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!
Isaak Huh takes on Ethan Moon and Ande Li takes on Derek MaExecs Isabelle and Bowen CM Koosha vs NM Zhao
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.
Ethan Moon a long-time member of the Hart House Chess Club shares his point of view of playing for UofT’s Team B at the 5th Ivy League Challenge.
This year marks my 6th year at UofT, and my 6th year at the Hart House Chess Club. I still remember walking into the reading room for the first time in September of 2017, a space that was filled with a very different crowd of people compared to now. From that day on I made new friends, and watched novices to masters come and go. Since 2017, I wanted to represent UofT at a team event and I have gotten to do that multiple times, but one that I really wanted to take part in was the “Ivy league Challenge”, where I can play some of the strongest schools in North America.
Ethan Moon in 2017 vs Ethan Moon in 2023, how times have changed!
The Ivy League Challenge was founded in 2018 by Panos Tsialas, a former executive of the club, and a person that spreads positivity and good vibes in general. In his words:
“As many innovative projects, the inaugural Ivy League Challenge was born out of economic necessity. In 2018, the PanAms had been scheduled to take place in San Francisco, which made the cost for the participation of a second UofT team prohibitive. In an attempt to think creatively, the club executives came up with the idea to host an international, intercollegiate chess tournament in Toronto. We extended invitations to four Universities of the North East, whose teams were stacked with strong players. The geographic proximity made travel arrangements economical and convenient. It was a unique opportunity for competitive team chess practice in anticipation of the PanAms. In the end, the event left us all so pleased, that we decided to continue it in the following year. If I could share one hope for the future, that would be to see the event become more universal; this will happen when the role of the host starts rotating among various Universities.”
Since then there have been 4 Ivy League Challenges, and the for the last 2 years the tournament had been held online. There have been really strong players that have taken part in this event, and this year did not disappoint. Harvard, Princeton, Chicago, Waterloo, and UofT brought some notable names in the field, including Grandmasters, Awonder Liang (Chicago), Praveen Balakrishnan (Chicago), and Andrew Tang (Princeton). The other team compositions can be found here.
GM Awonder Liang
GM Praveen Balakrishnan
GM Andrew Tang
“UofT A” featured varsity players identical to their winning GTCL lineup, along with WFM Cindy Qiao as an alternate.
From left to right: Derek Ma, IM Nicholas Vettese, WIM Yunshan Li, Dai Wenzhi, and WFM Cindy Qiao
Meanwhile, UofT B was formed due to Yale pulling out, and a mixed bag of undergraduates, graduates, and alumni were recruited.
Seven players in different levels in academia would piece together Team B!
Round 1
The first round was delayed due to a late opening ceremony. The players shook hands and started their clocks. Our team, UofT B, was against a very strong Princeton.
I managed to win against my opponent Kyle Li (FIDE 1777) with not much difficulty. despite the engine indicating I played anything but a smooth game. However, Mark lost to GM Andrew Tang and Matthew had lost to FM Aydin Turgut. Despite being a pawn down in the endgame, Mike held a very comfortable draw with IM Daniel Gurvich.
Although we lost to Princeton 2.5-1.5 I thought that we made the match competitive despite our first 3 boards being completely outmatched on paper.
UofT A faired a bit better in round one drawing the top seed in the event, University of Chicago, with Derek Ma (2200 CFC) managing to beat FM Kapil Chandran and Nicholas Vettesse beating GM Praveen Balakrishan with black!
Derek Ma (left) and IM Nicholas Vetesse (right) managed to beat their respective opponents securing a draw against Chicago.
Round 2
After lunch, Round 2 featured an in-house UofT match, with teams A and B battling it out. This round featured weakest possible iteration of Team B (Elia, Matthew, Me, and Victor) meaning we were outmatched on all boards. However despite this, Victor defeated WFM Cindy Qiao and Matthew managed to draw. My opponent Dai Wenzhi, a very strong player (CFC 2224), beat me at the Pan-Am qualifiers last year, so it was a joy to even out the score. The match ended in favor of us 2.5-1.5.
Ethan Moon vs Dai Wenzhi (Photo: Bowen Zhang)
There are 2 winning moves for white that I missed after 25. ..Bxf5, can you spot both?
