On March 10th, 2023, the Hart House Chess Club hosted a simultaneous exhibition featuring the 3 strongest female chess players at U of T at the time. The tournament occurred 2 days after International Women’s Day on March 8th, 2023 and highlighted the incredible strength of women’s chess at U of T. The simul was open to all, with female chess players and young girls highly encouraged to play. Beginners and unrated players were also encouraged to participate.
We were very happy to see 20 players take part in the sold-out simul in the East Common Room. As the first ever women’s simul held at Hart House in our 127 year history, we were very happy to see such enthusiastic interest in playing in this event. The tandem simul meant that the simul players rotated after every move, making it an even tougher challenge than ever before. The final result was 18-2, with only Nathaniel Yong and Denys Melnychuk taking wins.
See below for a brief gallery from the event. Congratulations to all the players and thank you for the simul participants!
WHAT: Simultaneous exhibition featuring the 3 strongest women’s chess players at U of T.
WHO: WIM Yunshan Li, WFM Cindy Qiao, Isabelle Wang
FORMAT: The simul will be a 3-person simul, with simul players alternating moves between all boards. The exhibitors will play with white pieces from move one. No clocks will be used. Two “passes” allowed.
ENTRY FEE: FREE for members, by donation for all public/non-members.
REGISTRATION: In-person starting at 4:00 pm in the Reading Room during Casual Play. Women can email us at hhchess@studentorg.utoronto.ca to reserve their spot.
SPECIAL PRIZES: HHCC t-shirt for last board and any wins.
RATING CAP: 2000 CFC
MAXIMUM CAPACITY: 20 players
ORGANIZER: Hart House Chess Club
NOTE: chess sets and boards provided
Player bios
WIM Yunshan li
Women’s International Master Yunshan Li is a 2nd year Psychology & Anthropology student. She plays for the U of T’s Varsity Chess Team and most recently competed for the Hart House Chess Club at the 2023 PanAms in Seattle, 2023 Kasparov Chess Foundation Cup Team, 2023 Canadian University Chess Championships in Ottawa, and the 2023 Greater Toronto Chess League hosted at Hart House. She also recently competed at the 2023 Hart House Reading Week Open, finished tied 3rd in the Crown section.
Yunshan’s current CFC rating is 2407.
WFM Cindy Qiao
Women’s FIDE Master Cindy Qiao is a 2nd year Computer Science student. She plays on U of T’s Varsity Chess Team and obtained her WFM title. She has competed in the World Youth U-16 Chess Olympiad in India. This year, Cindy has competed for the Hart House Chess Club at the 2023 PanAms in Seattle, 2023 Canadian University Chess Championships in Ottawa, and the 2023 Kasparov Chess Foundation Cup Team. Cindy also recently finished tied 5th at the 2023 Hart House Reading Week U2200.
Cindy’s current CFC rating is 2073.
Isabelle Wang
Isabelle Wang is a 2nd year Life Science student. Isabelle most recently competed in the 2023 Canadian University Chess Championships scoring a perfect 5/5. She also played at the 2023 Reading Week Open and went 5/6 for second place in U1900. In Canada, she has played a total of 11 rated CFC games and recorded wins in 10/11 of the games. Isabelle has played competitive chess in China, most notably finishing 10th at the 2019 National Junior Chess Championship Female First Division.
The 2023 Hart House Reading Week Open is in just two days! A record-breaking number of players are attending this year’s tournament! For tournament details, see the original post.
All spots are now sold out. Our capacity is near the 225 mark and we do not plan on adding extra spots for this tournament. We are working on securing extra space at Hart House for future tournaments.
Equipment: Chess sets and clocks will be supplied for all rounds.
Team Prize: Team Prize details will be announced during Round 1.
Onsite registration: Due to capacity, no onsite registration is allowed.
Playing up: the current registration page reflect all players and their intended sections after playing up as of the CFC update on Feb. 15. Otherwise, players will be paired into a section based on their CFC rating for the tournament.
Spectators: Spectators and students are encouraged to come to watch the tournament!
Tournament Website: standings, pairings, photos, and more will be posted after the event.
Merchandise: HHCC merchandise will be available to purchase via our booth outside the Great Hall. More information can be found here.
CFC Ratings: All players are required to be CFC members for the tournament. We highly encourage all players to pay and renew their memberships online through the CFC website.
