Author: harthousechess

On April 29th, 2023, 152 junior players and their families travelled to Hart House for the Club’s first ever Youth Chess Championship. The tournament was sold-out early, a reflection of the historic year of chess in Canada and at the Club. The players came to compete not only qualification to the 2023 CYCC but also 12 coveted bursaries for the top-overall and top-girl in each of the 6 sections.

Due to the stakes, parents were restricted from entering the playing hall and photos were only taken by the Club’s photographer. The Debates Room and Committees Room were open to parents and supporters while the Club utilized the Music Room and Donald Burwash Room for the chess competition.

The qualification number was 2.5/5, with those qualifying eligible to play in the CYCC this summer. A 2-game blitz playoff was held for sections with ties for bursaries. For ties after the blitz, a deciding Armageddon match would be held to determine the winner. This led to some very exciting finishes.

In the U8 Section (26 players), Kola Karthi finished a perfect tournament with 5/5, beating out 2nd place finisher Jasper Jia in the final round. Darren Chen finished third in their first ever CFC rated tournament. A playoff match was held between Luba Shtepa and Valeria Kit Lin Ho for the U8 top-girl bursary to the CYCC. Luba edged out Valeria and took home the trophy and bursary.

In the U10 Section (25 players), Ashley Qian entered as the top-seed with a rating of 1761, leading over the second highest rated player by over 500 CFC points! Ashley capitalized on the rating advantage and went on to take home both the top-girl and first-overall trophy. Deliberations by the organizers concluded that there would be a 4-way playoff to determine the 2nd bursary winner for the U10 section. Therefore, Diganth Anish, Yihang Wu, Caleb Langridge, and Siddharth Surendran played 3-rounds of round-robin chess to determine the winner. Coming out on top (2nd overall) and with the bursary to the 2023 CYCC was Yihang, followed by 3rd place finisher Caleb.

Ashley Qian was awarded the first place trophy by her personal coach and U of T’s highest rated player, Yunshan Li.

In the U12 Section (38 players), Isaak Huh came in with the highest rating of all players with a 2162 CFC rating! Just the evening before, he had finished 3rd at the Hart House Bullet Championship and he proved that he was up to the task yet again. Isaak finished the tournament undefeated alongside Jifan Zhao, and in the playoffs, defeated Jifan without dropping a game. Ping Yao Li finished 3rd after tiebreakers and Angela Wang picked up the top-girl prize and bursary.

The U14 Section (48 players) was the largest section, taking up nearly a third of the entire tournament field. Tony Lu came into the tournament with the first seed and went 5/5. However, Nicholas Ossine, who had played over 20 CFC Quick Rated events and not one classical event, also finished with 5/5. The playoff for first went to Nicholas where in Calgary, he may just play in his first CFC classical event! Eric Qian finished 3rd after a last-round loss to Tony. Top Girl was won by Irene Xie 3.5/5.

In the U16 Section (10 players), Ajith Aayush was the top seed followed closely behind by Saarthak Malakar. The two would face each other in round 3 and draw, leading to a playoff with 4.5/5 apiece. Ajith would pull through and finish the tournament with first and the bursary to the CYCC. Third place was won by Andrew Song and top-girl was won by Alexa Ksenych.

In the U18 Section (8 players), Hwang Jeong, playing in their first ever CFC rated tournament, went on to finish 4/5, enough for clear first. A 4-way tie was seen between Ingrid Wu, Pio Nicdao, Roger Guo, and Bek Khamidov. After computer tiebreaks, second went to Pio and third to Bek. Ingrid would receive the top-girl prize. The section was the only section to see no playoffs needed!

The tournament was an undertaking overseen by Hart House Chess Club’s new Secretary, Victor Zheng, the winner of the 2023 GTCL Organizer of the Year. In addition, the Club would like to thank a number of volunteers for the execution of a smooth event. Alex Ferreira provided very helpful expertise as a seasoned arbiter. Crystal Cao, Ahmed Khalf, and Bowen Zhang (photographer too), provided very helpful oversight alongside incoming Executives Grace Miao, Eric Wan, and Isabelle Wang. Finally, a number of volunteer students from U of T also came out to help and we are thankful for their service: Koosha Jaferian, Yunshan Li, Cindy Qiao, Ethan Moon, Derek Ma, Yein Chung, and Ray Wu who provided helpful score collection throughout.