The game of the tournament was also played during this round between FM Aydin Turgot and FM Wesley Wang , which I have lightly annotated here.
After the really stressful match against UofT A, despite my better judgment I decided to play in the blitz tournament. With many of the masters from the Ivy league challenge playing, It was going to be a difficult field. In round 2 I faced off against GM Andrew Tang, who I defeated in a clinical endgame grind.
Ethan, in fact did not beat Andrew and went on to get dismantled in the opening and resigned before move 20
Since many strong players were recruited for Team B, I was to be subbed out for the rest of the tournament, and I planned to play in the Aurora Open. However, a poor performance of 0/3 in the first 3 rounds prompted me to withdraw. I would later replace Victor on Sunday
Round 3
On Saturday, the UofT B was matched up with the University of Chicago, and unfortunately despite having a very strong lineup (FM Mike Ivanov, CM Koosha Jaferian, FM Eilia Zomorrodian, and Matthew Shih) they lost 3 to 1.
CM Koosha Jafaerian vs GM Praveen Balakrishnan (foreground) and FM Mike Ivanov vs GM Awonder Liang(background). Unfortunately, they would both lose their games. (Photo: Michael Hsu)
This round also featured UofT A vs Waterloo. This was nearly the identical to their match at CUCC with Dai Wenzhi replacing FM Eilia Zomorrodian. UofT A also played some switcheroo with Yunshan and Nicholas flipping board orders! This time around, UofT A managed to get the better of Waterloo 2.5-1.5, with IM Nicholas Vettesse giving the only decisive result against FM Ian Zhao.
UofT A gets revenge on Waterloo after their loss at the Canadian University Chess Championships (Photo: Michael Hsu)
Round 4
This was a very unfortunate round for both UofT teams.
UofT A vs Princeton was the only match in the tournament that resulted in a clean sweep (Princeton won 4-0). UofT B was paired against Harvard and almost met the same fate, however Matthew Shih again saved the B team from getting swept for the second time that day.
Matthew Shih was the hero of Team B saving them from getting swept twice on Saturday! (Photo: Michael Hsu)
Round 5
I returned on Sunday to play the last round of the Ivy League challenge, against my good friend CM William Li.
Me and William have known each other for 5 years, meeting for the first time at a Hart House Tournament. Since then we have played thousands of games online and over the board, but never a classical game. To my surprise, in this game he decided to deviate from opening theory very quickly.
William Li (White) vs Ethan Moon (Black)
In this position I missed Nc5! which would trap the queen after Qxa8 Nb6!
Unfortunately, after a series of miscalculations I lost, despite holding for most of the game. CM Koosha Jafarian took a quick draw is IM Yuanchen Zhang, and FM Eilia Zomorrodian drew with Ian Zhao. This resulted in our team losing the match 3-1. This result would propel Waterloo to a 3rd place finish over Harvard.
The final round also determined which team would win the tournament with both Princeton (3.5/4) and Chicago (3/4) facing off.
The match that determined who won the Ivy League Challenge! (Photo: Bowen Zhang)
In the end it was University of Chicago that would prevail beating Princeton 2.5-1.5. GM Awonder Liang (FIDE 2643), outclassed GM Andrew Tang (FIDE 2522). Awonder would finish with the only perfect score of 5/5 and enter the FIDE top-100 rating list for the very first time following the tournament.
Closing Ceremony
After round 5, awards were handed out beginning with the best individual performance on each board. Congratulations to these players! A GM-IM-FM-CM parade on the top boards!
Board 1: GM Awonder Liang
Board 2: IM Daniel Gurevich
Board 3: FM Wesley Wang
Board 4: CM William Li
Then, the top 3 teams were called on. Waterloo finished 3rd, Princeton 2nd, and Chicago finished first. Although it wasn’t too surprising as they were the top seed, I think any team could have held that trophy.