On March 3rd, 2023, 20 players joined the Hart House Chess Club for its 2023 Fischer Random Championship. With lightning striking and snow falling, a phenomenon very rarely seen, travelling to Hart House was treacherous and only a handful travelled from outside the University to the event. The event consisted of 6 single rounds of chess with a built in “study time” to prepare for each position. This was unlike any other event in Canada and we hoped to showcase the interesting games that arise from this incredible chess variant. Conveniently, this year’s Fischer Random Championship occurred on March, 3rd, 2023, 6 days before the birthday of Bobby Fischer himself on March 9th, 1943.
Fischer Random Chess or Chess 960 is a variant of chess, which employs the same board and pieces as standard chess, but the starting position of the pieces on the players’ home ranks is randomized. Certain restrictions apply on the randomization, preserving the dynamic nature of the game by retaining bishops of opposite colors for each player and the right to castle for both sides. The result is 960 unique possible starting positions.
In this tournament, the same starting position was used for all games of the same round of the tournament, but for every new round of the tournament, there was be a new starting position.
This year’s event started with top-seed IM Advait Patel missing because of the weather. Thus, WIM Yunshan Li and IM Nicholas Vettese entered as the top seeds. The resulting 6 rounds proved competitive, with IM Nicholas Vettese and Matthew Shih both tying for first at 5/6. However, in the ensuing playoff, IM Nicholas Vettese defeated Matthew 2-0 for first place overall. Jim Zhao took home clear third.
Young prodigy from South Korea, unrated Isaak Huh, finished tied third with WIM Yunshan Li and Yixiao Wang, who both tied for top-woman. Isaak was the only player able to take off a win against Nicholas throughout the entire event.
Top U1600 was won by Joshua Bakradze and Michael Ashcroft.
There was another strong showing by UofT’s unrated players, as almost 50% of the field was yet again unrated.
Thank you for attending this year’s event and we hope to see you out here at Hart House again!
SPECIAL PRIZES: All participants will be entered into a door prize for a HHCC t-shirt and toque.
MAXIMUM CAPACITY: 68 players
ORGANIZER: Hart House Chess Club
NOTE: chess sets and boards provided
Positions will be released via random assignment from one of the 959 different positions (we will not use the original position) at the start of each round. Players will be given 3 minutes of “study time” before the round.
On Friday, February 10th at 7:00PM, Grandmaster Razvan Preotu made a visit to the Hart House Chess Club to conduct a 15 board simul against U of T students and community members. We would like to thank GM Preotu and HHCC member Joshua Bakradze for helping in organize the event.
Members participated in the simul for FREE. Sign-up was first-come-first-serve and opened at 4:00 PM during Casual Play. Members of the public were asked to make a small donation in support of the club’s fundraising efforts.
Bio: GM Preotu, rated 2478, became Canada’s second youngest Canadian born Grandmaster in 2016 after achieving his norms at the 2014 World Open, 2014 SPICE Cup, and 2016 World Open. He achieved the minimum 2500 FIDE rating just before attending university at The University of Texas at Dallas to pursue an undergraduate degree in computer science on a chess scholarship. He is returning to Toronto after finishing a Master’s degree in Computer Science at the same university.
To learn more about Razvan Preotu, view his Wikipedia page and FIDE page.
Grandmaster Razvan Preotu at the Hart House Chess Club on Fri. Feb. 11th, 2023. He scored 14 wins and 1 loss. Moves on the board! Razvan vs 15 students and U of T community members!
The 3rd Kasparov Chess Foundation’s KCF Cup is coming up soon and we are calling all UofT students interested in representing the Club at this annual, online event!
Each player only needs to get their own eligibility (a just a letter confirming they are a current student/taking at least 1 class) before signing up. No entry fees are charged and all students are eligible. Universities send teams of 4 players and we can send a maximum of 4 teams (16 players).
First-come first-serve as we can only send one team per rating category and only up to 4 teams total. The rating categories are:
OPEN
2200-2399
2000-2199
1800-1999
U1800
A student who is enrolled in at least one class in the January 2023 semester
An official letter must be submitted which proves every player’s active status in their academic institution. This letter must be signed/stamped by the registrar or similar office – this must be uploaded through the official website. (UofT students can upload a Proof of Enrolment found on Acorn.)
Academic faculty and staff (other than TAs and student workers) are not allowed to participate.
