From September 24th-25th2022, the HHCC organized its annual PanAm Qualifierto select four players to represent the University of Toronto at the Pan-American Intercollegiate Team Championships to be held next year, January 5-8 in Seattle, WA. Travel and accommodation will be covered partially by HHCC.
A record number, 37 players, competed at this year’s iteration. Congratulations to Nicholas Vettese, Tanraj Sohal, Derek Ma, and Yunshan Li for finishing in the top 4. Depending on funding, the Club may also send a second, “B”, team.
Results and Pairings
The final pairings and results can be found at the following links:
On September 23rd 2022, Grandmaster Evgeny Bareev visited the Hart House Chess Club to complete a simultaneous exhibition against 20 UofT students. Marking his first visit to the HHCC, Bareev soundly defeated all his opponents, recording a 20-0 score.
Just as numerous Grandmasters and former World Chess Championship Candidates had done before him at Hart House, Bareev played students from all levels and backgrounds. As Canada’s highest rated player, and former World Chess Championship Candidate, his visit brought lots of hype and drew crowds to watch his games.
Michel Hajjar, a 2nd Year JD student, remarked, “My game was really something, It was my first time playing with a Grandmaster, and I don’t think I’ll ever forget it.” Followed by the ominous words that every chess player knows from heart, “everything was fine until it wasn’t … my knight was in the middle of the board, I thought I was doing okay, and I felt the pressure; I had a general idea of what he wanted to do but I missed one tiny thing, and that’s when it all collapsed.”
Bareev playing Max Qian. Alongside Ahmed Khalf, HHCC Exec Board member
Bareev playing Michel Hajjar, who had dressed up with a suit and tie to give respect to the GM.
Mateo, another simul participant, and a HHCC member, explained that he learned from this experience to “play every game like your opponent isn’t rated“.
Mark Li, a first-year student, and the winner of the final board standing prize, explained, “It was tiring, it was very complex… I started off with a Sicilian, which I usually don’t play ever, but I knew that there is a variation that would be really weird to Grandmasters… that allowed for lots of complexities.” Followed by explaining that “the position was so complex that most of our pieces stayed on the board for the majority of the game. During this, I was going through hard-core defence… and the pieces weren’t ever exchanged and I made sure that it stayed that way“.
Evgeny Bareev simul at Hart House on September 23rd, 2022. He scored 20 wins, 0 draws and 0 losses.
Paul Keres simul at Hart House on May 7th, 1975. He scored 25 wins, 3 draws and 2 losses.
The Hart House Chess Club would like to thank Grandmaster Bareev and Joshua, a HHCC member, for helping facilitate this simul opportunity for the members of the Club. We hope to see Bareev again at the Club in the future. We also hope to have further simuls throughout the year.
Event recap written by Victor Zheng, HHCC Communications Representative
HHCC members deep in concentration against Grandmaster Evgeny Bareev (September 23rd, 2022)
Welcome to September and the start of a new semester! Here’s a quick run through of what we’re planning this academic year.
Casual Play Fridays
Every Friday this semester, we will be open every Friday from 4pm-11pm except for holidays. Everyone, regardless of UofT student status can drop by to play chess for FREE at the Hart House Reading Room.
Memberships:
This year, the Hart House Chess Club membership is FREE for all undergraduates and graduates of UofT. Students must register with the Hart House Hub (front-desk) to become a member. A separate non-student HHCC membership can be purchased for alumni and all other members of the community (special prices for those under 29 or over 65) at the Hart House Hub. For all info on memberships, visit our memberships page here: https://harthousechess.com/membership-benefits/
Links to the above events can be found on our upcoming events page.
Lessons:
Lessons are scheduled to begin Friday, September 30th at the HH Reading Room. Beginner lessons will be from 5-6 pm and intermediate/advanced is planned for 6 pm – 7 pm. Participants must be members of the club to join.
Event recap can be found here. Congrats to the winners and good luck in Seattle!
The Club will be holding a qualifying tournament from September 24th-25th to select four players to represent the University of Toronto at the Pan-American Intercollegiate Team Championships to be held next year, January 5-8 in Seattle, WA. Travel and accommodation will be covered partially by HHCC.
Time Control: 60 minutes + 30 seconds increment Round 1: 9:30am September 24 Round 2: 12:45pm September 24 Round 3: 4pm September 24 Round 4: 9:30am September 25 Round 5: 12:45pm September 25 Tiebreaks (if needed) 4pm September 25
Please note that this schedule is scheduled to change. Full confirmation will be sent to all registered players.
0-point-byes are in effect. Players are expected to play all rounds. Forced byes will be awarded 1/2 point.
Ratings will be used for seeding/pairing purposes but the tournament itself will not be rated with the Chess Federation of Canada.