Coming in third place was the University of Waterloo! FLTR: Ian Zhao, Richard Chen, William Li, Yuanchen Zhang (Photo: Michael Hsu)Princeton University took second! FLTR: Tanner McNamara (TD), Aydin Turgut, Sam Massick, Andrew Tang, Daniel Gurevich (Photo: Michael Hsu)Finally, in first place, the University of Chicago! FLTR: Tanner McNamara (TD), Kapil Chandran, Kole Moses,Praveen Balakrishnan, Awonder Liang,. Victor Zheng (TD) (Photo: Michael Hsu)
Closing Thoughts
First off, I would like to thank Tanner McMamara, Victor Zheng, and Alex Ferreira for organizing the event. It takes a lot of effort to keep the tournament running smoothly and they did a terrific job! Also a props goes out to the rest of the 2023/24 Executive Board consisting of Crystal Cao, Bowen Zhang, and Ahmed Khalf. I would also like to thank Hart House for their sustained support of the Chess Club throughout my time at UofT.
Victor Zheng (Left) and Tanner McNamara (Right)
Alex Ferreira
Overall, I had a lot of fun playing and getting to be a part of a tournament with such strong players. I hope to be back next year and help our team place higher.
I look back when I took my first steps in the Reading Room, and see how chess has changed my life. As I start my four more years at UofT, I look forward to see where it takes me!
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…
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.
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.
IM Nicholas Vettese providing game analysis
Victor Zheng, Tournament Director
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.
Bryan Liang and Lucas Zhang
Quentin Ma vs Bhargav Ram Bummadi
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
Matthew Shih, UofT’s Varsity Chess TeamTanner McNamara (Club President) and 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)
Kailey LiuJacob FischerIsaak Huh
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)
Eric Wan (UofT student and CUCC player), analyzes games
Ethan Moon, UofT student and CUCC player, helps analyzes games.
WIM Yunshan Li helps analyze games with players at Hart House
The trophies
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, EthanMoon, 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!
The “Ivy League Challenge” was an invitational Team Chess Tournament which took place at Hart House at the University of Toronto from March 24th to March 26th, 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.
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)
The schedule for the tournament was as follows.
Thursday March 23rd – Arrival Day
Teams arrive to Toronto.
Friday, March 24th – 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 25th– Hart House East Common Room
Round 3: 10:00 AM
Round 4: 3:30 PM
Sunday, March 26th – 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
On March 31st, 2023, a special lecture by International Master Nicholas Vettese was held at the Hart House Bickersteth Room, where Nicholas lectured on the most important ideas in the well-known book on positional play, How To Reassess Your Chess. At the time, Nicholas was one of Canada’s youngest International Masters and in his first-year at UofT. He had recently conducted an interview with the University, which was found here.
This event was open to all members of the Hart House Chess Club. The lecture will be an hour, including a Q and A session.
Derek Ma – part of UofT’s Varsity Chess Team and a 3rd year EngSci Undergrad – will report on this year’s CUCC! Inspired by Victor’s article on the 2023 PanAmerican Intercollegiate Chess Championship, he will bring his take on the experience playing as board 4 of Team A.
There’s this question that has been bothering me recently: “What does chess mean to me?”. Some might consider it a simple pass-time, others a competitive hobby, but many see chess as something that bit more special. It’s a game that has defined my life yet I struggle to reason why I put myself through the mental torture sometimes. So to the 140 players who played in this year’s CUCC and others alike, I ask, why chess?
From January 27th – 29th, five UofT teams, each consisting of four members, travelled to Ottawa to compete in the annual Canadian University Chess Championship (CUCC). The Hart House Chess Club, representing the University of Toronto, is proud to have fielded some of the school’s finest chess players. Within two days of gruelling chess, five matches were played by each team to determine which University would be crowned as national champion. Traditionally, only Ontario and Quebec teams would compete, but this year’s rendition included more countrywide participation with the Universities of Manitoba and Alberta fighting for the title. Being the first CUCC to be held in person since 2020, the 2023 CUCC proved to be one of plot-twists, spectacular blunders, and a proving ground for a new generation of chess talent.
UofT is traditionally a chess powerhouse within the Canadian chess scene. With COVID putting a hiatus to in-person competitions, this year’s CUCC teams fielded many fresh faces. UofT A ranked second in terms of average rating at 2321, only slightly behind Waterloo A’s 2361. Everyone expected the clash between the two titan teams to be the decisive game as third ranked Waterloo B could only muster a team of rating 2052. The full lineups for all the teams can be found here.