REGISTRATION: Register online via our Google Formbefore Feb. 1st at 11:59 pm. Please ensure that you either upload the official letter from your registrar via this form or via email before this deadline.
PRIZES: First place will receive an online team training session with Garry Kasparov. Plaques to top three teams in overall standings and to top teams in all divisional sections. Top Mixed Doubles team and top team per FIDE continent.
ORGANIZERS: US Chess, KCF, and IA Aris Marghetis as arbiter
Schedule
All times are in Eastern Time.
Confirmed students will be contacted via email for further instructions. For reference, see FIDE’s post on the 2021 KCF Cup. We hope to see our members ready to showcase our skills and take on the world!
From January 5th – 9th, 2023, eight UofT students travelled over 3316 kilometers to Seattle, Washington, USA, for the annual Pan American Intercollegiate Chess Championship, the pinnacle of international collegiate chess. Dubbed the “World Series of College Chess”, the Club had fundraised and fielded teams to the tournament every year between 1965, the year the Club first won it all, and 2019. The storied championship pits the best collegiate chess teams against one another from the North and South Americas. The Hart House Chess Club, representing the University of Toronto, had won the championship 6 times, the most from any non-American school.
Here is Communications Representative and 2nd year CS undergrad Victor Zheng’s report on this year’s Pan Am competition!
For the PanAms this year, I wasn’t even supposed to go! After a gruelling Pan Am qualifier, we had selected a team of 8 students including FM Eilia Zomorrodian. However, visa troubles resulted in myself being invited as the 9th finisher at the qualifiers. As the organizer of our team, it was easy for me to quickly fill out all the waivers and forms before quickly pivoting to physically join the team in Seattle.
This year’s team consisted of 8 student members of the Club who had participating in the annual Pan Am Qualifier tournament in September. Our A team consisted of International Master Nicholas Vettese, followed by Women’s International Master Yunshan Li, and FIDE Master Tanraj Sohal. Wenzhi Dai rounded out UofT Team A. Team Captain was President of the Club, Tanner McNamara.
Team A: Nicholas Vettese, Yunshan Li, Tanraj Sohal, Wenzhi Dai
Team B: Matthew Shih, Derek Ma, Cindy Qiao, Victor Zheng
This year, we fundraised for hoodies for the entire team so that we could look like a team! Team members from left to right: Tanner McNamara (coach), Nicholas Vettese, Victor Zheng (me), Matthew Shih, Tanraj Sohal, Derek Ma, Yunshan Li, Cindy Qiao, Wenzhi Dai.
The trip actually was interesting because this year’s PanAms was in January 2023. Historically, the event was hosted in late December. Additionally, the tournament would be held in Seattle, almost the definition of being on the other side of the continent. Thus, a bunch of us were in Vancouver and simply took a short flight or train down.
As someone who had lived in Vancouver for much of my life, I hadn’t visited The Emerald City in a while – the last time was when I was a little kid. As customary, we arrived a day early to acclimate to the weather and the surroundings. I had some time to spare so I checked out Lumen Field and T-Mobile Park. As the Seahawks were in the playoff race, I saw a lot of people saying “Go Hawks” alongside many jerseys and Seahawks merchandise on my trip. I wound my way North through Seattle’s waterfront and eventually to Pike Place Market. I must say that this market is unlike anything I’ve every been to in Canada – the most similar place I can think of is Byward Market in Ottawa.
This year’s competition was held at The Westin Seattle, a quite large and beautiful hotel (let alone expensive!). I wonder what the other patrons were thinking as they saw some college kids wearing hoodies with chess?! By the time the rest of our team arrived, I had already walked much of the Seattle Downtown core and visited some of the biggest landmarks.
When the rest of the team finally arrived and we headed out to a local pub for some food. Tanner, somewhat familiar with Seattle, was our official food guide (alongside his other roles as coach, team captain, and “food deliverer”). He brought us to an Irish (or maybe English) pub that tried to have too much on their menu. Yunshan and Cindy both got a soup that tasted “disgusting” and “sour”?! While Derek got a soup that they explained “was our first time making it”. Thanks Tanner!
The next day, to adjust with the time difference, a lot of us woke up early. Tanner handed in our waivers/forms and we went out to get lunch at Pike Place Market. Tanraj, who is a diehard chess player, was already studying his openings and headed out to Subway instead. After circling the market and surrounding area, Tanner exclaimed “let’s get some food”! We eventually settled on the Pike Place Chowder, nicknamed the best chowder in America – this was much better than the night before.
