns - compare any major sports league. Not too many members of the Blue Jays are actual "Torontonians"
Compare too the discussion on internet club play. I can't be bothered to find the thread but there were comments there by some people hoping that this [Brian Fiedlar's plan for internet club team play] would eventually build to clubs having sponsorship (or private) money to hire players from anywhere to be members of the club teams.
So, it seems the actual connection or lack thereof to the club is not one that bothers some people.
But yeah, for me, a club competition where the team members are hired guns who have no other connection to the club is not interesting. But then, I don't bother with the various sports teams (baseball, football, hockey, etc.) either.
The historical excerpt was published in En Passant #100, 1990 February, and it was taken from the Toronto Chess League Year Book 1945.
"The TCL was first formed in 1899, with Mr. E.B .Freeland, a noted "A" player, as its President. It was comprised of the Toronto Chess Club, founded in 1880, and the Central YMCA and Varsity Chess Clubs, founded about 1895. A silver trophy was put up for the competition, as was won the first year by the Toronto Chess Club."
The historical excerpt was published in En Passant #100, 1990 February, and it was taken from the Toronto Chess League Year Book 1945.
"The TCL was first formed in 1899, with Mr. E.B .Freeland, a noted "A" player, as its President. It was comprised of the Toronto Chess Club, founded in 1880, and the Central YMCA and Varsity Chess Clubs, founded about 1895. A silver trophy was put up for the competition, as was won the first year by the Toronto Chess Club."
This historic quote is incomplete as there was a Toronto Chess Club in the 1860s, chess at the U of T since it began 1850s, and the Canadian Champion at the YMCA in 1872. But Toronto teams competed with other cities like Hamilton or Buffalo.
The team league greatly expanded in the 1910s with community teams like Parliament, Oakwood, Beaches, and West End YMCA, then later industrial teams like Bell and immigrant community centres like Hungarian, Estonian, and Ukrainian. But, generally, the strongest players would always head downtown to the Toronto CC (or Gambit CC). In the early 1970s the High School All-Stars were a strong team and teams from outside of Toronto have entered just for the opportunity to meet strong opposition.
Similar to Montreal - the strong players in the early 1900's tended to gravitate towards the Montreal/Westmount CC, but it didn't stop a thriving League with many regional and company (Bell, Sun Life, etc.) clubs, and later (as in Toronto) ethnic-based clubs.
This historic quote is incomplete as there was a Toronto Chess Club in the 1860s, chess at the U of T since it began 1850s, and the Canadian Champion at the YMCA in 1872. But Toronto teams competed with other cities like Hamilton or Buffalo.
1860 vs 1880
It might be that the 1880 is a mistake (mistype?)
Looking through old magazines at googles books, telegraph chess matches were popular between Toronto and Quebec/Montreal cities.
One more excerpt from The Chess-monthly 1881:
"We are informed by Mr HF Lee of Toronto that the Toronto Chess Club has arranged a match with tho Detroit Club to be played by telegraph on the 15th of November Three games are to be played simultaneously with two players at each board. Our correspondent thinks that this is the first international Chess contest ever played between the United States and Canada "
Last edited by Egidijus Zeromskis; Wednesday, 1st February, 2012, 11:40 PM.
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