Chess Champ spreads love of the game

Yuanling Yuan is a restless chess champion.
The 16-year-old from Victoria Park C.I. recently spent a couple weeks in Russia playing as a member of Canada's team at the World Chess Olympiad.
She ranked 27th out of the 564 female players, the highest a Canadian has ever finished.
When she's not busy being a chess whiz, she busy championing the game which a wonderful aspect of her game.
Two years ago, Yuan founded Chess in the Library, a smart sounding club for smart-sounding people. "I just wanted to do something to promote chess in Canada." she said of the day in spring 2009 when she walked into Brookbank Library and told head librarian Denise Drabkin that she wanted to start a chess club.
Less than two years later, Yuan's idea has turned into a weekly ritual for people of all ages across Toronto. Chess in the Library now operates in 12 Toronto libraries and has more than 40 volunteers.
The program also operates in a library in Ottawa and recently it expanded to a library in Victoria B.C.
Each library has between 20 to 30 participants coming to learn and play chess every week. That's more than 250 people participating in the program altogether.
What a wonderful achievement for Yuan to have given back.