A thank you as always goes to the Hart House staff for their assistance with registration, finances, room bookings, and guidance. Special thank-yous go to Jamie and Naseha at the HUB, Stan at Finance, and Meghan at Events for their event support.

Finally, the Club would like to thank the help of the Calgary Chess Club, organizers of this year’s CYCC, for their special help and guidance in distributing bursaries. We would also like to thank the organizers of the 2023 BCYCC and the Chess Federation of Canada for their support as well.

The 2023 Canadian Youth Chess Championship will be held this Summer from July 19 – 22 in Calgary, Alberta by the Calgary Chess Club. The 2023 Canadian Open will follow from July 22 – 30. We wish all participants attending the best of luck and look forward to hosting the HHYCC event again next year.

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Click on the following links to view:

• Tournament Photos by Bowen Zhang
• Final crosstables for the U8 Section
• Final crosstables for the U10 Section
• Final crosstables for the U12 Section
• Final crosstables for the U14 Section
• Final crosstables for the U16 Section
• Final crosstables for the U18 Section
• The event posting with pre-registered and event info

From May 1st – August 31st, the Hart House Chess Club is open this Summer semester with adjusted hours. The Club will be open every Friday from 6 pm – 11 pm and will host a few events. See the following schedule for notable events planned this upcoming Summer.

Additional events and details will be added in due course.

1. Casual Play
   • 6 pm – 11 pm every Friday at the Hart House Reading Room.
   • Free for all students and community members
   • Chess boards and sets will be set out for everyone interested in playing the Royal Game
2. Toronto Chess Festival for Women & Girls– Sunday, May 14th, 2023
   • The Club will host the first chess festival for women and girls in Toronto. The event is supported by the Ontario Chess Association, Canadian Chess Federation, and the FIDE Commission for Women’s Chess.
   • Free entry for all events
   • Lectures, Simuls, and a Rapid Tournament with $1250 in prizes.
   • More info here.
3. GM Lecture with Gergely Szabo – Friday, June 2nd, 2023
   • Grandmaster Gergely Szabo will make a visit to Hart House to conduct a lecture on Calculation.
   • More info here
4. Beginner Lessons – Fridays for 12-weeks starting June 9 (6:30 pm – 8:00 pm)
   • Group lessons taught by Bowen Zhang and Victor Zheng
   • Room Bickersteth Room, Hart House
   • More info here
5. Hart House Summer Rapid and Blitz – July 15
   • Rapid tournament with estimated $2000 in prizes followed by a blitz tournament with an estimated $1000 in prizes. Very low entry fees for students.
   • Debate Room, Hart House
   • More info here
6. Summer Junior Open – Sat. August 26th
   • Free analysis will be provided to participants by UofT students.

For the most up to date events, see our Upcoming Events page.

The Hart House Chess Club is proud to announce an upcoming event for Women and Girls! The All4chess & Chess4All: Toronto Chess Festival For Women & Girls will be hosted at Hart House on Sunday, May 14th. The event is supported by the Canadian Chess Federation, Ontario Chess Association, and the FIDE Commission for Women’s Chess. event flyer – EVENT REPORT

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FORMAT AND LOGISTICS

Where: Debates Room, Hart House, University of Toronto. 7 Hart House Circle, Toronto, ON M5S 3H3
When: Sunday, May 14, 2023 from 9:30 am – 5:30 pm
Format: 3 events: Lectures, Simultaneous Exhibition, Rapid Tournament
Lunch: provided for all attendees
Cost: free (event is fully financial supported)
Eligibility: only open to Women and Girls
Registration: via email with: name of attendee, dietary restrictions (lunch provided), note if any events will be skipped (lectures, simul, rapid tournament), CFC ID, email address
Organizer: Hart House Chess Club, Tanner McNamara
Email: hhchess@studentorg.utoronto.ca
CFC: unrated
Equipment: Chess sets and clocks supplied

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SCHEDULE

1. Lectures: 9:30 am – 12:00 pm
   • Speakers: WGM Dana Reizniece-Ozola, WGM Anna Burtasova, WFM Oksana Golubeva
2. Lunch: 12:00 pm – 1 pm
   • Lunch provided for all guests
3. Simultaneous Exhibition: 1:00 pm – 2:00 pm
   • Simul with clocks against speakers
4. Rapid Tournament: 5 round, 10 minute + 2 seconds. $1250 in prizes and trophies for 4 age groups (see flyer for breakdown)

Participants are requested to check-in outside the Debates Room for all events.

