Category: News

Join the Hart House Chess Club (HHCC) for a Summer Junior Tournament on Saturday, August 26th, in the Hart House Debates, Committee, Meeting Rooms. The tournament includes game analysis provided by UofT’s top chess players.

Format: 4-round CFC-Regular Rated, Swiss Tournament
Location: Hart House Debates Room, 7 Hart House Circle, Toronto, ON M5S 3H3
Time Control: 45 mins + 15 secs/move increment from move 1 for all sections
Rating: Both sections will be CFC Classical Rated
Capacity: 50
Rounds: 9:00 am, 11:15 am, 2:00 pm, 4:00 pm
Awards Ceremony: 6:00 pm or ASAP after round 4
Sections:  U1300, U900
Equipment: HHCC will supply all chess equipment
Prizes: Trophies for 1st-3rd in all sections, top-girl
Entry Fees: $35.00 by July 31st, $40.00 before noon August 24th and is only available on the Hart House website. 
Registration: via Hart House website by noon Fri. August 25th, 2023. No onsite registration. Once full, a waitlist will open for possible additional spots.
Eligibility: This tournament is juniors 18 and under only, born 2005 or later.
Organizer: Hart House Chess Club

Game Analysis: Free game analysis will be provided between every round for players interested in analyzing their games with some of U of T’s strongest chess players. This is your chance to learn and compete in a CFC event in a community of chess lovers. Analysis will be conducted in the Committees Room.

Free snacks and water provided. Coffee also will be available for parents.

Chess Federation of Canada (CFC) Membership: Updated CFC memberships are not required since this tournament is a juniors-only event. However, players must have a CFC ID, which can be created here: https://www.chess.ca/en/players/membership-fees/.

Chess Notation: chess notation is required for this tournament for all moves until a player reaches 5 minutes. For more info, see: https://www.chess.com/article/view/chess-notation.

New to chess tournament players: After completion of this tournament, you will get a CFC rating. No memberships are required, however, a member ID must be created. For a refresher on tournaments, see our New To Tournament Guide.

Parents: Children and teens must be supervised at all times. Please do not disturb students and other guests of Hart House. Players and their parents will be held responsible for any damages and fees caused by their actions and may be further sanctioned from Hart House Chess Club events.

Pairings and Standings

U1300 Pairings and Standings

U900 Pairings and Standings

Pre-Registered: (Updated August 26)

Starting Rank	Name of Participant	CFC ID	CFC Regular Rating	Quick Ratings (used for section eligibility)	Section	Byes
1	Noureddin T Mohamed	176495	1264	1511	U1300
2	Noah Chung	177781	1223	1214	U1300
3	Joshua Visva	175355	1222	1067	U1300
4	Andy Rui Wang	167302	1134	1303	U1300
5	Tommy (Zhuoxuan) Li	179190	1047	1032	U1300
6	Angela Wang	175459	1043	1346	U1300
7	Darren Chen	176209	1025	1072	U1300
8	Alyssa (Zhuojing) Li	179191	990	1011	U1300
9	Yiguo Gao	169414	985	1054	U1300
10	Shannon Zhao	179928	959	1087	U1300
11	Bryan Liang	177485	958	819	U1300
12	Jachin Liem	172356	902	660	U1300
13	Jayden Henry Tan	179333	897	1147	U1300
14	Michael Ivkin	175540	895	1074	U1300
15	Ridit Kakani	180518	875	1545	U1300
16	Jayden Kwok	180577	871	926	U1300
17	Connor Cao	181297	860	594	U900
18	Emma Yang	161205	842	1167	U1300
19	Sunny Wu	162808	810	1157	U1300
20	Etienne Ma	179465	798	1151	U1300
21	Cedric Gao	175697	798	901	U1300
22	Ian Gao	177611	776	799	U900
23	Evan Gao	177612	741	784	U900
24	Luke Ma	179464	734	1174	U1300
25	Jasper Liem	172354	717	560	U900
26	Harold Zhang	180565	707	915	U900
27	Caleb Liem	172355	679	642	U900
28	Cecilia Gu	178668	629	737	U900
29	Archer Feng	179922	589	905	U900
30	Jasper Feng	182453	582	719	U900
31	Roger Yang	180149	420	990	U900
32	Ethan Soong	182091	0	1148	U1300
33	Michael Sirkovich	183783	0		U900
34	Adrian Aranha	183755	0	807	U900
35	Bosco Sham	181164	0	1220	U1300
36	Brendan Madden	183838	0		U900
37	Kimberley Place	182441	0	477	U900
38	Balzac Zukerman-Desjardins	NA	0		U900
39	Ashwin Raja Perumal	183894	0		U900
40	Callum Cheng	182119	0		U900
41	Benjamin Thomas	183903	0		U900
42	Coen Kwok	183916	0		U900
43	Sou Yamauchi	184043	0		U900
44	Arham Bhura	182671	0	855	U900
45	Lucas Jia	180138	0	850	U900
46	Shiven Priebe	183932	0		U900
47	John Nguyen	180674	0	1073	U1300
48	Benjamin Chung	184042	0		U900	Bye Rd 3,4
49	Satoya Insel	184056	0		U900
50	Nova Cassel	168670	0		U900
51	Owen Hodnett	184303

