what makes us a special chess summer camp

MasterChess: learn, develop, and master!


The one problem chess teachers and all teachers in general see when kids come back to school every September is the rustiness and forgetfulness of material from the previous year. Our camp will make sure that not only will your child retain what he/she knew before, but they will progress to new heights and be more ready for the new school year and higher chess levels. On top of that, campers will get to develop their critical thinking skills in other fields as well, so that they’re well-rounded and not bored of only playing chess. Moreover, we will use games, competitions, and prizes to make your child’s experience educational and exciting. We will do this while giving kids a break from technology, which we believe is healthy in the hi-tech world we live in. Our team of chess masters and teaching masters looks forward to seeing you at our Master Chess Summer Camp!

meet the team

Chess Masters

Master MIKE
Head Coach

Master Mike learned chess at the age of 4 and has been working to get better ever since. At the age of 16, he won the National Master Title, and later on won the FIDE Master title in Spain. He was Toronto Champion in 2016 and 2017, 2-time Ontario high-school champion and 2-time Canadian university champion. Mike has been teaching for 10 years, working at over 30 schools in the GTA and running multiple camps for organizations such as chess and math, three-flavors, and now CCYC. Some of his best private students include Max Chen who is a multiple-time Ontario and Canadian Champion, as well as Michael Jacobs who was the Aurora Chess Club champion in 2018. Mike teaches the way he would want to be taught growing up, through stories and games. Mike also received a Master of Teaching degree in 2019, allowing him to better understand how children learn and think. He still plays tournaments from time to time but dedicated himself to raising the next generations of champions at CCYC, so they can enjoy the game as much as he does.

Master MARK
COACH

He is a FIDE Master, with the CFC rating of 2512 and FIDE rating of 2356. He is currently studying at University of Toronto, and has been teaching chess for over 4 years, and at CCYC for over a year. He has improved at the game every year. He uses a practical form of teaching by showing examples in his games where he follows the rules that he teaches his students. On top of this, many of his students have shown a lot of success in the past few years, with one of my students gaining over 300 points in one year. The strength of his students increased as he encourages discipline, homework and analysis.

Master Daniel
COACH

Mr. Daniel is one of the original Master team. He has taught in many chess institutes and has 10 years rich teaching experience. He has won several championships in Ontario and Canada, and has represented the Canadian team three times in the world competition.

MASTER HUA
COACH

FM Lefong Hua is a chess coach and trainer from Montreal, Canada. Lefong excelled at chess as a child, most notably finishing 5th place in the 1992 World Youth Chess Championships alongside future top GM’s Aronian, Grischuk, and Bacrot. He also streams regularly on Twitch: twitch.tv/lefonghua

Zane
COACH

Hello, I’m Zehn! I taught myself chess at the age of seven while living on a farm. Four years later I won my first Ontario Championships for boys under 12. Three years later I reached Canadian National Master rating at the young age of 14. I continue to learn the game as well as mentor it to students of all ages/levels to this day. By age 17 I reached top three in Ontario/Canada for my age range 10 times, with three gold medals. I’ve been teaching since I was 14 years old. Since then, my students have achieved seven top three finishes in Ontario/Canada with two different Canadian Champions! I continue to play chess with the University of Toronto where I study psychology and neuroscience. So far I’ve won two Canadian University Chess Championships as well as a third place finish. I hope to train more young minds to become better chess players as well as extract the swaths of positive benefits from the subject that has been so central to my life!

Panos
COACH

At the age of 15, Panos won the Greek National Championship student group and represented Greece in the World Championships for Chess Students. He also won the National Club Championship as a member of the A.O.kydon Club and won the championship in the second year. His achievements are also including the fourth place in the 2007 World Championship of Chess Students, the third place in the 2008 National Chess Youth Championship, and the 2009 Ampelokipi Open Championship. In 2014, he joined the Harvard Law School Chess Club. In 2015, he joined the Yale University Chess Club. In 2016, he became the head coach of the Athens Law School Chess Club. In September 2017, he became the HART HOUSE CHESS CLUB coach of the University of Toronto.

Have you or your family recently come to Canada due to armed conflict or natural disaster in your home country? You may qualify our Refugee Scholarship.

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Summer camp features

Contact us if you need any detail or ask any questions about the camp