Chess in Toronto is one of those fabulous levelling forces wherein 10-year-olds can battle the likes of octogenarian legends. Yes, chess is a game where liberals and conservatives finally agree on a unified definition of a "pawn," and monarchists and anti-monarchists alike share in their pledges to protect the royalty. Isn't it beautiful? There are plenty of options for new players looking to get into the game in Toronto, as well as seasoned experts willing to test their skills against equally confident chess masters. Here are a few options in Toronto:

Summer school in Toronto isn't as bad as it sounds. Yes, there are plenty of the usual academic offerings available at Ryerson, George Brown, Humber and beyond, but the warmer weather provides us the opportunity to be released from the confines of central-heating-dependent classes, and allows us to explore a new realms of enjoyment. Take that, December. Here's a list of classes to take this summer that ameliorate the +20 degrees experience.

Toronto gamers have found a haven in A&C World. The one year old gaming zone and arcade is a spin-off of A&C Games, a retro video game store founded by brothers Chang and Gar Wan Toy. Located in a tiny plaza at 702A Spadina Avenue just south of Bloor, A&C World is sandwiched between a TopCuts and a Canada Post. Once the base of a karate school, the gaming zone resembles a house basement with walls displaying posters and paintings of familiar video game characters like Mario and Yoshi.

Over the past few years, Toronto has found itself the heart of all things nerdy in Canada. We seem to have a zombie event every month, there's a film festival for everything, gaming cafes are all the rage and we have two major comic conventions to choose from.

This weekend was the Wizard World Comic Con, not to be confused with FanExpo, the major nerd convention that takes over in late August. Wizard World is smaller but sometimes that's not a bad thing.

Toronto may be a hockey town by reputation, but that doesn't mean that baseball doesn't have a long tradition in this town as well. In fact, the Toronto Maple Leafs was the name of a local baseball team long before Toronto St. Patricks hockey team decided they'd adopt the moniker in 1927. That baseball team once played out of a majestic-looking stadium near where the ferry to the Island Airport departs until the franchise left town in 1967. A semi-pro team still sports the name to this day, as baseball fans and Christie Pits residents already know. One could also add that the city's only big league championships of the last half-century have come courtesy of the Blue Jays, but this is old news.

The Model Railroad Club of Toronto has an intricate, truly breathtaking miniature railway system hidden in a basement space in the heart of Liberty Village. There is 10 scale miles of rail (6,000 feet of two-rail track) holding 800 freight cars, 90 locomotives, and 70 passenger cars — in addition to stations, billboards, bridges and hills; campers on picnics and vintage model cars. The sight, simply, is stunning.