RAPID REGULATIONS

Live DGT boards: https://lichess.org/broadcast/toronto-chess-festival-for-women–girls/round-2/zlF39sSv

Tournament format: 5 round swiss system at a time control of 10+2. The tournament is played as one big group, but you will be paired against others with the same score as you (if you win a lot of games, you will play opponents who are winning a lot; if you lose games, you will play opponents who are also losing). Each player has 10 minutes to complete each game, and 2 seconds are added with every move made.

The tournament is unrated. CFC regular ratings used for pairings and prize eligibility. Quick, FIDE, or other national ratings can be used in the absence of CFC regular or at the discretion of the arbiter.

Players may take up to one half point bye in rounds 1-4 if requested before the start. Byes requested late or for round 5 will be worth 0 points. Forced byes are worth 1 point.

Cash prizes will be shared in case of a tie. Trophies will be awarded according to tiebreaks: Buchholz (lowest opponent dropped), Buchholz (no exclusions), Sonneborn-Berger, direct encounter, number of blacks.

Players do not need to keep score. The touch move rule applies – if a player touches a piece of their own and is able to move it, they must do so. If they touch an opponent’s piece and are able to capture it, they must move so. Players should pause the clock and call an arbiter in case of any claim or dispute. An illegal move results in 2 minutes added to the opponent’s clock for the first offense, and in loss of game for the second offense.

Make sure the result of your game is reported correctly, and notify the arbiter of any mistake as soon as you notice.

PRE-REGISTERED

	First	Last	Title	Rating	CFC/FIDE ID
1	Liz	Lee		unr	x
2	Robin	Lee		unr	x
3	Adelina	Nicu		991 (Q)	173958
4	Laura	Nicu		unr	174203
5	Chloe	Duong		1355	12416967
6	Shannon	Zhao		795	179928
7	Heidi	Gay		1019	175381
8	Irene	Xie		1703	175644
9	Hanxi	Jiang		1870	166648
10	Anna	Delgasheva		unr	x
11	Olena	Kucherenko	WCM	2049	14117304
12	Olga	Mushtaler		581	175787
13	Victoria	Lai		742	177318
14	Maria	Polyanska		506 (Q)	178767
15	Tiffany	Chen		750	178654
16	Oksana	Golubeva	WFM	2302	168840
17	Anna	Burtasova	WGM	2271	169693
18	Ashley	Qian		1761	168050
19	Yunxi (Juliana)	Chen		unr	181804
20	April	Zhong		1791	167271
21	Arianna	Yuan		1031	180970
22	Olivia	Kus		unr	181544
23	Natalia	Kus		unr	181545
24	Serena	Wilson		1121 (Q)	176965
25	Chloe	Huang		920	173785
26	Alyssa	Li		1006	179191
27	Purvi	Gadde		834 (Q)	176158
28	Alexa	Roque		874	172868
29	Emily	Robinson		1084	147903
30	Ani	Orchanian-Cheff		unr	x
31	Neha	Navin		unr	181798
32	Adie	Todd		1573	125156
33	Anna	Roman		unr	x
34	Lisa	Roman		unr	x
35	Lucy	Gao		1792	161206
36	Kendra	Forrest		unr	x
37	Hannah	Shen		1015	179971
38	Elham	Banazadeh		1257 (B)	36794619
39	Ingrid	Wu		1472	160934
40	Helen	Somohano		unr	x
41	Alexandra	Wang		unr	x
42	Nisha	Dominic		unr	x
43	Kailey	Luo		1323	168091
44	Sasha	Konovalova		unr	x
45	Shabnam	Abbarin		1442	151181
46	Samantha	Tajik		1184	178764
47	Angela	Li		unr	x
48	Katherine	Leung		746	172773
49	Liza	Augustin		unr	x
50	Carter	Payne		unr	x
51	Laksshana	Deepak		1726	175714
52	Ashley	Fox-Corlett		unr	x
53	Rucha	Deshpande		944	172012
54	Cindy	Qiao	WFM	2070	155864
55	Gabriella	Johnson		1823	7701128
56	Olya	Kaye		1786	120564
57	Chloe	Kaye		unr	181934
58	Nadia	Chichkina		unr	x
59	Ala	Mischanka		unr	x
60	Jesse	Hamilton		1194	173880
61	Sonja	Lang		1287	112444
62	Elena	Yang		1475	162141
63	Yingying (Coco)	Chen