For more details of past iterations, see 2023 Hart House Spring Junior.

Email: hhchess@studentorg.utoronto.ca

Want to showcase your speed chess skills? Join the Club on Fri. June 30th at Hart House for a speed chess tournament featuring 7 double-rounds of 1 min + 1 second bullet starting at 7 pm! We hope to see you there!

FORMAT AND EVENT DETAILS

• WHEN: Friday, June 30th, 7:00 pm – 8:30 pm.
• WHERE: Hart House (7 Hart House Cir, Toronto) – Reading Room.
• WHAT: 7 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 7pm.
• PRIZE FUND: Guaranteed $150. Distribution announced onsite.
• MAXIMUM CAPACITY: 50 players.
• NOTE: chess sets and boards provided

CONTACT:

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

Arbiter/Organizer: NA Victor Zheng

REPORT

On June 30th, the Canada Day Eve Bullet took place at Hart House chess club in order to rejoice in the statutory holiday.

Serving as the prelude of the national celebration for the anniversary of the confederation, the tournament was made up of 7 double-round bullet games with a time control of 1min+1s. A total of 21 players of various skill levels participated in this event.

The top place was gained by IM Alexander Reprintsev with scores of 12/14 followed by CM Koosha Jaferian with 11/14 and IM Mark Plotkin 10.5/14.

Join the Hart House Chess Club for the first blitz tournament of the summer this Friday, June 16th at Hart House! We’re playing 5 rounds of 5 minutes + 2 seconds blitz starting at 7 pm! We hope to see you there!

FORMAT AND EVENT DETAILS

• WHEN: Friday, June 16th, 7:00 pm – 8:30 pm.
• WHERE: Hart House (7 Hart House Cir, Toronto) – Reading Room.
• WHAT: 5-round Blitz Event (Swiss), with a 5 minute + 2 second time control.
• RATED: Unrated
• ENTRY FEE: Free for members, $10 for non-members, free for titled players. Register onsite before 7pm.
• PRIZE FUND: Guaranteed $150. Distribution announced onsite.
• MAXIMUM CAPACITY: 50 players.
• NOTE: chess sets and boards provided
• Report Available

CONTACT:

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

Arbiter/Organizer: NA Victor Zheng

Photo Credits: Jiduo An, Hart House

Congrats to Ethan, Fengxi, Yunshan, Nicholas, Bingfei, Isabelle, and Cindy for qualifying to the PanAms to represent the Club!

See below for original event post:

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The Club will be holding a qualifying tournament from September 9th-10th to select players to represent the University of Toronto at the Pan-American Intercollegiate Team Championships to be held next year in McAllen, Texas, Jan 4th – 7th, 2024. Travel and accommodation will be covered partially by HHCC.

PANAM INFO:

The annual Pan American Intercollegiate Chess Championship is 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 since 1965 (less COVID restricted years). 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, has won the championship 6 times, the most from any non-American school.

Pan-Am-Qualifiers SCHEDULE:

Time Control:  60 minutes + 30 seconds increment

Check-in: 9:00 am – 9:30 am
Round 1:  9:30 am September 9th
Round 2:  12:45 pm September 9th
Round 3:  4 pm September 9th
Round 4:  9:30 am September 10th
Round 5:  12:45 pm September 10th
Tiebreaks (if needed)  4pm September 10th

0-point-byes are in effect.  Players are expected to play all rounds.
Forced byes will be awarded 1 point.