UofT Team A: IM Nicholas Vettese, WIM Yunshan Li, FM Eilia Zomorrodian, Derek Ma
With the last minute withdrawal of NM Joseph Bellisimo, UofT A board 4 would have to settle with an untitled player (me). Unrated Nick Pestov moved up to Team B to plug in my departure, shoutout to him for having an excellent first CFC tournament!
UofT Team B: WFM Cindy Qiao, Victor Zheng, Ethan Moon, Nick Pestov
Three UofT teams also participated in the reserve section (for teams under 1800 in average CFC rating). These teams were mostly composed of beginner to intermediate chess enthusiasts who were not as seasoned as our veteran players. Although I will be mostly focusing on the championship teams, they nonetheless proudly competed for UofT and fought hard in every match!
The first round of any chess tournament can always be a bit nerve-racking. You never know what to expect going in, but once the clocks are started, you set aside your thoughts and focus on the board. As the game progresses, doubts begin to surface. Did my opponent prep for me? Is my position actually ok? What if I lose? As a friend once told me, chess is just as much psychology as it is game.
With this in mind, our first round pairing (team A) was against Queens University, a team that we outranked by 400 points on average. Being heavy favourites comes with its own unique challenges when playing, nonetheless, we were confident of nothing other than victory. There comes, however, the intersection between confidence and pride – a dangerous crossroad to reach. Although we did manage to defeat Queens with a score of 2.5 – 1.5, the final score warned us that any one of these teams are capable of upsets. Eilia was also warned that factoring polynomials on his scoresheet during his games is unadvised. Our B team faired better, crushing Carleton 3.5 – 0.5 on their first round.
UofT A Round 1 Against Queens AUofT E Round 1 Against Waterloo C
For those who haven’t played chess tournaments before, it is hard to emphasize just how exhausting they can be. The endless calculation of a 3 – 4 hour game takes a toll on your mind no doubt. It is essential that players learn to manage their mental fatigue to be competitive. Former world champions would even include exercise in their training regimen to maximize their stamina at the board! At CUCC 2023, the scheduling was particularly brutal – three 90 | 30 games on the 28th and two more on the 29th.
Round 2 paired UofT A against Université de Montreal A and UofT B against Waterloo B – both tough opponents! Even though Eilia and I secured victories on boards 3 and 4, Nicholas and Yunshan both came out worse from the middle game and lost their respective endgames, ending our match against UdeM in a 2.0 – 2.0 draw. Had we won this match, an anticipated showdown with Waterloo A would have occurred in round 3. UofT B didn’t fair much better with a narrow defeat to Waterloo B 1.5 – 2.5.
UofT B playing against Waterloo B round 2, they would unfortunately lose 1.5 – 2.5 despite their efforts.
After our disappointing results in the previous rounds, UofT A was determined to close the day on a bright note with Yunshan being especially adamant about playing a good game that round. UofT A was paired against McMaster A – a strong team with Eugene Hua (2349) and Jeffrey Xu (2263) leading their top boards. There were also rumours that their boards 3 and 4 were online demons (a term popularized recently describing players who are underrated OTB due to Covid).
Yunshan Li vs Jeffrey Xu Round 3, a crazy position after black decided to play the Snake Benoni!
Despite being exhausted after an already long day, our Team A put up fantastic performances across all boards and defeated McMaster 3.0 – 1.0. Yunshan kept good to her promise with her game, winning game of the tournament in her round 3 game as seen on the right (game here) . Team B fought to avenge Team A by playing against UdeM, but once again were edged out 1.5 – 2.5. After round 3, Waterloo remained top of the leaderboard with 3 points, followed by UofT A and UdeM A with 2.5 points. The top UofT reserve team of the day was UofT D, with 1.5 points.
Having played more than enough chess for the day, most of us were too tired to do much else than eat and sleep. Teams A and B decided that exploring Ottawa could wait until after the tournament finished – a proposition some reserve teams refused to accept. Team D, taking matters in their own hands, went on a grand tour of Ottawa! As Grace of Team D told me when sending their team photos, “chess kids need better pr”.
Team D and Nick exploring Ottawa! From left: Nick, Liam, Yixiao, Boomba. Photo credits to Grace Miao.