This event is supported by the following organizations:

On April 28, 2023, the Hart House Chess Club hosted its annual Bullet Championship to crown the best player at 1+1 bullet at the Club.

CM Koosha Jaferian and WIM Yunshan Li went 17/20. Koosha perhaps is the most well known bullet player with a lichess bullet rating of 2801! Yunshan, at the time of the event, was the highest rated active U of T chess player.

Juniors Isaak Huh and Ande Li took tied third with 12/20.

IM Nicholas Vettese, NM Jim Zhao, and WFM Cindy Qiao rounded out the top-6.

Thanks for coming, and congrats to all winners!

Results

For pairings and standings after 10 double-rounds, see here: https://chess-results.com/tnr760546.aspx?lan=1&art=1

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See below for the original event post…

Celebrate the end of the year with the Hart House Chess Club’s Bullet Championship tournament! 1+1 time control with 10 double rounds makes this an unmissable event! The event was originally scheduled for April 7th, however, Hart House closes early on Good Friday so the event will be held after exams, on April 28th.

FORMAT AND EVENT DETAILS

• WHEN: Friday, April 28th, 6:30 pm – 8:00 pm.
• WHERE: Hart House (7 Hart House Cir, Toronto) – Reading Room.
• WHAT: 10-round double-round Bullet Event (Swiss), with a 1 minute + 1 second time control.
• RATED: Unrated
• ENTRY FEE: Free for members, $10 for non-members, free for titled players. Register onsite before 6:15 pm.
• PRIZE FUND: Guaranteed $100. Paid via gift cards.
• SPECIAL PRIZES: All participants will be entered into a door prize.
• MAXIMUM CAPACITY: 50 players.
• NOTE: chess sets and boards provided

CONTACT:

Any questions can be sent to: hhchess@studentorg.utoronto.ca

On Friday, June 2nd, 2023, Grandmaster Gergely Szabo visited the Hart House Chess Club to conduct a lecture on Calculation. The event consisted of an hour long lecture hosted in the Debates Room of Hart House. Extra chairs were brought in as the number of participants reached over 40! The lecture was quite captivating as many questions were asked. Participants thought that the lecture was delivered very professionally and everyone of all skill levels learned something from it.

Thank you to GM Szabo for stopping by, Hart House for their continued support, and the participants who came out!

See the original event post below…

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Join the Hart House Chess Club on Friday, June 2nd from 6 pm – 7 pm in the Hart House Debates Room for a Master Lecture hosted by Grandmaster Gergely Szabo. The lecture will be on the topic of Calculation. Students and members can join for free, non-members are asked to provide a small donation to the Club onsite. We hope to see you there!

Bio: Grandmaster Gergely Szabo is a FIDE Trainer from Romania and has coached Canadian teams at the World stage, including the 2018 Canadian Women’s Olympiad Team, as the Head Coach of the Canadian delegation at the 2015 World Youth Chess Championship in Greece, and as the Trainer and Captain of Team Canada at the 2014 U16 Olympiad, which won 5th place. As a player, GM Szabo has won several strong tournaments, including the Memorial “Victor Ciocâltea” GM group, Bucharest in 2009 and again in 2011. He is a co-founder of the JtM Chess Academy, the provider of the National Training Program for Canadian Youths, as sanctioned by the CFC.