Players are required to check-in by 9:30 am to be paired for Round 1.

Ratings will be used for seeding/pairing purposes but the tournament itself will not be rated with the Chess Federation of Canada.

REGISTRATION: available online here, or in-person at the Hart House Info Desk. Also available in-person before 9:20 am day of the event. With valid proof of student enrollment.
WHAT: Unrated 5 Round Swiss Tournament with a 60 min + 30 sec increment time control.
COST: Free
WHERE: Hart House Debates Room, Committees Room for analysis/skittles
ELIGIBILITY: Current U of T students.

Pairings and Standings

Swiss: https://chess-results.com/tnr817381.aspx?lan=1

Tie-breaks: https://chess-results.com/tnr818093.aspx?lan=1

For more info, see the 2023 PanAm Qualifiers and the event report from last year’s PanAms in Seattle.

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The tournament will select 7 players based on final standings to represent the Hart House Chess Club and the University of Toronto at this year’s Pan-Ams. A mandatory fee of $250 for all participants is required and paid before end-of-September, however, the Club will cover the rest of fundraising costs. We ask that you only play in the tournament if you want to play in the Pan-Ams. Note that one spot was given out last year to Eilia Zomorrodian due to visa timelines.

It’s another semester, which means lessons are starting up again! For 12-weeks this Summer, the Club is hosting free lessons for all members of the Club. Students can become members for free.

Summer semester lessons begin this Friday, June 9th, 2023 and run until September 1st, 2023! 13-weeks of free chess classes for everyone interested in learning and being in a chess environment! 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! Community members can become a Hart House Chess Club member for the summer to take part in lessons.  The lessons are structured in a way that missing lessons due to midterms, assignments, and exams will not affect learning outcomes.

Beginner Lessons: Fridays, 6:30 PM to 8:00 PM will be taught by Victor Zheng (CFC: 2079) and Bowen Zhang (CFC 1348). Victor is a 3rd year CS Specialist student, a Varsity Chess Team player, and Secretary/President of the Club this year. Bowen is a 4th year Medical Biophysics PHD student and Events Director of the Club who also has lots of experience coaching beginners on playing chess! Both are looking forward to sharing their knowledge with everyone this summer!

Format: (Note: this format may change) The first 45 minutes will be a prepared lesson conducted on the weekly selected topic. Then, the second 45 minutes will be a mixture of activities such as playing out a positions, blindfold chess, hand and brain, blitz tournaments, or other interactive chess activities. 

Beginner Lesson Plan for Summer 2023: (subject to change) 

1. The rules of chess/mate in one, piece value, piece value in relation to pawn structure
2. Basic Checkmates/more complicated piece checkmates
3. Double attack, discovered check, double check, forks and windmills
4. Skewers, pins
5. Overloading (golden rule of attacking) deflection, attraction, clearance
6. Zugzwang (in the middle game and in the endgame – pawn promotion)
7. Checkmate patterns (backrank etc.)
8. Pawn endgames (majority v minority etc.)
9. Rook endgames
10. Openings (opening trees, differences in pawn structures etc.)
11. Middle game strategy 
12. Course Recap and Review
13. Guest Lecture by GM Vinay Bhat (East Common Room)

Location: All lessons will be held in the Bickersteth Room of Hart House. 

For all details on lessons, please visit our main Lessons page. See you there!

On May 14^th a special Mother’s Day was celebrated in Toronto as 60 women and girls came together at Hart House for a Chess Festival. Dana Reizniece-Ozola, managing director of FIDE (the international chess federation), spent the whole day with these women and girls, some of whom traveled from Waterloo or even as far away as Thunder Bay. A strong woman grandmaster herself who has made a successful career in politics in her home country of Latvia, Dana was joined by well-known titled women from the Toronto area, Anna Burtasova and Oksana Golubeva, in giving talks during the morning. Alla Mischanka spoke briefly as well, on FIDE’s INFINITE Chess Project, an initiative to engage children with autism spectrum disorder with chess.