We then headed down to the Seattle waterfront to check out the Ferris Wheel. As none of us were interested in doling out $12 for a ride, we found a much cheaper attraction – feeding seagulls. Yunshan, who had found some extra energy from her better tasting meal, brought some extra bread from the market and we all took turns feeding the birds. Eventually, we started to head back to prepare for Round 1 only to be stopped by a special little shop. As we took a shortcut through Westlake Mall, we found ourselves outside a candy store. Our entire Team A decided that it’d be a good idea to buy candy for the day – Nicholas and Yunshan filling up bagful’s of chocolate and candies before Nicholas explained to me that chocolate keeps him awake and makes him play better. The rest of us (the entire Team B) stood awkwardly as they purchased their candies.
Tanner, our tour guide, brought us to the famous Space Needle.
Feeding seagulls out near the ferris wheel!
As one of the leaders of our delegation, Tanner and I headed to the captain/coaches meeting to learn more about the rules of the competition. The rules for the tournament would be quite straightforward, nothing different than what I expected. However, I made sure to ask if players were allowed to eat snacks while playing since we had just visited the candy store! They said yes!
Right before Round 1, we did a little team pep talk inside Tanner’s room. For some reason, Nicholas, not realizing that Red Bull was sponsoring the event, had spent $4 on a Red Bull! There were caseloads and plenty of Red Bull everywhere for anyone interested. I actually found that it was easier to find RedBull than water inside the playing hall. Tanner, meanwhile, kept on telling everyone that he was on his “sixth cup of coffee”.
In Round 1, our A team played UC Santa Cruz – Team A. This round was closer than probably what we wanted, as it came down to Yunshan’s draw to pull off the 2.5-1.5 win. Nicholas lass was against a strong International Master, Jack Zhu, who finished an astonishing 5.5/6. Team B played against Texas Tech University Team A, who had 3 Grandmasters since their board 4 had visa problems and couldn’t make it. Matthew’s game against their top-GM turned out to be the closest of the GM games, as they traded off into an unbalanced middlegame with chances for both sides. An unbelievable Qh4 on move 40 would’ve held a draw. We ended up losing 1-3.
Cindy Qiao and Derek Ma (UofT B) play in Round 1 against Texas Tech University A
Yunshan Li (UofT A) competes against UC Santa Cruz in Round 1.
In Round 2, our A team was paired with University of Texas at Dallas – Team B. On paper, their team outranked us on every board, and had an average rating of 2520! However, spirited performances from Tanraj, Yunshan, and Nicholas resulted in draws. And in the decisive game, Wenzhi played amazing to win and give UofT the 2.5-1.5 win and a 2-0 start to the tournament. This win was really special because it was an upset against a scholarship chess school – something that rarely happens in today’s game.
Wenzhi Dai (White) beat IM Saksham Rautela after black’s 47. Bc4 blunder.
Team B faced off against Baylor University’s Team A, a team that on paper, we should’ve beaten easily. However, after Derek and I won, we held our breath as Matthew faced an excruciating position. Completely lost at one point, his opponent had options to trade down and mate with a rook (there were literally no other pieces). However, he made a mistake and Matthew drew a rook vs queen endgame. This game, that lasted until nearly 3 pm (5 hours), was the last game of the round and gave UofT B an important, confidence boosting win.
Round 3 was the most interesting round of the tournament as it saw our A team take on the University of Missouri Team B. On paper, this scholarship-school outranked us again by a healthy margin, with an average rating of 2432! The round started out strong with Wenzhi continuing his unbeaten streak with a quick draw against Salah. Yunshan absolutely crushed her opponent, IM Josiah Stearman as well, after winning the e-pawn and simply pushing it down the board.
IM Josiah Stearman vs WIM Yunshan Li
IM Nicholas Vettese missed a drawing move, Nh2 against GM Luka Budisavljevic. A draw would’ve given UofT the win!
With two games to go, the live broadcast on Chess.com featuring GM Daniel Naroditsky panned to this match. Tanraj, who was under pressure the entire game (and possibly losing), pulled off the draw right as they showed the game. He was in fact winning a few moves before on move 43. In the game between IM Nicholas Vettese and GM Luka Budisavljevic, Naroditsky and GM Jeffery Xiong called it a draw before saying “Salah is Mizzou’s only hope“, even after their game had finished long ago. However, Nicholas, in the aforementioned drawn position, was unfortunately unable to hold the draw. The score ended drawn at 2-2. Once again, we showed how a Canadian school like ours still had the talent to go up against the likes of a world-renowned scholarship school.