Registration:
Participants are kindly asked to register online by Friday, September 23rd, 9:00 pm. To do that send us an e-mail at hhchess@studentorg.utoronto.ca with the following information:
Your first and last name
Your current Elo rating (CFC, FIDE, or other international rating)
No entry fee is required but all players must show up by 9:15 am Saturday morning, as registered members of the Hart House Chess Club, at the playing hall (signs will be posted in the Hart House).
Eligibility Requirements:
To participate in Pan-Am-Qualifier one must be a member of the Hart House Chess Club. The membership for 2022-2023 is FREE for all UofT students.
To participate in the Pan-Ams tournament itself you must be available to travel to Seattle, January 5th-8th, and you must meet the following requirements :
Additional Requirements:
– A $250 fee must be paid to Hart House within a week after the qualifying tournament. – Participants will be required to attend a tutorial on Safety Abroad as per UofT policy – Participants will be responsible for, and required to have valid passport, travel visa if applicable, and travel health insurance
To officially welcome back everyone to the HHCC, we’ll be hosting our annual Welcome Back Pizza Party! We hope you will join us on Friday, September 16th, 6-8pm in the Hart House Reading Room as we celebrate the start of another chess-filled year.
This is a wonderful opportunity to see your old chess friends and to meet new ones. We’ll also be sharing lots of exciting news and would love to answer any questions you might have about HHCC, so please do come by! Free pizza for all!
September is almost upon us which means the U of T campus is already bustling with both new and returning students! UTSU’s Week of Welcome is just around the corner!
The Hart House Chess Club is excited to announce that on Sept. 7th, we will return to the UTSU Clubs Carnival in order to promote our chess events and activities for the upcoming year!
Find us at our assigned table at the front of the Hart House, say hi to the friendly faces at our booth, pick up one of our flyers and play a game or two with your friends or the people of the Club! You are welcome to stop by anytime between 1 pm and 4 pm!
A raffle draw along with small chess.com merch will be available to be won!
We hope to see you there!
Treasurer Sean Lei and Joseph Bellissimo introducing visitors to Hart House Chess Club! (2019)
On Thursday, September 22nd, Hart House is throwing open its doors and inviting you to explore what its beautiful building has for you at their annual Xplore Hart House 2022 event!
To kick off the new year, Hart House invites you to explore four floors of wellness, arts and dialogue experiences. Meet new people and begin planning your social calendar for the rest of the school year!
Our Chess Club will be proudly participating in the event from 11 am to 3 pm! As soon as you enter the building, take a left at the Hart House Hub and find our tables inside the Reading Room! Come say hi, ask any questions you might have, pick up one of our beautiful leaflets, become members and play a game or two with your friends or other chess club members!
We are looking forward to seeing you at the Reading Room!
Update September 25th: The HHCC Executive Board was informed that since there was only one candidate, Bowen Zhang is now the HHCC’s Fundraiser Representative for 2022-2023. An election will not be taking place on September 30th.
Fall 2022 Club Election
Please carefully read the short election information below if you wish to exercise your right to run or vote during the Hart House Chess Club fall 2022 special election.
Interested in being a part of the executive team of the coolest Hart House Student Club? The HHCC is running an election for the vacant Fundraiser Representative position this month! A vote, (if necessary) will be held on Friday, September 30th, at 6:30PM at the Hart House Reading Room.
PositionInformation
The Fundraising Representative acts closely with the Treasurer to determine the extent and nature of the Club’s financial needs, and organizes corresponding fundraising initiatives with the assistance of other Executive members.
Electoral Process
If you are interested in serving the Hart House Chess Club as a member of the 2022/23 Club Executive in the position of Fundraising Representative, please indicate your interest in doing so before 12 noon on September 23rd, 2022 by sending an email to Ben Hahn, HHCC Alumni Chair, at bfohahn@gmail.com. Please note that interested candidates may be required to submit a brief statement of interest for circulation to the Club’s membership prior to the election. Interested candidates may also be required to give a short speech to the Club’s membership on the day of the election. The Fall election will be held in-person at 6:30 p.m. on Friday September 30th, 2022 in the Hart House Reading Room. Thank you.
Eligibility
All club members, both students and non-students, have the right to vote and to be candidates for an executive position, provided that they have been Hart House Chess Club members for at least one month by September 30th.
Contact
If you have any questions, please contact Mr. Hahn at bfohahn@gmail.com, indicating [HHCC Elections] as the subject of your e-mail.
Hart House Chess Club is an open and inclusive environment. As a positive space we welcome and encourage members of all sexes, genders, sexual orientations, ethnicities, languages, abilities, religions and creeds to participate in the student government of the club, either as members of the executive or as volunteers!
Important updates from our club this month! All events listed here are FREE!
