The 2024 Canadian Zonal and Women Zonal was hosted at Hart House of the University of Toronto from March 27th – April 2nd, 2024. Over Easter, 258 players and their families participated in 5 sections and many side events. A record-breaking 47 women’s players played in the biggest Canada Women Zonal in history alongside 61 players in the Open Zonal. In addition, 3 General sections were open to players of all skill levels. Players travelled across Canada, from as far as BC and Nova Scotia, to Downtown Toronto.
At stake were places on the Canadian teams for the upcoming Olympiad and qualification for the next World Cup and Women’s World Cup. The playing location was the historic, neo-gothic student centre of the University, Hart House, which last hosted the Canadian Championship in 1978. Hart House is regarded as one of the premier student centres of the world, and is home to the historic 129-year old Hart House Chess Club. A dozen DGT boards relayed the top games worldwide, and all games for all boards were uploaded during the tournament, allowing all players to have the same preparation conditions.
Similar to all Hart House tournaments over the past few years, the tournament used an online registration system that allowed payments to be made prior to Round 1, enabling an on-time start. Registrations were accepted in person, by telephone, online, and by cheque. The tournament featured a prize fund of $16,000, and the top winner of the Open Zonal took home $2,500. Games were played throughout Hart House, with the main festivities happening in the Great Hall. Student photographers were invited for many rounds to help document the interesting, serious, and funny moments of the tournament.
Alongside the 7-day, 10-round Zonal and 6-day, 9-round Women’s Zonal sections, three “General” sections running on a 4-day, 7-round schedule were open to anyone of all levels based on ratings: Premier, U1800, and U1400. For the Open Zonals, a minimum rating of either 2200 CFC or 2000 FIDE was required to compete. All sections except for the U1400 were FIDE-rated.
In the Open Zonals section, 35 of the 61 players were titled players, including 3 Grandmasters, 14 International Masters, 10 FIDE Masters, and 8 Candidate Masters. The top seeds for the event were GM-elect Shawn Rodrigue-Lemieux, IM Raja Panjwani, and GM Razvan Preotu.
In the Women’s Zonals, 10 of the 47 players were titled, with 1 Woman Grandmaster, 3 Women International Masters, 2 Women FIDE Masters, and 4 Women Candidate Masters. The top seeds were WGM Maili-Jade Ouellet, WIM Yunshan Li, and WIM Bich Ngoc Pham.
Canada Zonal
The rounds featured very competitive chess and resulted in many very close matches alongside some surprising upsets. From the start, there were no easy games and no quickdraws. All games were competitive as the players knew that the winner and eventual Canadian Champion would have to pull off some amazing chess to win.
In Round 1 of the Open, no major upsets occurred. Although GM Bator Sambuev drew to IM Leon Piasetski and IM Nikolay Noristyn drew IM Raymond Kaufman. However, the upsets would soon come. In the first three rounds, CM Koosha Jaferian defeated GM Razvan Preotu, IM Nicholas Vettese beat IM Mark Plotkin, IM Shiyam Thavandiran beat IM Raja Panjwani, and Sambuev beat IM Sai Krishna.
By Round 4, exciting matchups were on all the top boards, with IM-elect Anthony Atanasov playing Thavandiran (Shiyam won) and Rodrigue-Lemieux playing Vettese, a historic rivalry of past junior rivals (Shawn won).
In Round 5, Thavandiran defeated Sambuev, Noristyn lost to Rodrigue-Lemieux, and Atanasov lost to Panjwani. This set up an exciting match-up between Thavandiran and Rodrigue-Lemieux in Round 6.
A pivotal match, Thavandiran persevered to pull off the win in a long fight. Perhaps a theme for Thavandiran was perseverance, as he had beaten second seed IM Raja in Round 3 in a lost position.
Vettese bounced back from his loss against Shawn with consecutive wins against IM David Cummings and GM Preotu to set up his own clash with Shiyam in round 7, being the only player within half a point of Shiyam. Their game ended in an uneventful draw. However, GM Sambuev vs IM Noritsyn was not an uneventful game. As the longest game of the round, as Sambuev blundered on move 93 after a long and tough defense. The two have had a historic rivalry and have both been at the top of Canadian chess for some time.
Noritsyn then played Shiyam, where Shiyam stretched his lead in the event to a full point by winning the round 8 encounter. IM Vettese also began his descent, losing to IM Raja from a good position.
