Join the Hart House Chess Club on Friday, November 25th from 7:20 pm – 9:30 pm as it hosts the first in-person duck chess tournament in Canada! Official flyer
- WHEN: Friday, November 25th, 7:20 pm – 9:30 pm. Rule explanations at 7:10 pm, Rd #1 starts at 7:20 P.M.
- WHERE: Hart House (7 Hart House Cir, Toronto) – Reading Room.
- WHAT: 6-round Blitz Event (Swiss), using a 5 + 3 time control.
- RATED: Unrated
- ENTRY FEE: Free for members, $5 for non-members. You must register online or onsite (if space permits) before 7. Free entry for IMs/WIMs/GMs/WGMs
- PRIZE FUND: $25 gift card for 1st place
- MAXIMUM CAPACITY: 60 players
- NOTE: chess sets, boards, and ducks provided
Registration:
- Register online or onsite (if space permits).
Duck Chess Rules
In addition to the standard rules of chess, the following rules apply.
- After making a regular move, a player must move the duck to any empty square on the board. This square must be different than the original square.
- The duck acts as a blocker by preventing any move through or onto the square occupied by the duck (though knights may jump over it). The duck cannot be captured.
- The game is won by capturing the opponent’s king.
Contact:
Any questions can be sent to: hhchess@studentorg.utoronto.ca
Event Report: On Friday, November 26th, the Hart House Chess Club hosted the first ever Duck Chess Tournament in Canada, and possibly the world! 27 registrants played in this chess variant involving small, yellow ducks. Duck Chess is a relatively new variant of chess that requires a duck to be moved after playing a move. This duck acts as a barrier, preventing players from playing moves through the duck. Although there were some questions early on, along with some surprise wins, players seemed to embrace the challenge. Kole Robertson came out on top, with a perfect 6/6 score. Some players told us that they had prepped for days and had looked into how to best play this interesting variant. The biggest upset was Nathaniel Yong, a second-year CS student, soundly beating IM Advait Patel, a rating difference of over 1000! The highest rated duck chess match of the night was played between IM Patel, FIDE 2451 and IM Nicholas Vettese, FIDE 2310, with Patel coming out on top.
This event finished off the HHCC’s Fall 2022 programming of in-house tournaments during Casual Chess Fridays. The last event of the HHCC’s calendar is the 2022 Hart House Holidays Open, scheduled for December 9th – 11th.
HHCC Executive Victor Zheng, alongside the HHCC Board, directed and arbitered the tournament.
Final Standings
| Rank | Name | Rtg | Pts |
| 1 | Robertson Kole | 1926 | 6 |
| 2 | Yong Nathaniel | 1200 | 5 |
| 3 | Zhao Jim | 2300 | 5 |
| 4 | Melnychuk Denys | 566 | 4 |
| 5 | McDowel Curtis | 1800 | 4 |
| 6 | Patel Advait | 2450 | 4 |
| 7 | Eryilmaz Emre | 1546 | 4 |
| 8 | Kim Sunny | 0 | 4 |
| 9 | Li Ande | 1780 | 4 |
| 10 | Vettese Nicholas | 2400 | 3½ |
| 11 | Zheng Victor | 2139 | 3 |
| 12 | S Vedant | 2186 | 3 |
| 13 | Chung Yein | 0 | 3 |
| 14 | McGowan Joseph | 933 | 3 |
| 15 | A Yahya | 0 | 3 |
| 16 | Shahsavan Faraz | 2200 | 2 |
| 17 | Kris Jiang | 566 | 2 |
| 18 | H Nathan | 0 | 2 |
| 19 | B Joshua | 2104 | 2 |
| 20 | Murray Sarah | 0 | 2 |
| 21 | Yu Jonathan | 2222 | 1 |
| 22 | Shi Olivia | 1600 | 1 |
| 23 | Khari Abdullah | 0 | 1 |
| 24 | G Mike | 0 | 1 |
| 25 | A Dev | 1000 | 1 |
| 26 | Aguer Peter | 0 | 0 |
| 27 | J Lucas | 0 | 0 |
Hart House Chess Club 