You can find us at the Hart House Reading Room Fridays from 4 pm to 11 pm. We also have online lessons weekly on Saturdays at 12 noon on Discord.
On our HHCC chess.com team page, we are running weekly Saturday events at 8 pm. Registration opens at 7 pm each Saturday. Each weekly winner gets a 1-month chess.com Diamond Membership.
Chess.com representatives will also be coming by in September if enough NEW members join our HHCC chess.com team page. Tell your friends to join!
Chess.com is running a Bullet and Bughouse Collegiate Chess League Championship. The Bullet Championship will be from August 6 to 13. Bughouse will be from August 20 to 28. You must be a student of UofT to register for this event. Registration for the Bullet closes August 5 at 10 pm PT.
Collegiate Chess League Fall Registration is now open. The league is run on chess.com and UofT had some success last year. You must be a student of UofT to register for this event.
If you would like to keep in touch with the latest events and activities of the club, you are encouraged to join our mailing list or our Discord server.
Victor,
HHCC Co-Communications Director 2022-2023
Chess players of all abilities attended a drop-in night organized by the Hart House Chess Club.
The Hart House Chess Club returned for its first casual blitz tournament of the summer on June 17th, 2022. It was the first opportunity to meet the new Executive and catch up with old and new friends.
The HHCC Summer Blitz was the first in-person tournament at the HHCC since the 202- Reading Week Open in February 2020! The Club finally opened back its doors earlier in the month to its weekly Casual Play Friday events.
June 17, 2022 at 7PM
Registration: opens 4pm, ends 6:45 pm. (late registrants will get half point byes)
Time Control: 5/3, 6 rounds
Prizes for top 3, unrated, U2000, and top woman
Standings
Starting Rank
Name
Rating
Round 1
Round 2
Round 3
Round 4
Round 5
Round 6
Score
Prize
1
Christopher Knox
2350
1
1
1
1
0.5
1
5.5
1st – 2nd
2
Joseph Bellissimo
2276
1
1
1
1
0.5
1
5.5
1st – 2nd
3
Kit Ng
2200
1
1
1
0
0
0
3
4
Jim Zhao
2200
1
1
1
0
1
0
4
5
Wenzhi Dai
2156
1
1
0
0
1
0
3
6
Aria Payduri
1650
1
1
0
1
0
1
4
Top U2000
7
Eliot Tseng
1434
1
0
0
1
1
0
3
8
Adrian Shkumbov
1382
1
1
0
0
–
–
2
9
Isabelle Zhu
1302
1
0
1
0
0.5
1
3.5
Top Woman
10
Bowen Zhang
1250
1
0
0
1
1
1
4
11
Sean Sresnberg
1200
0
0.5
1
0
1
0
2.5
12
Maksym Woychyshyn
unr.
0
0
0
1
1
0
2
13
Chol Elijah Akol
unr.
1
0
1
1
0
1
4
Top Unrated
14
Illya Lywarev
unr.
1
0
1
0
0.5
1
3.5
15
Raeid Saqur
unr.
1
0
1
0
0
–
2
16
Evan Baltman
unr.
0
1
1
–
–
–
2
17
Aaron Hu
unr.
0
1
1
1
0
0
3
18
Vimal Simha
unr.
0
1
1
1
1
0
4
Top Unrated
19
Bradlev Northwcate
unr.
0
1
0
0
0
1 (BYE)
2
20
Andrey Jimier
unr.
0
1(BYE)
0
0
–
–
1
21
Sunghyoun Kim
unr.
0
0
1
0
1
1
3
22
Nick Jamkhou
unr.
F
–
–
–
–
–
F
23
Kirill Logoveev
unr.
0
0.5
0
1
0
0
1.5
24
Tony Lau
unr.
0
1
0
1
0
0
2
25
Nabeel Jafri
unr.
1
0
0
0
–
–
1
26
Daniel Stveiemann
unr.
1
0
0.5
–
–
–
1.5
27
Daniel Wang
unr.
0
0
0.5
1
0
1
2.5
28
Norman Fu
unr.
0
0
0
1
0
1
2
29
Jack Byembadorj
unr.
0.5
0
0
0
0
0
0.5
30
Nathaniel Yong
1281
1
1
1
0
1
1
5
Third
31
Daniel Zhao
unr.
1
0
F1
0.5
0
0
2.5
32
Artashes
unr.
0
0
0
0
1 (BYE)
–
1
33
Ben Hahn
1800
BYE (.5)
1
0
1
1
1
4.5
34
Jonathan Yu
2100
BYE (.5)
1
1
1
1
0
4.5
35
Victor Zheng
–
–
–
–
0.5
–
–
0.5
36
Edward Chang
–
–
–
–
–
b1
–
1
Congrats to all the winners! See you at our next tournament!