Following the morning talks, the participants went upstairs for a pizza lunch while the volunteers worked hard to reset the room for a simul. Dana and Anna gave large simuls in the Debates Room while several participants spilled over into the Committees Room where Cindy Qiao, UofT’s strongest woman in attendance, gave a third simul. To ensure the subsequent rapid tournament could start on time, a clock was put on each board, giving 45 minutes to the simul giver and 15 minutes to the participants. With the number of games to be played, that edge on the clock was not enough to give Dana, Anna, and Cindy an easy time, and many games came down to the wire in serious time pressure. It was a great experience for the participants to play these games, and some of them even scored memorable points.

After the simul, the volunteers reset the room slightly for the rapid tournament as we finalized the starting list for that event. Pairings were up to start the first round at 2:45pm, and that kicked off a 6-round tournament with 54 participants, surely the largest tournament for women and girls to be held at Hart House, and one of the biggest such events in Canada. Players had 10 minutes per game, gaining 2 seconds on the clock with each move they made. The first 6 boards were DGT boards with moves relayed live and broadcast on lichess. The tournament was so strong that each of these boards featured a titled player in round 1: WGM Dana Reizniece-Ozola, WFM Oksana Golubeva, WGM Anna Burtasova, WCM Olena Kucherenko, WFM Cindy Qiao, and WIM Gabriella Johnson were the top six seeds. At the other end, we saw a lot of new faces in chess with 17 unrated players starting the tournament.

Players were fighting for a generous prize fund, with the Chess Federation of Canada and Ontario Chess Association sponsoring the event with prize fund contributions, while FIDE’s support included contributions to trophies.  Prizes were available to the top three finishers, as well as top finishers by rating category (U2000, U1600, U1200, U800 and unrated). Trophies went to the top three and then by age category (U18, U15, U12, U9) with prizes as well for the top UofT student and youngest participant.

The top seeds made it unscathed through three rounds, with the exception of Gabriella’s defeat to Ingrid Wu in round 3. Round 4 saw the start of titled players being matched against each other, with Dana getting the best of Olena on board 1 and Cindy defeating Oksana on board 2. Such fighting chess characterized the tournament across all boards – after 4 rounds of play and over 100 games of chess, still, no draws had been made. Three undefeated players started round 5 – Dana gave up her queen in a nice fashion to defeat Anna while Cindy matched Dana’s 5/5 when she delivered a checkmate against Olena after breaking through with a rook sacrifice.

In round 6, the board one clash featured the two remaining undefeated players. In a long game with some ups and downs, but one that was roughly balanced throughout, Dana emerged victorious against Cindy with the clock playing a big role. Several players took the opportunity to catch Cindy in second place, as the tournament finished without a single draw occurring on the top 6 DGT boards.

Dana took clear first place for her efforts, recording the only perfect score. Joining Cindy in a tie for second place were Oksana, Anna, Lucy Gao, and April Zhong. The five players shared the prizes for 2^nd and 3^rd place while each was awarded their own trophy: Anna took 2nd place on tiebreaks, Oksana took 3^rd, Cindy (4^th) was awarded Top UofT Student, Lucy (5^th) won Top U15 and April (6^th) won Top U18. Lucy and April also shared the top U2000 prize.

Top U1600 was split 5 ways among players finishing at 4/6: Ingrid Wu, Chloe Duong, Shabnam Abbarin, Adie Todd, and Anna Gavrileva. Top U1200 was shared by 2 players finishing at 4/6: Emily Robinson and Chloe Huang. Four players at 3/6 shared Top U800: Victoria Lai, Katherine Leung, Angela Wang, and Tiffany Chen. Liza Augistin took top unrated alone, scoring 3.5/6 (after making one of just 3 draws in the whole tournament).

The final trophies were awarded to Laksshana Deepak (Top U12 at 4/6) and Chloe Huang (Top U9 at 4/6). Carter Payne was recognized as the youngest participant, at just 6 years old. All attendees were awarded certificates recognizing their participation.

At the end of the awards ceremony, Dana presented certificates recognizing the efforts of Anna, Oksana, and the Hart House Chess Club in making this event possible.

