2023 GTCL League Team Championship

The Hart House Chess Club is proud to have won the bid for the 2023 Greater Toronto Chess League Team Championship! We look forward to welcoming teams from across the Greater Toronto Area for this annual chess competition. Matches will be played on Tuesday evenings at Hart House on the University of Toronto campus. This event is the first post-pandemic GTCL Team CC, since the 2020 event hosted by Willowdale Chess Club.

Official event flyer

Event Report and Tournament Recap: Hart House Students Win 2023 GTCL Team CC!

Format & Event Logistics

FORMAT:
- CFC-rated Round-Robin Tournament of teams
- 8 Rounds over 8 weeks
- 2 Groups (A and B) with 6 six teams each.
  - 5 Matches over five weeks in this stage.
- Next, a round-robin crossover stage
  - 4 team Round Robin (3 matches over three weeks) in the final stage
  - Top 2 teams from each group go to Final A (1-4 places),
  - Next two teams – to Final B (5-8 places) and
  - Last two teams – to Final C (9-12 places).
- All teams will play eight matches, with the tournament ending on Feb. 28^th (not March 14th as originally planned).
- Teams and pairings for the first five weeks will be split into groups based on top-4 players’ average ratings
  - Pool A: Teams 1, 4, 5, 8, 9 and 12.
  - Pool B: Teams 2, 3, 6, 7, 10 and 11.
ROUNDS: clocks start at 7:10 pm Tuesdays (weekly starting Jan 10th).
TIME CONTROL: 90 mins + 30 secs/move increment
EQUIPMENT: HHCC will supply all chess equipment, including score sheets
DGT BOARDS: 12 DGT boards will be used to broadcast games live online. Commentary by HHCC members and special guests will be provided on the HHCC Twitch and YouTube pages.
ARBITER: NA Alex Ferreira and HHCC Execs as assistants
PRIZES: trophies for winners
ENTRY FEES: $0.00 (GTCL will pay the rating fees and prizes)
RULES: visit rules page
REGISTRATION: complete registration form by December 31st, 2022 (registrations now closed)
EMAIL: hhchess@utoronto.ca or hhchess@studentorg.utoronto.ca

Registration and benefits

The first twenty teams may enter. The HHCC reserves the right to have both a student team and an alumni team. Additional teams may enter, space permitting.
Teams from any GTCL club, organization, or group. No limit on number of teams.
Teams consist of 4 players with any number of substitute players in a pre-assigned order.
Players must have CFC memberships that expire after March 14, 2023.
Only one player per team must register via the registration form. As of Jan. 1st, registrations are now closed – players can be added to teams by emailing organizers until Jan. 9th 7:10 pm ET.
Benefits:
1. participants will receive a $10 discount to the Hart House Reading Week Open and member pricing to other HHCC events held during the season. Discounts announced Round 1.
1. HH will organize slow-rated games in a swiss format across four weeks (x2) during GTCL – participants of GTCL can play a game even if not in the top four lineup on a given week. Details for Weekly Winter Swiss

VENUE

The club has booked one of the Debates Room, 24’ x 72’ (capacity 90) or East Common Room, a size of 22’ by 68’ (capacity 90), for the duration of the tournament.

The rooms are located in Hart House, 7 Hart House Cir, Toronto, ON M5S 3H3. Ample food and entertainment can be found nearby within walking distance. Ample paid parking is available at a flat rate of $10 per evening throughout the University of Toronto campus – street parking is also available. Hart House is within 10 minutes of walking distance between two subway stations, Museum and St. George. Free Wi-Fi is available for all participants.

Weekly Schedule:

Rounds start at 7:10 pm on Tuesdays (1 round per week)

Round 1: January 10th – Debates Room

Round 2: January 17th – East Common Room

Round 3: January 24th – East Common Room

Round 4: January 31st – East Common Room

Round 5: February 7th – East Common Room

Round 6: February 14th – East Common Room

Round 7: February 21st – East Common Room

Round 8: February 28th – Debates Room

Teams registered, pairings, Standings

Registered players can be found via this link.

Pool A

Hart House Students – 2355 – # 1
Willowdale – 2262 – # 4
Hart House 20^th Century – 2243 – # 5
Mississauga – 1959 – # 8
North York Beavers – 1950 – # 9
Persian Knights – 1412 – # 12

Pool B

Hart House Alumni – 2290 – # 2
Chess Stars – 2285 – # 3
Bing Chilling – 2218 – # 6
Team Envy Us – 2159 – # 7
Annex – 1706 – # 10
Tigers in the Park – 1586 – # 11

Visit chess-results links for each week’s with pairings. Standings and pairings will be posted here each week as well.

Pool Stage:

Pool A – https://chess-results.com/tnr716546.aspx?lan=1
Pool B – https://chess-results.com/tnr716547.aspx?lan=1

Finals Stage

Gold: http://chess-results.com/tnr726636.aspx?lan=1
Silver: http://chess-results.com/tnr726633.aspx?lan=1
Bronze: http://chess-results.com/tnr726631.aspx?lan=1

Note for HHCC members

Those interested in represent the Hart House Chess Club at this tournament should email hhchess@utoronto.ca. We hope to send both a student and alumni team to represent the Club.

HHCC players have the option of playing in this tournament or the Weekly Winter Swiss. GTCL Team CC is intended for stronger players with tournament experience looking to represent the Club for the entire 9-weeks. The Winter Weekly Swiss is intended to provide more rated, competitive chess playing opportunities for our members. One of the goals is to prepare our members to compete at the Canadian Universities Chess Championship in late January, and at the Reading Week Open.