Our Team B played against the University of Pennsylvania Team A and saw myself and Matthew pull off draws. Unfortunately that was all that we could muster as we succumbed 3-1.
Tanraj, who was somehow not tired from this long day of chess, decided to sign up with Cindy for the Seattle New Year’s Blitz. Cindy declared “I’ve gotten get some wins!”. Tanraj played amazingly and only lost to GM Andrew Tang, the winner, in the final round.
Wenzhi Dai and Tanraj Sohal (UofT A) take on Mizzou’s B Team.
FM Tanraj Sohal (UofT A) took on Princeton’s GM Andrew Tang in Round 7 of blitz. Tang won and finished first with 7/7. Tanraj finished with 5.5/7.
Round 4 saw UofT in the top-10, and facing off against another favourite, the University of Texas at Rio Grande Valley Team B. Although this was their “B team”, they were still an average rating of 2436 (for context, our B team was average of 2058). These games didn’t go great for our team, and Wenzhi ended up as the only one to score a solid draw against IM Victor Rodriguez Garcia. Team B also didn’t fare excellently in this round, with a 3-1 defeat against the Georgia Institute of Technology Team A.
UofT A takes on University of Texas at Dallas-B in Round 2.
UofT A’s Yunshan and Nicholas play Princeton University in Round 5.
Round 5 saw UofT A take on a Princeton A team led by GM Andrew Tang. The Andrew Tang, who had participating in our 2019 Ivy League Challenge. Wenzhi and Nicholas both loss, but Yunshan’s win alongside Tanraj’s win against FM Aydin Turgut gave us the tie! Our B-team faced off against the University of Utah Team A and saw our close matches continue but still fall in a 2.5-1.5 loss.
FM Tanraj Sohal (2326) played 33. Nb4 against FM Aydin Turgut (2411), simplifying for the decisive win.
Team Pizza after Round 5!
We stopped by the giant teddy bear and took some photos!
Going into the final day of competition, we went in much relaxed, knowing that we had tried our best. We took this mindset against Yale University A, a team led by GM Nicholas Checa. As the second Ivy League team we had in a row, this final match turned out to be a slugfest with 3 draws and only the battle of the Nicholas’ finishing with a loss. The final score was a 1.5-2.5 loss. As for the B Team, we finally pulled of a second win against Texas Tech’s B Team – a full circle after losing in Round 1 to their A team.
The final score for UofT Team A was 3-points, finishing with 2 wins, 2 draws, and 2 losses. As we had started out with 2.5/3, this obviously was a disappointing finish, but the A team should be proud to say that they went up against 3 scholarship schools and 2 Ivy League schools. UofT Team A was awarded the Best International Team prize for their efforts.
The final score for UofT Team B was 2.0 points, finishing with 2 wins and 4 losses. These losses were in very tight matches and not many blowouts, so we should be proud of our efforts.
UofT’s A Team at the 2023 PanAms in Seattle
UofT’s B Team at the 2023 PanAms in Seattle.
Congratulations to the winners, in particular, Webster University A for taking home the top prize. Also big shoutout to Harvard, Yale, UChicago, and Princeton for finishing well – we look forward to hosting the Ivy League Challenge in March with you!
On behalf of the players and the Club, I would like to thank its many supporters for making this event possible this year and throughout the years. Since the beginning of the PanAms, we have been able to send a team of students to take on the world and represent Hart House, the University of Toronto, and Canada on the international stage. The Club’s hundreds of supporters are the attendees of our annual events – allowing us to fund and lower the cost of sending teams to these prestigious competitions.
Some all-important bughouse to wind down. And for Nicholas to “gets some wins” :)!
I shot this picture of our A team accepting the Best International Team award
As I look back on this trip, I only remember the good times that we had as a team. It goes without saying that these events create lasting memories for those who are privileged to represent the Hart House Chess Club on the international stage. As the youngest person on our team, I have learned a lot about others in the conversations that we’ve had over lunches and dinners. I know that all of us will look back fondly on this experience.