Special thank you again to the generous sponsors, to FIDE and the Commission for Women’s Chess, the Chess Federation of Canada, and the Ontario Chess Association. To Hart House for hosting and to the volunteers from the club who helped arrange everything on the day – Victor, Bowen, Ahmed, and Alex. Thanks to the participants as well who took time to help set up boards and clocks. Thank you to all the special guests Dana, Anna, Oksana, and Alla. Thank you to Sahan, who recorded all the morning lectures. Thank you to all the mothers who spent their day with us. The feedback received from participants has been overwhelmingly positive, and we can only hope that there can be more such events to promote the participation of women and girls in chess.

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The above report was written by Tanner McNamara, outgoing Secretary of the Hart House Chess Club and the lead organizer! A big shoutout should go to Tanner for his vision and expertise running the event.

The Hart House Chess Club (HHCC) is hosting a Summer Rapid and Blitz Festival at the Hart House Debates Room on Saturday, July 15th. Come join the Hart House Chess Club this summer for some fun! The event aims to provide a tournament experience for all levels all in one day! event flyer

RAPID DETAILS: 

Format: 5-round CFC-Active, FIDE Rapid Rated (Premier and U1600 sections), Swiss Tournament
Location: Hart House Debates and Committees Rooms, 7 Hart House Circle, Toronto, ON M5S 3H3
Time Control: 15 mins + 10 secs/move increment
Capacity: 120
Rounds: 10 am, 11:15 am, 1:00 pm, 2:15 pm, 3:30 pm
Sections:  Premier, U1600, U1000
Equipment: HHCC will supply all chess equipment
Prizes: $2000 based on 100 players 

• Premier: $600-$300-$150, top-U2000: $100, top-U1800: $100. ($1250)
• U1600: $250-$150-$75, top-U1300: $50 ($525)
• U1000: $100-$75-$50 ($225)
• Top-unrated (any section): HHCC t-shirt
• Top-woman (any section): $50

BLITZ DETAILS: 

Format: 7 double-round CFC-Active, FIDE Blitz Rated (Premier section), Swiss Tournament
Location: Hart House Debates and Committees Rooms, 7 Hart House Circle, Toronto, ON M5S 3H3
Time Control: 3 minutes + 2 seconds per move from move 1
Capacity: 120
Rounds: 6 pm and then ASAP (we will finish around 9 pm)
Sections:  Premier, U1500
Equipment: HHCC will supply all chess equipment
Prizes: $1000 based on 100 players  

• Premier: $500-$200-$100 ($800)
• U1500: $125-$50-$25 ($200)
• Top-unrated (any section): HHCC t-shirt
• Top-woman (any section): $30
  

ENTRY FEES & REGISTRATION

Rapid and Blitz: Register now – CLOSED

Blitz only: Register now – CLOSED

Rapid only: Register now – CLOSED

Entry Fees: 
Rapid and Blitz: $40 by June 15th, $50 by July 14. $20 discount for UofT students.
Rapid only: $35 by June 15th, $40 by July 14. $20 discount for UofT students.
Blitz only: $15 by June 15th, $20 by July 14. $10 discount for UofT students.
Free entries for IM/WIM by June 30. 

Note for incoming students: please email us to receive a discount. For UofT students, the discount is applied automatically.

Registration: via the Club website by Fri. July 14th at noon. No onsite registration for rapid, blitz onsite available in-person before 5:30 pm.

Organizers: Hart House Chess Club, hhchess@utoronto.ca

Byes: Up to one 1/2 point bye can be requested by emailing us by noon July 14th.

CFC Memberships: Registrants must be current CFC members or bring payment prior to playing – https://chess.ca/membership-fees ($12 for adults, $6 for juniors for single-tournament).

Section eligibility: No playing up allowed. We will take the highest of CFC Regular, CFC Active, and FIDE Rapid/Blitz for section eligibility. At arbiters’ discretion. CFC Quick Ratings will be used for pairing purposes.

Tournament Organizers: Chief TD: Victor Zheng, Deputy TD: Alex Ferreira, Organizer: Bowen Zhang

Standings and Pairings

Rapid Premier
Rapid U1600
Rapid U1000

Blitz Premier
Blitz U1500

Prizes – Please check your email or send us an email to hhchess@studentorg.utoronto.ca unless we already have your payment information.