And so the round everyone was waiting for arrived: UofT A against Waterloo A. Going into the round, there was a sense that victory was necessary for us to win. We could not depend on any team to defeat Waterloo and since we drew UdeM, anything other than a win against Waterloo would null our chances of winning the tournament. This would be our chance to redeem ourselves after day one.
Unfortunately for me, the result of the match would be decided through my game. As a board 4 player, one does not seek fame, simply content to be part of such a strong team. My teammates would disagree with that statement as all their games ended in draws before mine, sealing my fate as either hero or disappointment. I had surprised my opponent, William Li, by playing the Kan Sicilian, a line he did not prepare for. Despite gaining a slight advantage in the middle game, William played excellently and equalized by the endgame. I sensed that I would get squeezed to death in a positional endgame, so I blew open the position with a dubious pawn sacrifice. This would eventually lead to William squandering a winning endgame due to time pressure. What followed would likely have been blunder of the tournament, had their been an award. The video below says everything that needs to be said, I am simply too pained to explain myself more.
Koosha Jaferian’s (team captain) stream, highlighting the fateful blunder that allowed Waterloo A to win against UofT A. Link for stream and game.
My coach would always tell me “to make the move the board is telling you to play, nothing else”. Sorry coach, I failed you on this one. In the heat of the moment, selfishly wanting to claim match victory all to myself but also under extreme time pressure, I panicked and played a move worthy to be ashamed of – Rf5??. Lunch was hard to swallow, the thought of playing another classical game next round was even less palatable. It is in these moments when I question why I even play chess. To put in your all for 3 hours and then to lose it all in a blink of a thought.
Luckily, my teammates were extremely supportive and offered their condolences to my loss. We were no longer in contention for first place but that didn’t mean we could just through away our rating points and honour. Team A’s last round would be against McGill and Team B would play UdeM B. UdeM A would challenge Waterloo A, needing a win against them to secure the championship. Excitingly in the reserve section, UofT C would play UofT D. At that point, both teams’ board 4 player had gone undefeated (Eric Wan and Yixiao Wang). The top board 4 player prize in the reserve section would be given to whoever won that game.
UofT D (left) vs UofT C! Closest are Yixiao and Eric, battling out for the top reserve section board 4 prize!
UofT A would narrowly defeat McGill 2.5 – 1.5, UofT B would crush UdeM 3.5 – 0.5, and the UofT C – D match would end in a tense draw. Still, all eyes were focused on the UdeM A vs Waterloo A match. Their match was another nailbiter as the match would also rest upon board 4 as boards 1 – 3 once again ended in draws. Incredibly, UdeM A’s Hou Han Zhang, would defeat Waterloo A’s William Li. With that, UdeM A conquered all odds and won CUCC 2023 as the 5th ranked team!
UofT teams left Ottawa slightly disappointed with their results but we nonetheless managed to snatch some prizes. Yunshan won game of the tournament with her 3rd round game against McMaster’s Jeffrey Xu. Ethan Moon won the championship section’s top board 3 prize with a perfect score of 5/5! Yixiao Wang (who defeated Eric Wan last round) and I won top board 4 prize for both sections. UofT A ended up placing 4th behind UdeM A, Waterloo A, and Queens – UofT A’s first round opponents who climbed their way back up the leaderboards. We will be back next year!
UdeM A, champions of the 2023 Canadian Universities Chess Championship!
To the question I posed earlier, I just want to say that Chess to me is just a hobby at the end of the day. It cannot pay the bills, will not present me the meaning of life, and it definitely refuses to help me find the love of my life. Yet coming back to the game after a 3 year hiatus, my passion for it is as strong as ever. I play for my lifelong friendships, to compete at places I would otherwise never experience. But most importantly, I play to avenge my past self, to tell the young Derek that it’s ok to lose. To let him know that he will always come back stronger, foolishly hungry for that next victory.
Sorry for such a delayed article, no excuses just procrastination. Congrats to UdeM for finishing first and to all of this year’s competitors, I hope to see you all Queen’s next year! Thanks to my teammates who’ve made this tournament that much more memorable. Finally, thanks to Hart House Chess Club for giving us the opportunity to play.
Our Alumni Chair updates the Executive on the 2023-24 Executive. Next year’s executive is settled.
