XFYD Milpitas has reached a milestone!
This new Bay Area XFYD branch, established last year, has completed its long-running chess class at the library.
These classes have gone on from March to May, and are just one of many new events XFYD Milpitas has been expanding its enrichment events for the local community.
Om Suthar and Charles Bi teach the classes. They are incredibly accomplished chess competitors with years of experience playing in professional and rated chess tournaments.
The recent chess classes at the library have been so popular that there is a waiting list—the library cannot handle all the students eager to sign up and learn chess! So far, over 40 students crowd into the room, eager to play and learn. The chess teachers use a variety of tools, including online puzzles and free-play chess games.
This massively successful chess class follows after XFYD Milpitas’s Chess Division has already held several large-scale online chess classes, taught using Lichess and Zoom.
Charles and Om were motivated to lead the Chess Division last summer due to the distinct lack of enrichment chess activities in their community. Chess improves critical thinking and problem-solving and instills a strategic mindset in young kids when taught at an early age. Charles and Om were both taught chess as children, so they wanted to give young kids the same experience through chess classes and tournaments, both online and in-person. They’ve dedicated dozens of hours to designing the curriculum, planning the classes, and leading lectures and activities for students.
Their drive to provide kids with enrichment opportunities they deserve isn’t over yet, however. Charles, Om, and Amanda are now trying to expand this program to even more kids after May. On top of Chess, they also teach coding and computer science online to a group of core students. They will try to grow a coding program at the local library.