Pre-Registered

Last update: July 15

Starting Rank	Name of Participant	CFC ID	CFC Regular Rating	CFC Active	CFC Membership Validity	FIDE ID	Section	Byes
1	IM Mark Plotkin	141086	2515	2556	Valid	2611651	Rapid Only
2	IM Nicholas Vettese	154199	2414	2506	Valid	2620090	Rapid and Blitz
3	IM Advait Patel	171703	2442	2460	Valid	2075105	Rapid and Blitz
4	CM Koosha Jaferian	174318	2356	2432	Valid	12507440	Rapid and Blitz
5	IM Alexander Reprintsev	146467	2320	2409	Valid	14100541	Rapid and Blitz
6	FM Mike Ivanov	140557	2382	2403	Valid	2613158	Blitz Only
7	FM Tanraj Sohal	135830	2342	2369	Expired	2608499	Blitz Only
8	Viatcheslav Rek	137004	2290	2349	Valid	2605414	Blitz Only
9	FM Victor Plotkin	142063	2351	2336	Valid	2606674	Rapid and Blitz
10	NM Christopher Knox	136503	2333	2300	Expired	2607549	Rapid and Blitz
11	CM Aaron Reeve Mendes	167084	2305	2284	Valid	25954938	Rapid and Blitz
12	Jim Zhao	146770	2330	2259	Expired	2617463	Blitz Only
13	FM Eilia Zomorrodian	169238	2222	2244	Expired	12551805	Rapid and Blitz
14	Daniel Abrahams	134333	2213	2202	Valid	2606879	Rapid and Blitz
15	Fengxi Mao	166033	2302	2211	Valid	2632586	Rapid and Blitz
16	Zehn Nasir	148198	2306	2198	Expired	2613239	Blitz Only
17	CM Max Chen	155238	2341	2197	Valid	2622440	Rapid and Blitz
18	Ethan Moon	150154	2239	2182	Valid	2637022	Rapid and Blitz
19	Ruining Wu	150768	2135	2135	Expired	2615592	Rapid Only
20	Tony Bao	149351	2164	2129	Valid	2613042	Rapid and Blitz
21	Richard Douglas	131191	1950	2126	Valid	2642700	Rapid Only
22	Ian Loadman	101686	2132	2118	Valid	2613743	Rapid Only
23	Aditya Himanshu Raninga	164553	2174	2099	Valid	25632736	Rapid and Blitz
24	CM Youhe Huang	159428	2285	2054	Valid		Blitz Only
25	Sergey Malakhovets	158413	2119	2041	Valid	2622769	Rapid Only
26	Raymond Gao	156480	2222	2034	Valid	2629429	Rapid and Blitz
27	Isaak Huh	179882	2264	2010	Valid	13209590	Rapid and Blitz
28	CM Dorian Kang	155339	2239	1996	Expired	2619156	Rapid and Blitz
29	Jonath Joseph	171981	2057	1987	Valid	329105368	Rapid and Blitz
30	Daniel Zhang	163312	1844	1986	Valid	2637820	Rapid Only
31	Mahip Singh	157732	2112	1939	Valid	25015044	Rapid and Blitz
32	Anthony Maulucci	145845	2013	1913	Expired	2621835	Rapid and Blitz
33	John Upper	101925	2163	1910	Valid	2606437	Blitz Only
34	Aayush Ajith	167780	2139	1879	Valid	30943515	Rapid and Blitz
35	Ma, Yue Ran	158013	1979	1879	Expired	2631040	Rapid and Blitz
36	Jifan Zhao	173823	2113	1863	Valid	2640406	Rapid and Blitz
37	Saarthak Malakar	173204	2004	1818	Valid	30974291	Rapid and Blitz
38	Ryan Zhong	166737	2017	1814	Valid	2635860	Rapid and Blitz
39	David Gunapalan	149225	1874	1773	Valid	2612232	Blitz Only
40	Ian Mahoney	149124	1763	1766	Valid	2612674	Blitz Only
41	Heye Gao	166066	1876	1750	Valid	2638223	Rapid and Blitz
42	Aman Sharma	182302	0	1747	Expired	45016917	Blitz Only
43	Datis Azarpazhooh	156968	1714	1741	Expired	12546305	Blitz Only
44	Jonathan Zhang	159881	1766	1715	Valid	2631288	Rapid and Blitz
45	Daniel Sirkovich	145096	1869	1704	Valid	2618125	Rapid and Blitz
46	Mustafa Shah	175628	1413	1687	Valid	2651793	Rapid and Blitz
47	Aarush Ajith	167781	1667	1667	Valid	30943329	Rapid and Blitz
48	Jim Sadden	175974	1462	1640	Expired	2649730	Blitz Only