Secretary – Victor Zheng Treasurer – Eric Wan Fundraiser – Yi-Lun Huang Events – Bowen Zhang Communications – Grace Miao and Yixiao Wang
Thank you,
HHCC Communications
Update for March 29, 2023:
Our Alumni Chair has asked us to forward the attached Memorandum and draft Ballot regarding the 2023-2024 Executive Board Elections.
The Election will be held this Friday, March 31st, in the Reading Room, and there will be speeches and a chance to meet all of the candidates at 7 pm. Thereafter, voting will commence at 7 pm for eligible student members of the Club
Please carefully read the short outline below if you wish to exercise your right to vote or to become a part of the HHCC Executive Boad!
Annual Club Elections
Interested in being a part of the executive team of the coolest Hart House Student Club? Our annual election process begins this month!
The following six are our executive positions.
The Secretary is responsible for calling meetings of the Executive, maintaining records (minutes) of all such meetings, refereeing all votes taken by the Executive, ensuring communication of all relevant Club information among Executive members, managing the schedule of weekly club meetings/events for rotations and ensuring executive commitment, maintaining an inventory of club equipment, organizing an annual General Assembly of the Club members, liaising with the Hart House staff via the Club’s Programme Advisor, and acting as the Club’s representative where necessary.
The Events-Coordinator is responsible for informing the Executive about the specifics of the Pan-Ams, the Pan-Ams Qualifier and the Canadian University Chess Championship, communicating with tournament organizers and all other relevant parties, overseeing the assembly of the Team, working with the Programme Advisor to organize accommodation, registration, and transportation for the Team, and dealing with all other concerns pertaining to these three events. The Events Co-ordinator is also charged with administering the special events hosted by the Club, such as the Master Lectures, the Casual Chess Tournaments, the Chess Lessons and the Simultaneous Chess Exhibitions.
The two Communications Representatives maintain a directory of email addresses for all Club members and interested parties, inform Club members of upcoming events, promotes the Club to prospective members, advertise Club events when required, and maintain the Club’s website and social media accounts.
The Treasurer is responsible for keeping an account of the Club’s revenues and expenditures, informing the Executive of any deviation from established budgets, and devising the annual budget with the input and approval of the Executive. The Treasurer is also responsible for keeping track of the chess materials borrowed by members as part of the Club’s lending library.
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.
Eligibility
All student club members, 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 March 31st, 2023.
Club members interested in Executive positions are asked to email bfohahn@gmail.comexpressing interest, the position(s) interested in, and a short bio/background by 5 pm March 24. They are asked to include [HHCC Elections] as the subject of the email.
If there are two or more candidates for a position, a vote will be held to determine the successful candidate on March 31 at 7 pm. A person can be candidate for more than one Executive position. The voting is done by secret ballot.
The electoral process will be administered by the club’s Alumni Chair, Ben Hahn. 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!
Thank you for attending! Results are posted here. Those who scored 2.5 or above have qualified to the CYCC. Those who won bursaries have been contacted by email. Good luck to all competing in Calgary this year! See our event report for more.
The Hart House Chess Club is hosting its Hart House Youth Chess Championship on Saturday, April 29th, 2023. The event is a celebration of youth chess, a gathering of Toronto’s future chess stars, and serves as an opportunity for students to visit the University of Toronto. The event also serves as a qualifier for the 2023 Canadian Youth Chess Championship (CYCC) in Calgary, Alberta.
The 2023 CYCC is from Wednesday July 19th to Saturday July 22nd, 2023. The Canadian Open Chess Championship is held afterwards from Saturday July 22nd to Sunday July 30th, 2023. Details here.
Overall first place in each section, plus top-female, will win an entry to the 2023 CYCC (~$250 value).