In round 9, Adam Dorrance clinched his FM title by beating Vettese. Shiyam won the event with a round to spare, outlasting IM Sai Krishna in what may have been the longest game of the tournament: Shiyam ground out an exchange up endgame to force resignation on move 117, long after the rest of the players had emptied out of the hall.
Adam’s reward was a spot on board 1 for the final round; Shiyam promptly beat him to finish 9/10 and become Canadian Champion in spectacular fashion. IM Vettese continued to show his generous side, gifting fellow U of T student Sergey Noritsyn both top student and the FM title.
A performance perhaps of note – Samuel Zhang, started the event with a three 0 point byes, did win 6 games in a row, somewhat remarkably, and was the longest winning streak of the Zonals.
Canada Women Zonal
In the Women’s Zonal, the exciting matchups began in Round 3 as the top seeds all scored wins in their early rounds. In Round 3, WIM Svitlana Demchenko drew WGM Maili-Jade Ouellet.
This left the top of the table with WIM Pham Bich Ngoc, WIM Yunshan Li, and WFM Oksana Golubeva at 3-0. Pham and Yunshan drew, and both Ouellet’s beat Golubeva and Demchenko beat WFM Morgen Mills, resulting in a group of 4 leading on 3.5/4.
In Round 5, Ouellet drew WIM Li and Demchenko beat Bich Ngoc. This meant Demchenko entered with the lead into Round 6,
In Round 6, importantly Yunshan was held to a draw by Valerie Ruchinskaya while Svitlana and Maili-Jade both won.
In Round 7, Demchenko led with a point ahead of the field but fell to WIM Li in a Dutch. Svitlana got a good position out of the opening but was probably close to equal for a long time, and lost her way (as it happens) just after move 40. WIM Li was a full point back behind the leaders and was able to catch up back in the standings. Maili won her round and entered the penultimate round in the clear half point lead.
In a very important Round 8, Bich Ngoc drew Ouellet meaning that heading into the pivotal Round 9 Ouellet was at 6.5/8. Li and Demchenko won, meaning all the top seeds had played each other, and Li, Demchenko, and Ouellet were tied with 6.5 / 8 apiece.
Since all the tied players had played each other, the final round saw a fight for wins. The only player within half a point was Yilin Li, who had beaten Golubeva in Round 8. Yilin Li lost to Maili-Jade on the top board, and Yunshan and Svitlana won against “weaker” opponents. This meant that the top-three players finished with 7.5 / 9, forcing computer tiebreaks came into effect. After tiebreaks, Maili-Jade Ouellet was awarded 2024 Canadian Women’s Champion. Demchenko finished 2nd, and Li finished 3rd.
Therefore, Shiyam and Maili-Jade will be official representatives of Team Canada at the 2025 World Cup and 2024 Olympiad in Budapest. We wish them the best of luck in their upcoming events.
A number of direct titles were achieved including FM titles for Sergey Noristyn (top U of T student), and Adam Dorrance from Nova Scotia. Yilin Li in the Women’s Zonal also achieved the requirements for WFM. A large number of players also achieved CM and WCM titles. These titles are conditional upon reaching the minimum FIDE ratings.
Festival Sections
In the 4-day Festival Sections, GM Petro Golubka entered as the considerable favourite for the Premier section. However, he forfeited round 1 coming in minutes after the forfeit time. This provided enough opportunity for Vadim Razin, second seed to go on and finish 6/7 and clear first. After catching up to the pack, GM Golubka played local Torontonian Hugh Siddeley, resulting in Hugh’s first ever GM victory and clear 2nd at 5.5/7. A large tie for 3rd was was seen at 5/7 between Jonathan Yu, David Filipovich, Ashwin Chunchu, and Heye Gao.
In the U1800 section, Park Haneul and Sarthak Deshpande finished tied first-second. Thusitha Hettigama and Slava Lukinykh tied for third.
In the U1400 section, Jayden Tan finished with 6.5/7 for first, and Velan Mangai finished 5.5/7 for second. Lyam Katz and Venkata Kola tied for third with 5/7.
A slew of side events were also offered, including an International Master Lecture on Calculation by IM Advait Patel, a Grandmaster Lecture on a6 and h6 pawns by GM Petro Golubka, interviews with players by Sahan Kauranatne, a video recap by Hammad Khalil, professional photography opportunities led by Deepanshi Matai, a tour of the University of Toronto from the U of T Visitor Centre, the induction of Kalev Pugi to the CFC Hall of Fame, and a simul for 20 players by GM Golubka. These events were free, open to all, and were well attended by numerous participants and families.