49	Joshua Bakradze	177444	1315	1638	Valid	2648415	Rapid and Blitz
50	Denys Melnychuk	178133	1866	1631	Valid	14182807	Rapid and Blitz
51	April Zhong	167271	1938	1617	Valid	2635658	Rapid and Blitz
52	Ademar Gonzalez	179276	1335	1607	Valid	329105321	Rapid and Blitz
53	Sean Liu	174972	1612	1563	Valid	2643170	Rapid and Blitz
54	Shafkat Ali	149142	1669	1551	Expired	2613441	Rapid and Blitz
55	Mark Stevenson	153309	911	1528	Valid	2653192	Rapid and Blitz
56	Alex Moisseev	160217	1368	1510	Valid	2625539	Rapid and Blitz
57	Larry Zhou Chen	172054	1271	1507	Valid	2648814	Rapid and Blitz
58	Adithya Purushothaman Sivanandam	176408	1272	1501	Valid	2650827	Rapid and Blitz
59	Nabil Shahad	173020	1651	1496	Valid	2646773	Rapid Only
60	Ruslan Makhanov	181724	1489	1492	NA	13709330	Rapid Only
61	Vincent Chen	163183	1527	1464	Valid	2637553	Rapid Only
62	Wing Li	155459	1603	1460	Valid	2631679	Rapid and Blitz
63	Rudra Sheth	174407	1428	1458	Valid	2642662	Blitz Only
64	Slava Lukinykh	174578	1360	1446	Valid	2648130	Rapid and Blitz
65	Jayden Yang	166945	1260	1389	Valid	0	Rapid Only
66	Ara Chanoian	161991	1541	1384	Expired	0	Rapid and Blitz
67	Balachandhr Sadhasivam	182451	980	1368	Valid	2651947	Rapid and Blitz
68	Gabriel Saimovici	175468	1185	1345	Valid	2649055	Rapid Only
69	Ran Gong	182646	0	1341	Valid	329110994	Rapid and Blitz
70	Nathaneil Donaldson	176213	1070	1339	Valid	0	Rapid and Blitz
71	Oscar Cheung	171229	1222	1336	Valid	2653079	Rapid and Blitz
72	Etienne Ma	179465	798	1330	Valid	0	Rapid Only
73	Arnav Mane	160927	1368	1327	Expired	2632705	Rapid Only
74	Atilay Jafarli	173910	905	1313	Valid	2640414	Blitz Only
75	Kevin Barker	181956	1048	1312	Valid	2652706	Blitz Only
76	Antoni Frolov	176409	1146	1311	Expired	2646900	Blitz Only
77	Zeen Liu	173498	0	1306	Valid	2652315	Rapid Only
78	Korbin Schantz	173606	1116	1291	Valid	2651904	Rapid and Blitz
79	Arya Vazifeh Hessari	180831	0	1276	Valid	2653710	Rapid and Blitz
80	Quentin Ma	177463	1050	1273	Valid	0	Rapid and Blitz
81	Nathan Zian Wang	161735	1988	1271	Expired	2638681	Rapid and Blitz
82	Ryan Zhuang	173828	987	1271	Valid	2650428	Rapid and Blitz
83	Andy Rui Wang	167302	1134	1269	Valid	0	Rapid Only
84	Andre Kuzin	167955	1478	1253	Valid	0	Rapid and Blitz
85	Boomba Nishikawa	178151	1167	1250	Valid	0	Rapid and Blitz
86	Himalay Rousseau Chanda	144267	1229	1229	Expired	0	Rapid Only
87	Daniel Truong	175162	0	1219	Valid	0	Rapid Only
88	Alan Zhao	178044	0	1210	Valid	0	Rapid Only
89	Ollie Take	182572	0	1208	Valid	0	Rapid Only
90	Christopher Charles	125496	1266	1195	Expired		Blitz Only
91	Adil Abdulla	146457	1396	1189	Valid	0	Rapid Only
92	Liam McNally	178152	1198	1177	Valid	0	Rapid and Blitz
93	Evan Xi	156505	1021	1174	Expired	0	Rapid Only
94	Jordan Cobb-Donahue	176384	797	1152	Valid	2646870	Rapid Only
95	Leon Noel Merse	176666	1365	1131	Valid		Blitz Only
96	Kimberly Heaslip	124624	1117	1117	Valid	2651530	Rapid Only	Rd 3
97	Edmund Smyk	146332	801	1102	Valid	2646986	Rapid Only
98	Tina Hui	176179	1030	1081	Valid	2652420	Rapid Only
99	Danny Huong	161844	1113	1050	Valid	0	Rapid and Blitz
100	Luke Ma	179464	734	1037	Valid	0	Rapid Only
101	Yiguo Gao	169414	914	1014	Valid	2653125	Rapid Only
102	Jayden Henry	179333	879	980	Valid	0	Rapid and Blitz