Where: Debates, Music, Committees, Bickersteth, and Burwash Rooms, Hart House, University of Toronto. 7 Hart House Circle, Toronto, ON M5S 3H3 When: Saturday, April 29th, 2023 Rounds: 9:30 am, 10:45 am, 12:00 pm, (lunch), 2:00 pm, 3:15 pm Award Ceremony: 5:00 pm or ASAP after round 5. Style: 5 Round Rapid (swiss) in 6 age sections: U8, U10, U12, U14, U16, and U18. Time Control: 25 minutes plus 5 seconds increment per move from move 1, for all sections. Byes: 0 point byes allowed. Players must play all games to qualify for the CYCC. Entry Fee: $35 for online registrations before midnight March 31st. $45 for registrations before noon April 28th. No onsite registrations. Capacity is ~160. Free entries for FMs. Prizes: Trophies for top-3 in each section, 1st overall and top-woman in each section is awarded entry to CYCC ($3000 in bursaries). Organizer: Hart House Chess Club with Alex Ferreira as arbiter E-mail: hhtournaments@gmail.com CFC: CFC Active Rated. Registrants do not need CFC memberships. Equipment: Chess sets and clocks supplied.
Sections
6 Sections – by Age
Sections
Sections
Under 8 (Born on or after Jan 1st 2015)
Open
Under 10 (Born on or after Jan 1st 2013)
Open
Under 12 (Born on or after Jan 1st 2011)
Open
Under 14 (Born on or after Jan 1st 2009)
Open
Under 16 (Born on or after Jan 1st 2007)
Open
Under 18 (Born on or after Jan 1st 2005)
Open
Registration:REGISTRATION FULL as of April 22
All players must have been born on or after year 2005. Tournament is for juniors 18 and under. See sections above.
Online registration (FULL) is recommended and available until April 28th at 12 noon. Telephone and in-person registration also available through the Hart House Hub.
FEES:
$35 by March 31st at 11:59 PM
$45 by April 28th at 12 noon
Withdrawals: Full refunds minus $10 admin fee until April 28th at 12 noon.
Girls: please indicate “Girls” or female in the “Section” question to be eligible for the top-girl prize.
Please check your emails in case we require verification of Date of Birth.
Qualifier for the 2023 Canadian Youth Chess Championship (CYCC)
This tournament counts as a qualifier for the 2023 CYCC. Participants must score at least 50% to qualify for the CYCC in Calgary scheduled for July 19th – 22nd, 2023. Only those who meet CFC residency or citizenship are eligible to play in the CYCC.
CYCC top finishers in each age group will be awarded with travel bursary and officially represent Canada at the World Youth & Cadet Chess Championships.
World Cadet (U8/U10/U12) Chess Championship – 2023 (Date TBD), Egypt
World Youth (U14/U16/U18) Chess Championship – Nov 12-25, 2023, Montesilvano, Italy
Entry fees to the CYCC:
$225 before 10 pm, May 1, 2023 $250 before 10 pm, June 1, 2023
Bursary winners’ entries to the CYCC are covered (no need to register yourself). Details on the 2023 CYCC are here. If the first place winner does not attend the CYCC, the player next in line will be invited to play at the tournament.
PLAY UP RULES
If a player wants to play in an age category older than the one they qualify for, they can do so.
BUT: if they qualify in a certain age category to play at the CYCC, that is the only age category that the player can play in the CYCC.
if one player who is 12 years old wishes to play in the U16 section of the HHYCC, if they qualify for the CYCC, the only age category that the player can enter at the CYCC is the U16 section.
Tiebreaks
a) Ties other than 1st Place: computer tie breaks in the following order:
direct encounter (only valid if all the tied players have met each other)
individual cumulative score
cumulative score of opponents
b) Tie break for 1st Place (to determine funding for the CYCC and trophy)
Playoff between the two players or the top two by computer tiebreak if three or more players tie for first
Two game match, time control 5 minutes with a 2 second increment.
If still tied after the two game playoff: single game Armageddon at a time control of 5 mins for white and 4 minutes for black. Player with better computer tiebreaks gets choice of black or white.
Parents
Parents are allowed to stay and take photos in the first 5 minutes of each round. No flash, and please turn off sound. Please be quiet and DO NOT talk to any of the players. Parents must leave the tournament hall after the first 5 minutes of each round and doors will be closed. Players will be escorted to the exit of the tournament hall after their game is finished to be pickup by their parent(s). Analysis rooms and skittles rooms will be made available.
If you have questions about the tournament, please send us an email at: hhtournaments@gmail.com or see us at the tournament desk!
Parking information is available here. Landmark Project construction is underway and parking is very limited.
UNRATED PLAYERS
Please create a CFC (Chess Federation of Canada) ID on CFC’s online system and input that CFC ID in our registration form. This process is free and saves a lot of administrative work for you and us. Unrated players can also review our New to Tournament Guide.
Pairings and Standings
All pairings and standings for every section on chess results.
Pre-Registered
CFC Regular Ratings used for pairings. If a player does not have a CFC Regular Rating, then CFC Active Ratings will be used. Pre-registered as of April 28.
Note: if your CFC-ID is listed as NA, please create one and send it to us at hhtournaments@gmail.com
From January 10th to February 28th, 2023, Hart House Chess Club hosted the Greater Toronto Chess League Team Chess Championship at Hart House at the University of Toronto. The championship was free to enter and featured 12 teams from across the Greater Toronto Area. The winning team was the Hart House Students team, followed by Bing Chilling, Hart House 20th Century Juniors, and Chess Stars.
The format was modified from the traditional 9-round, 10 team format. With 12 teams, 2 pools of 6 were created for the 5 “pool play” weeks. Then, the top 2 teams would go to section Gold to be crowned the winner of the Championship over a playoff “pool format” for the final 3 weeks. The Silver and Bronze section playoffs were also held to provide each team with 8 matches.. Games were played on Tuesday nights starting at 7:10 pm using a 90+30 time control.
Hart House Chess Club had 3 teams represented,: Students, Alumni, and 20th Century Juniors. The Students team consisted of all U of T students and a couple high-school substitutes, the Alumni team consisted of majority recently graduated U of T students in the 90s, 2000s, and 2010s, and the 20th Century Juniors Team consisted of those who played for the Club in the 70s and 80s. We were very happy to see such amazing variety and representation from all of our alumni and students. It was the first time that Hart House held this version of the Toronto Team Championships, and it was fitting that one of our teams came out on top!
Congratulations to the Hart House Students team on an amazing tournament and making the Club proud! In particular, congratulations to IM Nicholas Vettese, WIM Yunshan Li, Derek Ma, and Wenzhi Dai for playing the bulk of the matches. The other players who contributed to the team’s success were Ande Li, Anna Gavrileva, and Joshua Bakradze.
The 2nd place team, Bing Chilling, also consisted of Hart House regulars and current/past students. The team was led by IM Mark Plotkin (alumni) and William Li (UWaterloo). Eric Ning, Ethan Moon (student), and WFM Cindy Qiao (student) rounded out their team.
Another congratulations goes to the Hart House 20th Century Juniors team for finishing 3rd, consisting of IM David Cummings, Michael Dougherty, David Filipovich, Ian Loadman, Andrei Moffat, and David Macleod.
Chess Stars finished fourth, led by NM Roman Gavrilin, IM Michael Barron, Michael Kimelman, and Ilia Bluvshtein.
Finally, Hart House Alumni rounded out the top-5, finishing first overall in the Silver Cup. They were led by: IM Peter Vavrak, Daniel Abrahams, Leon Perelman, and Ben Hahn. This meant that teams from the Hart House Chess Club placed 1st, 3rd, and 5th out of 12 teams!
Hart House Students engraved as the 2023 GTCL Champions!
Results and Games
Those interested in viewing the games can do so on lichess.org, view the games.
Annex Chess Club vs HH AlumniFinal Round at the 2023 GTCL Team CCChess Stars vs Annex Chess ClubThe winning team: Derek Ma, IM Nicholas Vettese, WIM Yunshan Li, Wenzhi DaiScenes from the final dayScenes from Round 1Hart House Students vs 20th Century Juniors in Round 1. Round 3 actionRound 2 actionHart House Winter Weekly Swiss happened concurrentlyStudents vs Mississauga CCAlumni vs Bing Chilling20th Century Juniors vs Chess Stars and Bing Chilling vs Students in Round 7. The organizers with the winning team. All are students at U of T. Students vs Bing Chilling, arguably the deciding match of the tournament.
This version of the GTCL Team CC was organized by the Club for the first time thanks to efforts led by the Victor Zheng and Tanner McNamara on the HHCC Executive Board. Alex Ferreira was the pairings arbiter and provided support. Michael Barron, GTCL President, also provided additional organizational support. Until next time!