Gergely will be in Toronto playing at the Canadian Transnational Chess Championship, hosted by our neighbours, Annex Chess Club, expected to be the Premier event for Canadian chess in 2023.

On March 18th, 67-players competed in Hart House Chess Club’s annual junior tournament. It was the first junior event held at Hart House and UofT since the 2019 event, and what a great sight it was! The tournament consisted of 3-sections, U900, U1300, and Open and was sold out from early on. This year’s tournament, like initially envisioned, featured free game analysis from UofT’s Varsity Chess Team. It allowed players to review and learn from their games with some of UofT’s top players.

The tournament was a 4-round, 45 minute plus 15 second increment, CFC-rated event, with snacks, coffee, and a great playing environment thanks to the historic and beautiful Debates Room. Around 30 players, 50% of the field, attended the event as their first ever CFC-rated event, which is a great sign for the future of chess in Toronto. With only 4 rounds, those vying for first all needed to stay sharp and not make any mistakes.

Pulling out first place in U900 Section (28 players) was Ethan Guo with 4/4. Luba Shtepa edged out Gabriel Bai on tiebreaks for second with 3.5/4 and also the top-female prize. This section featured the most unrated players , with 75% of the field (21 players), playing in their first ever tournament!

In the U1300 Section (29 players), Brandon Ling placed first with another perfect score of 4/4. Bhargav Ram Gummadi placed clear second with 3.5/4, which meant that a boatload of players would be tied at 3/4. Andrew Song beat out 6 other players on tiebreakers to claim 3rd place at this year’s tournament. Top-female in this section was Isabelle Guan with 3/4.

In the Open Section (10 players), Max England pulled out to an early lead and never looked away, finishing 3.5/4 for first. Nolan Wu beat out highest seed Isaak Huh (2274 CFC) with 3/4 to finish in 2nd. Kailey Liu finished as top-female.

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The Donald Burwash Room, the analysis room, was busy throughout! Our top players had a really fun time analysing and talking with students about their games. It was a great learning opportunity, and we’ve compiled a set of thoughts on the event from our players.

I found it quite enjoyable analyzing the games from the junior players—some games reminded me of the way I used to play as a kid, and others made me fascinated to see the ideas they came up with. The players were all quite involved in the analysis and I hope they were able to take something away from it. From analyzing their games, I realized I still had more to learn from the players in terms of their excitement to show off and learn from their own games.

WFM Cindy Qiao

I had doubts whether it would be worth it to analyze kids’ chess games for the whole day but those faded quickly. It was refreshing teaching and just talking to young chess players who still had so much youthful passion and energy. While there’s only so much you can teach in one game, I’d always ask: “so what did you learn from this game?”. It might not amount to much, but just maybe, that tiny bit of knowledge will help them win someday.

The whole team had so much fun analyzing and giving advice! Some teammates said they did it for the pizza but we all know deep down it was for the kids.

Derek Ma (UofT student and Varsity Chess Team 2022-2023)

It was a nice experience analyzing other players’ games. I had the chance to see many positions from openings I may or may not have been so familiar with. However as an intermediate-strength player, I definitely lacked confidence when it came to less tactical and more positional positions. From this event, I came to realize how difficult it is to teach chess.

Eric Wan (UofT student and game analyzer)

The Club would like to thank an extensive list of people who helped with the execution and operation of this year’s event possible. Firstly, a big thank-you goes to the Club’s Executive and visionaries for the event: Tanner McNamara (lead game analyst) and Victor Zheng (Tournament Director and Arbiter). Their work, alongside Crystal Cao (treasurer) and Bowen Zhang (fundraiser) helped add to the Club’s extensive list of successful events this year. As students, their commitment and dedication to the Club’s efforts while maintaining their academic journeys cannot be understated. They are unpaid, get little sleep, and push themselves and the Club to newer limits every day. We would like to thank them for their contributions.

As a student club, there are many unpaid student volunteers who take time out of their busy academic studies to create spaces for chess to grow. Their contribution was an invaluable asset to this event, and in particular, we would like to thank the following student analyzers: Derek Ma, Yunshan Li, Matthew Shih, Nicholas Vettese, Cindy Qiao, Ethan Moon, and Eric Wan.