103	Lucas JIa	180138	0	875	Required	0	Rapid Only
104	Merek Reaume	181505	0	821	Expired	0	Rapid Only
105	Joe Gao	174100	805	797	Valid	2640619	Rapid and Blitz
106	Eesha Bharathi Vemuri	178139	0	741	Valid	2650096	Blitz Only
107	Sunny Wu	162808	810	724	Expired		Rapid and Blitz
108	Ian Gao	177611	708	665	Valid	2653117	Rapid Only
109	Evan Gao	177612	696	652	Valid	2653109	Rapid Only
110	Ethan Zhang	181824	0	477	Expired	0	Rapid Only
111	Simarpreet Singh Bhatia	183072	0	406	Valid	2653656	Rapid Only
112	Yixiao Wang	178954	1925	0	Valid	8640181	Rapid Only
113	Mcearl Bucais	130931	1119	0	Expired		Rapid and Blitz
114	Brian Zhan	180557	1041	0	Valid		Rapid and Blitz
115	Andy Xu	NA	0	0	Required		Blitz Only
116	Justin Tanasijczuk	160476	1532	0	Expired		Blitz Only
117	Robert Anderson	174912	0		Expired		Rapid and Blitz
118	Naveen Giri	NA	0		Required		Rapid and Blitz
119	Florendo Jr Batasin	NA	0		Required		Rapid Only
120	Teddy Sharpe	183197	0		Required		Rapid Only
121	Spencer Culp	183222	0		Valid		Blitz Only
122	Saleh Babaei	NA	0		Required		Rapid and Blitz
123	Zi Sheng Wang	NA	0		Required		Rapid and Blitz
124	George Eilender	174317	0		Expired		Rapid and Blitz
125	Keegan Hornbostel	NA	0		Required		Blitz Only
126	Eleena Eslami	NA	0		Required		Rapid Only
127	Summer Truong	175163	0		Valid		Rapid Only
128	Michael Battiston	NA	0		Required		Blitz Only
129	Mohammad Alsaiah	181459	0		Expired		Blitz Only
130	Ivan Biletskyi	NA	0		Required		Blitz Only
131	Edwin Chacko	NA	0		Required		Blitz Only
132	Siddhant Kalra	183724	0		Valid		Rapid Only
133	Grant Roberts	NA	0		Required		Rapid Only
134	Lucas lao	183047	0		Valid		Rapid Only
135	Aranza Liliana Guevara	NA	0		Required		Rapid Only
136	Timothy Vo	183733	0		Valid		Rapid Only
137	Matthew Vo	183734	0		Valid		Rapid Only
138	Yangqi Zhu	183732	0		Expired		Rapid Only
139	Allen Dong	183166	0		Expired		Rapid Only
140	Ralph Marquez	NA	0		Required		Rapid Only
141	Brendan Polius Prosper	NA	0		Required		Rapid Only
142	Victor Nguyen	183748	0		Expired		Rapid Only
143	David D’elia	183729	0		Valid		Rapid Only
144	Alexander Apostolu	152079	200		Expired		Rapid and Blitz
145	Rahul Vishwanath	NA	0		Required		Rapid and Blitz
146	Park Haneul	183754	0		Valid		Rapid and Blitz

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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Click on the following links to view:

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

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

Additional events and details will be added in due course.

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

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

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

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FORMAT AND LOGISTICS

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

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SCHEDULE

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

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

RAPID REGULATIONS

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

PRE-REGISTERED

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

This event is supported by the following organizations: