MCC Adopts New Technology to Streamline Operations

The Mississauga Chess Club (MCC) is thriving with over 480 active members. On any given Monday or Friday night, about 100 chess enthusiasts gather at the club. This remarkable growth has led MCC to reach its membership cap three times, temporarily halting new sign-ups. Such success is a testament to the dedication of the club’s administrators, including Anna Pan and Undriadi Benggawan, who work tirelessly behind the scenes managing administrative tasks. However, despite the club’s growth, Anna shared the challenges they faced: “We’ve been using coloured cards to track individual juniors and their group placements. Each time a player progresses to a new group, we have to remake their name cards. Add to that the constant cycle of managing new memberships, expired memberships, and lost cards across three days a week—it’s a lot of housekeeping work.”

While this manual approach helped MCC grow into Canada’s largest chess club, the increasing workload became too much for the volunteers. Errors were inevitable, and the process felt outdated. Despite attempts to modernize with help from tech professionals, the cost was prohibitive for a non-profit organization. Everything changed in the spring of 2024 when Anna connected with Kevin Hong, a club member and IT professional at Microsoft. After extensive discussions involving senior TDs Dewu Zhang and Shawn Liu to assess the club’s needs, they collaboratively developed a vision to fully computerize and automate MCC’s administrative and pairing processes—an ambitious goal no other chess club had attempted.

After three months of hard work, the results were transformative. Kevin developed a database system that assigned each member a unique barcode. Members could print their barcodes and keep them handy for easy access. Registration became as simple as scanning the barcode, with the software automatically validating profiles, retrieving ratings, and assigning players to appropriate groups. The system even generated files compatible with SwissSys, streamlining the pairing process and minimizing errors. Best of all, new volunteers could learn the system with minimal training.

The system was first tested on a Friday night, and after addressing a few initial bugs, it was successfully rolled out for all club events. This innovation drastically reduced Anna’s workload and eased the burden on other volunteers.

Reflecting on this milestone, it’s clear that technology has given MCC a fresh start. Kevin noted that this is just the beginning. While the registration process for the first round is now fully automated, the club still requires a TD to verify and adjust the registration list for subsequent rounds. However, progress is on the horizon. Gerhard Trippen, a professor at the University of Toronto, has joined the developer team. With his expertise in SwissSys formats and automated scripting, MCC is working toward fully automating every round.

Looking ahead, the team is planning even more ambitious innovations. These advancements not only simplify MCC’s operations but also set a new standard for chess clubs across the country. MCC’s journey reflects its dedication to growth, adaptability, and embracing the potential of technology to support its vibrant community.

Writer: Shawn Liu