The Organizing Committee would like to express our thanks to certain individuals for their work in making this event possible.
We would like to thank the student organizers of the tournament who volunteered their time busy lives to make the event a success: Victor Zheng, Tanner McNamara, Bowen Zhang, Ahmed Khalf, Deepanshi Matai, and Crystal Cao. Victor, Bowen, Tanner, and Ahmed are all former executives of the club who became National Arbiters while students at the university. Deepanshi played a pivotal role in entering chess score sheets and taking photographs for the event. Crystal played a crucial role in managing the phone check-in and recording results. Their commitment to the tournament made the tournament a success.
In addition, we would like to thank the Arbiter team consisting of Chief Arbiter IA Omar Shah, Deputy Arbiters FA Uttam Dhungel and FA Alex Ferreira, and Arbiters NA Michael Corrie and NA Daniel Rokvargher. They ensured the smooth execution of a fantastic Zonal Championship.
Particularly, we would like to highlight and thank the venerable Alex Ferreira, a former student, advisor, mentor, and Tournament Director who has been mentoring student organizers at the University of Toronto for the past 15 years. His work over the years mentoring and advising students made the event possible.
We would also like to thank the various volunteers who contributed to a great tournament, including Andrew Leung, Grace Miao, Kaiy Cao, Steven Guo, and other university students who came out to help. We also acknowledge our French Translations team for providing valuable French-English translations, co-led by Ahmed Khalf and Alan Huang. We would also like to thank the Appeals Committee led by IA Hal Bond.
Finally, we would like to thank our Organizing Committee, led by Victor Zheng, and consisting of Alex Ferreira, Tanner McNamara, and Bowen Zhang. Many logistics and organizer meetings were conducted to make the event a success.
In addition to these volunteers, we would like to thank the Hart House staff for their continued and dedicated support of our chess events and tournaments. The Hart House Information Hub, with Jamie, Mauro, Naesha, Andrew, and student staff, provided important registration assistance throughout the entire lead-up of the event. Many phone calls, emails, and event reports were coordinated professionally. We would also like to thank the Events office with Madeline for their support with the event logistics. We would also like to thank the Finance Office with Anna and Kerry, who supported the prize payments. Many thanks also goes to our Staff Advisor Zoe Dille as well, who was recently moved over to help coordinate the Chess Club. Finally, we would like to thank the Staging personnel, the Building Services Office, and the Hospitality office, who provided a coordinated effort to make this tournament a success. We wish to acknowledge their assistance.
The Club would also like to express its gratitude to the Annex Chess Club for lending clocks to ensure the smooth operation of the 2nd time control. Annex Chess Club and Hart House Chess Club have worked cooperatively over the past few years to bring high-quality chess to Toronto.
Additionally, a large shoutout to the photographers and community photographers who contributed to a historical reference of the event. A video recap was created (see below), and interviews conducted to provide a historical reference of chess in Canada in 2024 with the goal of providing a window into Canadian chess decades from 2024. As customary, we took individual, high-quality photos of almost every player. Those photos are linked at the bottom of this post.
Finally, the most important and deserved “thank-you” goes to the 258 participants who came out during Easter to play in the tournament, as well as the friends, family, supporters, and chess enthusiasts who came out to the tournament as spectators. The 2024 Zonals was the biggest chess tournament hosted at Hart House in the past 30 years, and it is with your support that the Club’s initiatives and vibrancy as a hub for chess have continued for 129 years. We are very thankful for your participation and look forward to welcoming you back to Hart House for our many upcoming events later this year and in the future.
Click the following links below to view photos by:
- John Upper Batch 1, Batch 2, Batch 3
- Michael Hsu for Round 2 Open / Round 1 Women
- Kennedy Kao Round 4 Open / Round 3 Women / Round 1 Festival
- Yankee Zhu Round 5 Open / Round 3 Women’s photos
- Jay Bhadreshwara Round 7 Open / Round 6 Women’s photos
- Deepanshi Matai All Rounds, Side Events
Click the links below to view crosstables for:
- Chess Results Open Zonals
- Chess Results Women’s Zonals
- Chess Results Premier
- Chess Results U1800
- Chess Results U1400
View interviews coducted by Sahan Karunaratne and Norman Huang below.
View the tournament recap by Hammad Khalil below.
Chief Organizer Victor Zheng wrote the above report. With round reports thanks to Tanner McNamara.
For the original event post, visit here.
Photo credit header image: Jay Bhadreshwara
Hart House Chess Club 