As always, thank you to Cynthia Nevins, Mauro Barillas, Jamie St Amand, and Sako Khederlarian at Hart House for their assistance in making arrangements. A very big shoutout goes to my colleagues on the Executive Board, led this year by Tanner McNamara. We initially only budgeted to send one team, but our enormous fundraising efforts have enabled us to send two teams across the continent. And finally, thank you to my teammates: Derek, Cindy, Matthew, Yunshan, Nicholas, Wenzhi, and Tanraj for making this such a fun trip!
We are very happy to report on the conclusion of the 2023 Winter Semester Lecture series hosted by Sahan Karunaratne and Matthew Shih. Sahan’s lessons covered everything from the fundamentals, to tactics, to chess principles, strategy, and much more. Students and community members of all ages gathered weekly to indulge in Sahan’s excellent teaching style and learn from his experience. As Sahan is graduating this year, we would like to thank him for his continued support and relationship with the Club for the last half-decade.
Matthew Shih’s intermediate lessons earned high praise from attendees. The Club’s members were very impressed with Matthew’s teaching style, planning and execution of class concepts. We are very happy to see a Varsity Team member teach lessons, and we hope to continue to see Matthew grow his chess potential at UofT in the next few years.
A decision regarding Summer 2023 lessons, if any, will be made sometime in late April with the next Executive. In the meantime, check out our Upcoming Events section for news and updates from the Club.
Please see below for the original posting:
It’s a new semester, which means lessons are starting up again! For 10-weeks, the Club is hosting free lessons for all members of the Club. Students can become members for free. Non-members are asked to provide a small donation for each lesson.
Winter semester lessons begin January 20th, 2023 and extend until March 31st, 2023! No classes scheduled during reading week. 10-weeks of free chess classes for all members! Students can get their free membership and show up day-of! No need to commit to all lessons – you can show up to one, some, or all of them!
Beginner Lessons: Fridays, 5:00 PM to 6:00 PM will be taught by Sahan Karunaratne (CFC: 1495). Sahan is an experienced coach with years of experience coaching beginners on playing chess! Come join Sahan and have fun learning chess!
Intermediates/Advanced Lessons: Fridays, 6:00 PM – 7:00 PM will be taught by Matthew Shih (CFC: 2161). Matthew has coached numerous students and is now at UofT pursuing a PHD in Musicology. Rated 2161 CFC, he brings both Varsity Chess Team experience and over a decade of tournament experience to help you improve your game.
For all details on lessons, please visit our main Lessons page. See you there!
The Club invites new to tournament players, especially those playing at CUCC the opportunity to prepare for this tournament with an in-person tournament involving slower games and notation.
This tournament is intended to prepare HHCC members for the 2023 CUCC held from Jan. 27th – Jan. 29th at the University of Ottawa. Beginners are encouraged to also attend this tournament following our Beginner Lessons.
FORMAT AND EVENT DETAILS:
WHAT: 3 round swiss rapid tournament starting after Beginner Lessons. Those attending intermediate lessons can attend the 2nd round.
WHO: anyone interested in playing slower time games
WHERE: Burwash Room, Hart House, University of Toronto
FORMAT: Game in 25 minutes + 10 second increment from move 1.
ROUND TIMES: 6:10 pm, 7:20pm, 8:30pm.
REGISTRATION: FREE for all members. $5 for non-members. Register by 6:00 pm.
NOTATION: Players are encouraged to use notation for this tournament.
The Hart House Spring Junior Open is back this year and is open to anyone born in 2005 or later! The tournament is an opportunity for up and coming juniors to play other juniors and utilize free onsite expert-analysis from some of UofT’s top chess players.
With three sections for all skill levels, this is the perfect opportunity to bring families and young children to their first chess tournament. It is also a great opportunity to meet some of UofT’s best chess players and explore Hart House and the University of Toronto. We look forward to welcoming families and young chess enthusiasts to the magnificent Debates Room on March 18th.