On the side of Hart House, the Club would like to thank its supporters at the Hart House HUB, Events, Communications, and Finances Departments for supporting the Club’s efforts this year. As the 2022-2023 year rounds to an end, their help and coordination are looked upon gratefully.

Finally, we would like to thank student photographer Michael Hsu, who provided yet another array of amazing event photos. For Michael’s work, see the links below.

It’s been a great pleasure for our club to organize its first Junior Tournament in over three years. We are grateful for our many supporters,and, more than anyone else, we wish to thank all the participants and their parents for taking part in our tournament and supporting the official chess club of the students of UofT. The sold-out event is only a good sign for the state of chess in Toronto and at UofT. We hope you will join us for our first Youth Chess Championship next month. Until then!

Click on the following links to view:

• The original event post
• The photo gallery of the event
• Results of U900 Section
• Results of U1300 Section
• Results of Open Section

The “Ivy League Challenge” was an invitational Team Chess Tournament which took place at Hart House at the University of Toronto from March 24^th to March 26^th, 2023.

The tournament was organized for a 5th time (3rd time in-person) and the University of Toronto was the host. The teams playing in the tournament were: University of Toronto, University of Waterloo, Harvard University, University of Chicago, and Princeton University.

The “Ivy League Challenge” is one of the strongest University Team Competitions in North America. The rules for the “2023 Ivy League Challenge” can be accessed here. All rounds were held at the Hart House East Common Room and all games were broadcast live on the Hart House Chess Club website. A blitz tournament, the Ivy League Blitz, open to both players and non-players, happened after Round 2 on Friday, March 24th with a 3-way tie for first split between GM Andrew Tang, CM Koosha Jaferian, and FM Eilia Zomorrodian.

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A full event report is published here, written by UofT B player Ethan Moon.

First Place: University of Chicago
Second Place: Princeton University
Third Place: University of Waterloo

Board 1: GM Awonder Liang
Board 2: IM Daniel Gurevich
Board 3: FM Wesley Wang
Board 4: CM William Li

Top Game: Round 2, FM Aydin Turgut (Princeton) vs FM Wesley Wang (Harvard) (game)

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The schedule for the tournament was as follows.

Thursday March 23rd – Arrival Day

Teams arrive to Toronto.

Friday, March 24^th – Hart House East Common Room

Opening Ceremony: 9:45 AM

Round 1: 10:00 AM

Round 2: 3:30 PM

Ivy League Blitz: 8:00 PM or as soon as round 2 finishes (free entry and free pizza)

Saturday, March 25^th – Hart House East Common Room

Round 3: 10:00 AM

Round 4: 3:30 PM

Sunday, March 26^th – Hart House East Common Room

Round 5: 9:30 AM

Closing Ceremony: 2:00 PM

Teams

The 2023 Ivy League Challenge featured the following teams. In total, there were: 3 GMs, 3 IMs, 1 WIM, 1 WFM, 9 FMs, and 2 CMs.

Chicago: GM Awonder Liang, GM Praveen Balakrishnan, FM Kapil Chandran, Kole Moses
Princeton: GM Andrew Tang, IM Daniel Gurevich, FM Aydin Turgut, Sam Massick, Kyle Li
Harvard: FM Christopher Shen, FM Akira Nakada, FM Wesley Wang, James Toliver
Waterloo: IM Yuanchen Zhang, FM Ian Zhao, FM Richard Chen, CM William Li
UofT A: WIM Yunshan Li, IM Nicholas Vettese, Wenzhi Dai, Derek Ma, WFM Cindy Qiao
UofT B: IM Mark Plotkin, FM Mike Ivanov, CM Koosha Jaferian, FM Eilia Zomorrodian, Matthew Shih, Ethan Moon, Victor Zheng

Note: UofT-B replaces Yale University

Links

View the pairings and standings on chess-results: view the results

Live Games: view the games

Photos: view the photos (credits to Michael Hsu, Bowen Zhang)

Event video: view the video credits to Michael Hsu