Where: Debates Room, Hart House, University of Toronto When: Saturday, March 18th, 2023 Rounds: 9:30 am, 11:30 am, (lunch), 1:30 pm, 3:30 pm (Game Analysis available 9:30 – 5:30) Award Ceremony: 6:00 pm or ASAP after round 4. Style: 4Round Swiss in 3 Rating Sections: Open, U1300, and U900. Time Control: 45 minutes plus 15 seconds per move from move 1, for all sections. Rating: Both sections will be CFC Classical Rated (Chess Federation of Canada). Byes: Maximum 1 half-point byes in rounds 1-3, if requested in advance before the start of Round 1. Prizes:Trophies for top three finishers and top female player of each section. Entry Fee: $40 for online registrations before midnight March 16th. Arbiters: Hart House Chess Club Organizer: Hart House Chess Club Game Analysis: Free expert-level analysis will be provided by UofT’s Varsity Chess Team (see below). DGT Boards: DGT boards will be used for top 12 boards to aid in game analysis. E-mail:hhchess@studentorg.utoronto.ca
Other Info: Chess sets and clocks will be provided
CFC Memberships: Registrants do not need CFC memberships as this is a juniors-only tournament with time controls. Rating fees will be covered by HHCC. Unrated players will get a CFC Regular Rating after this tournament and are welcome and encouraged to play!
Parents: WiFi will be provided and you can use rooms such as the Reading Room, Library, Map Room, or Burwash Room (skittles/analysis room) while waiting for games to finish.
Coffee, snacks, and light refreshments will be provided for parents and players.
Withdrawals: Full refund by March 10, Refunds from March 11to close of online registrations are charged $10 fee.
Registration: TOURNAMENT SOLD OUT – WAITLISTS ARE OPEN – see HHYCC for our next junior event
All players must have been born on or after year 2005. Tournament is for juniors 18 and under.
Online registration is recommended and available until March 16th at 11:59pm. Telephone and in-person registration also available through the Hart House HUB. You can join the waitlist to be informed of any openings.
Registrants after March 17th must pay on-site entry fee ($50). Extra $10 to play up a section. Playing up is allowed only for players within 100 rating points of the section’s minimum rating. The $10 added play up fee is charged in-person. For example: a player in the Under 900 section who wants to play up in the Under 1300 section must have a rating no lower than 800.
The tournament will admit up to ~70 participants.
Photography:
HHCC will aim to provide an official photographer for this event. See HHCC Holidays Open for examples of our tournament photos.
Game Analysis:
Game analysis will be provided by UofT’s Varsity Chess Team and other strong players after each round in the Burwash Room and Committees Room. All players are encouraged to record their moves and show them to HHCC player’s for their feedback and learn from their games. The Club will also utilize its storage of DGT Boards with move tracking to aid in the Varsity Team’s analysis and provide real-time analysis immediately following games.
The following are players pre-registered as of March 17th. If there are any corrections, please let us know via email to hhchess@studentorg.utoronto.ca.
On March 24, 2023, the 2023 Ivy League Blitz Tournament was held at Hart House during the 5th Ivy League Challenge. Open to all, this 7-round unrated Swiss event featured $400 in prizes.
Top-seed was GM Andrew Tang, followed by WIM Yunshan Li, CM Koosha Jaferian, and IM Nicholas Vettese. The tournament went smoothly, with 41 players signing up for the 7 round event. GM Andrew Tang took a commanding lead and didn’t drop a point, to finish 6/6 before his final round bye. The final result was a 3-way tie for first between GM Tang, CM Jaferian, and FM Zomorrodian at 6 points.
The top-woman prize was won by WIM Yunshan Li and WFM Cindy Qiao, who had 4.5/7. IM Nicholas Vettese finished 4th with 5/7.
Jeremy Peters finished with top-U1900 with 4/7. Joshua Bakradze finished top-U1400 with 4/7 as well. Finally, the top-unrated prize was split between Yukuan Zou, Daniel Rokharget, and Ivan Ovchinnikov.
Thank you to everyone for coming out and having such a fun time! Thank you to the event organization conducted by Victor Zheng and Bowen Zhang.
WHAT: 7-round single-round Blitz Event (Swiss), using a 3 minute + 2 second time control.
RATED: Unrated
ENTRY FEE: $5 for members, $10 for non-members, free for FMs at least 1 week before. Free for Ivy League Challenge participants. Pay online via registration page by midnight Mar. 23rd or onsite with cash before 7:45pm (if space permits).
PRIZE FUND: Minimum $400 as follows: 1st place – $115; 2nd place – $75; 3rd place – $50; Top Woman – $40; Top U1900 – $40; Top U1400 – $40.
SPECIAL PRIZES: All participants will be entered into a door prize for a HHCC hoodie, t-shirt, and toque.
PIZZA: FREE PIZZA for everyone served at ~7:15 PM. RSVP online here.
Hart House Chess Club 